Conversation Partner

Today I met with my conversation partner, Francesca. We met outside of Smith Hall at 1 O'clock. Francesca is a very nice girl and stylish 19 year old girl. After our brief introductions we quickly got into a very interesting conversation. I learned that she just moved to Fort Worth from Chile. I can't remember the name of the town that she is from, but I do remember that it is in the center of the country. She described her home town to be similar to Fort Worth, but a little bit smaller. Apparently the weather is very similar, however her favorite thing about her country is that no matter where you are you are always two hours from the mountains and two hours from the ocean. I found this particularly interesting because I am from Orange County, Ca. If you know anything about "the OC," then you know that I am also two hours from the beach and the mountains. As our conversation progressed, we began to talk about our families. Francesca is living about fifteen minutes away from TCU with her mother, step-father, and two younger sisters. Fortunately, she and her sisters are very close as she described them as her best friends. This became particularly important because she has had a very hard time making friends since she has moved to America. It has been difficult for her because all of the other AP students are either much younger, much older, or completely different than her. She was telling me a little bit about the cultural differences that she has had to face in these classes. I thought it was very interesting to hear her speak about her social interactions with these people that are from all over the world. As you can imaging, it is very hard for them all to agree on something social to do because they come from such different and diverse backgrounds. Because I noticed that she had been very lonely I decided to invite Francesca to come out with my friends and I. I think that this would be really fun for her to get to hang out with more people her age and to finally have the American friends she talked so much about. Also, I think that this may help to do adapt to the culture and language a little bit better because she will be submersed in it while still having fun! Francesca also mentioned that she is trying to find a school for next year. She had attended a university in Chile for one year before she came to college and is now read to go back to school. She asked a lot of questions about TCU and why I chose the school. So, of course I told her all the wonderful things about our wonderful school! I also invited to sit in on one of my classes. I chose for here to observe my organizational management class because this is a very fun and lively class. Also, the material is not too heavy... I don't want her to get bored with my finance and accounting classes. This will be a really cool experience for her because she will have a better understanding of what the universities in America are like.

I had a really great time speaking with Francesca. It was really interesting to learn about her background and the struggles of moving to another country. Although, it was really cool to hear about the things that made our lives so different, the best part of our conversation was learning about all the things that made us so similar. It was awesome to learn that even though we come from extremely different backgrounds and circumstances we had so much in common.