Brittany CP 6

I was so excited to hang out with Ali at Café Sheesha, especially since I hadn’t been there in years! We both decided to bring conversational company, so my roommate Sarah, and Ali’s friend Mohamed joined us for drinks and hookah. We had an interesting range of topics during the couple hours we hung out, but the best for me is the cultural exchange- I love talking about the differences between countries, so when we’re discussing America vs. Saudi Arabia, the conversation is never short of thought-provoking and truly fun to see how we all do things differently! One intriguing point was Ali and Mohamed both said their fathers discouraged their coming to America claiming they weren’t ready or prepared for such an intense and independent experience, especially given the college climate of Tallahassee which clashes with several aspects of their more conservative culture. Ali explained that he was frustrated but finally convinced his father he was ready and could handle it, which as far as I can tell, he really can. When we spoke about English study I was so impressed by Ali’s focus; he said he’s known English on some level for most of his life after living here until he was 6, but could tell when he moved back to Saudi Arabia that he lost a lot of his skills. This led to his stressing how important personal practice is for him and for all ESL students. Ali said he used to practice speaking to himself in the mirror to maintain what English he could while away, and once he returned to the U.S, he’s gone out of his way to be social with fellow students and TEFL kids from past sessions. He told me he feels learning English is 90% independent study and that part of that is pursuing situations where he can have genuine speaking and listening practice with other native speakers. Ali’s personal drive truly amazes me, having just graduated and before that feeling some serious senioritis, it’s like that concept doesn’t even register for him! I envy his life philosophy of setting a goal and then dedicating oneself to each step in getting there- I need to steal some of Ali’s wisdom for sure!