Final Conversation

                I met with my conversation partner Tiffany for the final time Wednesday in Union Grounds.  I wasn't sure where this particular conversation would go but I had a feeling finals and summer would come up in the conversation somewhere. I was a little worried that these last few conversations would be awkward and a bit repetitive after a whole semester of meeting and exploring most of topics.  Luckily this wasn't the case. For me, the later conversations with Tiffany were actually less awkward than the initial conversations because we knew more about each other and she seemed more comfortable and willing to share about her thoughts.

                Our conversation started out about how thankful we were to have finally reached the last day of classes for the semester. We had also both noticed the semester had gone especially after spring break.  Tiffany took one of her finals this week so besides her ESL classes she only has one final left and is already relieved that she is almost done with everything. I could tell she was very excited about getting back to China to finally see her family and friends. She said as soon as she gets back to China the first thing she is going to do is get some real Chinese food as soon as possible.  Her flight back to China leaves Sunday and her dorm is letting her stay a little bit later so she has a place to stay over the weekend.

We had touched on humor in Chinese culture earlier in the semester but I decided to ask Tiffany about it again to see if any of her opinions had changed since the beginning of the semester. She said that from her observations, humor seems to be pretty universal and the people in America laugh at the same things her friends would laugh at back in China. She cited funny TV shows and movies of examples of humorous thing that are similar in American and Chinese cultures.

After our brief discussion of humor , we started discussing the biggest adjustments we had to make for our first year of college and what we had learned in the past year. Tiffany said the biggest adjustment for her was the independence. In China is she ever had a problem or needed something done she could look to her parents for advice or to help but in college on the other side of the ocean she was really on her own. I agreed that this new found independence was a big change but a good one. Tiffany said that so far college has been a lot less stressful than high school in China was. She explained that in China there was constant pressure from her parents and teachers to do well on her tests and the school days lasted from 7 AM to 5 PM.  She has really enjoyed the more relaxed schedule and lower number of tests.  

After a whole semester of conversations I am glad I got to know Tiffany and I had the opportunity for this unique learning opportunity outside the classroom. It was an eye-opening experience to see how Chinese culture differs from American culture especially compared to what I had previously thought about China. I also have a greater understanding of the challenges that a foreign exchange student faces as they go through on a day to day basis as they not only receive a higher education, but adapt to an entirely new culture.