Kayla_CP_#1_IE

Date/Time: January 15th, 1:00 pm
Location: Ramin's Intercultural Exchange Class

The intercultural exchange was awesome! My first partner, Shuo Feng, was very talkative and excited to be there. (She's from Beijing.) During the conversation, Shuo had a form that she used to help guide her through the dialogue. The first question she asked me was "What are your pet peeves?" I'm Switzerland, so I said that I didn't really have pet peeves and that I'm a relatively patient person. She didn't even pause and started ringing off the things that annoy her. She began with "I hate when people don't wash their hair, brush their teeth, and when their clothes are dirty." I kind of laughed because she was so direct about her pet peeves, but I then said "Oh. So you don't like it when people have bad hygiene?" She really liked the word, and because she essentially explained the term, I decided to introduce it to her.

Shuo and I also talked about how people act in different areas of America. This was prompted by her second question "What are pet peeves in America?" I explained to her that many different people are annoyed by many different things. I explained that in the south, it's proper for a man to hold a door for a woman out of courtesy and because the man is being nice. But if a man did the same thing in a northern city like New York, the lady would probably be offended (a friend's personal experience that I decided to share to Shuo). She then asked why a woman in the north would be offended, but not a lady from the south. I explained the idea of "southern hospitality," which was incredibly hard to do, and then explained that people in larger cities like New York may not necessarily be rude per se, but live busy lifestyles making them seem a little short or stressed. She had me explain how people are different from the east and west coast. I pretty much explained that people are open-minded and free-spirited in California. She asked what I meant, and the best way I could explain how people are on the west coast was to call them hippies. She laughed when I explained what they were when I put up a peace sign. Then we had to switch partners, and she said she didn't want me to go! We exchanged phone numbers and she added me on Facebook!

The second interaction I had was with Katelyn and two girls. One was from Brazil, and the other was from Puerto Rico. They had incredible speaking skills. They are both going to study nutrition, so our topic was about health habits in America. The first question was "What do you think is important for healthy living?" I said that eating organic, natural foods is the most important health habit for me. We started discussing the food in America that is really bad for you, like fast food at McDonalds and Burger King. I feel like I was trying too hard to explain what I meant and started rambling about the FDA and Monsanto. I think that the two girls liked learning about all of that stuff, but I may have overloaded/frightened them a little.

The final interaction was with Hammet (Hammed?) from Kuwait. His speaking skills were fantastic and he had an amazing vocabulary. We started talking about how people in America are different in different areas. For example, he understood that people in Tallahassee, Florida and Texas are "southern," but he also noted that people from these areas live different lifestyles and act different from each other. I had to ask Ramin about the phrase "Everything's bigger in Texas." Hammet thought that this was hilarious. I explained that people in the south like in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi are a "polite" and conservative. People from Texas are "confident" and "vivacious," but still conservative. I further explained that Texans are seen to have big hair, big personalities, and big hats. Overall, this intercultural exchange was really interesting. I got to speak with different people all from different countries. They were all eager to learn and speak, and all of them were super lovely and sweet! I'm definitely looking forward to the next ie class.