Round Three with Aitana

Once again, my conversation with Aitana went better than the last! Every time I meet with her, I feel like her English improves immensely. Immersion programs like the one offered at TCU seem to work extremely effectively. I think that’s the best way to learn a language – getting thrown into it and not being able to speak anything else. Constant exposure and practice is the only way to become fluent in a foreign language. It also helps you remember the language for a longer period of time. I may have taken Spanish in high school but it’s difficult for me to recall everything I learned because I don’t speak it everyday. And I wasn’t fully immersed in the language in the first place!

Anyway, back to the conversation. Aitana told me she’s looking for a job. Since she only has class in the morning, the rest of her day is pretty uneventful. I suggested she apply to work at the rec center. They’re always hiring there! She did say that she’s going to start babysitting for a family in the area. I think that would be a great opportunity for her! In addition to killing some of her free time, spending time with young children would help her English skills.

We also discussed the upcoming Thanksgiving Break. I explained to her how we only have school Monday and Tuesday next week and then we have a much-needed five-day weekend! She seemed excited about that. I also explained the significance of Thanksgiving – gathering with your family and loved ones to recognize how much there is to be thankful for in your life. And the food of course. I asked her if she had any plans for the break. Aitana’s stepsister invited her to spend the holiday with her in San Antonio. I told her all about San Antonio – the river walk, Mexican food, and the Alamo. Of course, Aitana had never heard of the Alamo so I gave her a little lesson in Texas history.

I was curious to know if there was a Spanish equivalent to Thanksgiving. Aitana said that there’s no day like Thanksgiving celebrated in Spain. She did tell me about Holy Week, which takes place the week before Easter each year. People gather in the center of the cities and perform processions throughout the city. Aitana told me the people pray and contemplate God while they walk. She said she likes to get away from the city during this time.

“There are way too many people,” Aitana told me. “It’s too crowded.”

Our conversation then shifted away from holidays and onto a much more random subject.

“My friend and I think you look like the girl in Like Crazy!” she exclaimed. “You don’t look like a typical American girl. You look British!”

I was quite flattered. Felicity Jones, the actress in that movie, is gorgeous! And it wasn’t the first time someone had told me I looked British. I actually hear that frequently – maybe that’s why I’ve developed an obsession with England. Aitana mentioned that it’s much harder for her to understand English accents as opposed to American accents. It makes sense. Americans speak with more breaks whereas Brits speak with fluency. Their speech flows more, making it more difficult to catch what they’re saying if you’re learning English. Americans take more pauses, breaking up their sentences, making it easier for those learning English to absorb.

I asked Aitana about her roommate’s learning progress. She is also in TCU’s Intensive Language Program. Her roommate is from China. Aitana complained about how her roommate is so shy. She says she hardly ever talks, which makes it difficult for her to improve her language skills. She also only hangs out with other Chinese people, while Aitana spends time with a diverse group of people. Her roommate probably speaks Chinese with her friends, impeding her English skills. Aitana hangs out with other students in the program – people from Russia, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. They’re getting a lot more practice because they have to talk to each other in English. That’s probably why Aitana already speaks pretty good English!

The Greatest Weapon: Laughter

Let me preface my second laughter blog by acknowledging the fact that I am completely aware of the fact that my friends and I are complete weirdos.  We often partake in odd conversations and act on idiotic ideas. Honestly though, I’m not sure what happened last Friday afternoon but I’m pretty sure we reached a whole new level of strange.

It started out like any other Friday, well except this particular Friday I had an Italian test and I did not feel prepared. I have no idea why any professor would schedule a test for Friday! I’m already so exhausted and sick of schoolwork by Thursday that the last thing I want to do is study for an exam. And on top of that there were four different verb tenses on this test! I can barely keep the present tense straight in my mind – how could it be possible to distinguish between four?! After lying around for another thirty minutes after my alarm, I finally pulled myself out of bed and began to look over my notes. I felt overwhelmed by the amount of information I needed to know. Italian phrases and verb conjugations crowded my brain, threatening to spill out of my ears.

I somehow successfully managed to keep my facts straight on my exam and at 12:50 pm, I was finally free. After enjoying my free Chick-fil-a, I headed over to my friend’s apartment in Tom Brown to hang out and relax. My friends and I were just sitting on the couch when I accidentally spilled chips all over the place. Suddenly it was crisis mode. I’m not sure why we were so alarmed by the chip spillage but we proceeded to hunt for a vacuum to clean up the mess.

My friend – who shall remain nameless as to protect her “normal” reputation – found a handheld vacuum cleaner. Crisis averted – we cleaned the crumbs from the couch cushions – but the vacuuming did not stop there. I had also somehow gotten crumbs inside the bottom of my pant leg. Obviously the only solution was to vacuum my pants as well. This turned into vacuuming each other’s feet for a good ten minutes.

As we sat there vacuuming each other’s feet, laughter erupted and flooded the apartment. My friend’s roommate came out and saw what we were doing. We sucked her in (ha get it?) and soon enough her feet were thoroughly cleaned. Eventually we started vacuuming our legs and arms with this handheld vacuum. The sensation is very odd – it tickles you and warms you at the same time. Seriously, try it for yourself!

Now as for the source of our laughter, I believe that it was a combination of relief and relaxation. I had been stressed all morning about my test and needed to blow – or suck – off some steam. Somehow the situation escalated to the vacuuming of each other’s extremities, which evoked laughter just from the sheer peculiarity of the activity. Our laughter resulted from our relaxation, the mere recognition of the strangeness of the situation. We laughed to break the tension. Our laughter seemed to bring us closer together, and even caused others to join in on our activity. Those are some of the greatest results of laughter – relief and the formation of closer ties. Mark Twain was attributed with saying, “The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.” I truly believe that laughter is the best relief from any hardship – it brings joy and a renewed perspective on life. Things start to look up whenever you laugh.

Round Two with Aitana!

I finally met with Aitana again today! We had both been so busy that it was almost impossible to schedule another meeting since our first. I could tell that her English had already improved tremendously – I felt like we had a much smoother conversation. She also seemed more outgoing and enthusiastic.

The subject of Halloween came up of course! We discussed our costumes and festivities for the evening. She told me about going downtown to some clubs with her friends. I asked her about Halloween in Spain and of course it’s not as highly celebrated as in the States. Kids do not trick or treat on Halloween night. They may have a party with some friends and dress in their costumes.

Because we were on the subject of holidays, I told her all about the Christmas tree lighting in the Commons – complete with actual reindeer and fireworks. Aitana seemed to light up with excitement. She told me that she’s excited to the Christmas season and the cold weather that accompanies it.

“It never gets cold in Madrid!” she informed me. “And I haven’t seen snow in seven years!”

I told her that she shouldn’t get too excited for snow – it only really snows maybe once in the winter – but that it does get pretty cold. Aitana can’t wait to wear all the cozy winter clothes and she’s extremely glad that it won’t be sweltering hot anymore. We talked about the almost unbearable Texas summers.

“I’m completely drenched in sweat anytime I go outside!” Aitana mentioned. “But then you walk inside and it’s freezing!”

Then, she asked me about my sorority – I almost didn’t know what she was trying to ask me! I thought she was saying “substitutes.”

“Like the fraternities for girls,” she finally said.

“Ooooh sororities!” I laughed. “Yeah all those r’s make if kind of hard to pronounce.”

She thought it was funny that all the guys in the fraternities had to wear suits, even in the sweltering August heat. We discussed the popularity of Greek life – that it’s pretty popular in the South as compared to the North and the West coast. She was also interested in why I choose my sorority. It was such a change from our first conversation! I felt like she really wanted to get to know me - our talk wasn’t forced and awkward like the first time around.

I asked her how her classes were going. She brought up an interesting point about the program. Her classes are filled with students from all over the world – Spain, Russia, the Middle East. In addition to learning about American culture, Aitana also has the chance to talk to students from other countries and learn about their cultures. She told me about a guy from Saudi Arabia. He doesn’t like the fact that women can drive in the States because it’s illegal for women to drive in his country. She said that it’s fun to talk with other people and exchange views – but that she’s also learned when to keep her mouth shut and be respectful.

I really enjoyed my conversation with Aitana this week! Hopefully we won’t have to wait as long to have another.

The Plague of Procrastination

Well seeing as I have just completed the mid-term for this class, I should probably consider my learning progress. I have been meaning to do this for a few weeks now but seemed to have procrastinated pretty successfully. Or unsuccessfully depending on how you think of it. Speaking of procrastination, though, I’m beginning to realize that’s something that I struggle with. I don’t think my work or my grades have ever suffered because of this phenomenon, however. It’s just my sanity that takes the hit.

In high school I never stayed up past midnight doing homework. I could usually complete all my assignments by eleven o’clock and then just relax and do whatever I wanted to do. I could watch TV or hang out with friends. Now, I often stay up until one or two o’clock in the morning trying to get everything done. There have been too many occasions where I have put off writing a paper or working on some project, leaving the bulk of the work for the night before. Pressure amounts throughout that day and causes me to stress out unnecessarily. But that’s the life of any college student right? I honestly can’t think of one friend who is actually on top of everything and completes papers or assignments early.

A great example of my poor time management skills would obviously be this blog. I wish I could just sit down and knock out these blogs and finish them all but I have an awfully hard time actually writing them. I get distracted and end up on Facebook or watching Netflix. Especially since there’s no due date for each blog, I have nothing pressuring me to complete them. But I know that will come back to bite me at the end of the semester when I only have like three blogs written. I even try to make my own due dates in a sense – I have a goal to write one blog each week – but that has not worked out very well for me. I just put them off and remind myself that they don’t even need to be completed for a couple of months. And when things get hectic in all my other classes, the one thing that I sacrifice is this blog.

I know that most students struggle with time management and procrastination as well but there has to be some way to get more motivated right? I think it just has to be a part of your mentality. I have to motivate myself somehow and stop making excuses. I have learned that I can absolutely not get anything done in my dorm room. With the temptation of lying down in my bed and taking a nap right in front of me, my productivity shoots to zero. I get the most done in the library. Knowing that everyone around me is working and not goofing off gets me in the zone, forcing me to avoid Facebook, Netflix, and all the other possible distractions.

If anyone has any more tips, please feel free to leave them below. I wouldn’t go as far to say that I’m in desperate need of some help but I think it would make me much more successful and relaxed. Maybe I could possibly even have some free time again like I did in high school. I could actually read books for pleasure or well I don’t even know what people do in their free time anymore!

First Meeting with Aitana!

I finally had my first meeting with my conversation partner, Aitana. She hails from Madrid, Spain. She’s only been to the US once very briefly before deciding to study here. And she’s only 18 years old. Moving away to college was hard enough when I was 18 but relocating to a whole new country would have been overwhelming, especially if I didn’t know the language. Aitana hadn’t started learning English until she came to TCU.

Finding each other to actually meet up was a struggle. We decided to meet in Union Grounds but I didn’t even think about asking her what she looked like. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure if she was a man or a woman. It probably would have been smart to ask in advance. So I just sat in Union Grounds for a while and tried to look for someone that may have also been looking for someone. Coincidentally my friend Maggie was also in Union. She happens to be a Spanish major so when Aitana and I finally found each other, Maggie helped with the conversation a little. I don’t know if that’s cheating or not but I think it made Aitana feel a little more comfortable. It helped keep the conversation from being uninteresting or awkward. Maggie could easily help Aitana understand what I was saying and vice versa by translating bits and pieces.

Some things just don’t really translate though. Aitana had never heard of fraternities or sororities. I’m almost positive Greek life is exclusive to American culture. At any other university around the world, students would probably think frat/srat life was insane and ridiculous. Maggie and I tried to explain the recruitment process to her but I’m pretty sure it went right over her head.

Don’t think that Maggie was there for the entire hour. She left after about fifteen minutes and then Aitana and I continued on just fine. We talked about some differences between American and Spanish culture, namely what it’s like to go out in Madrid as opposed to here. She said that we all go out at night on the weekends really early. I mean my friends and I don’t go out until like 10:45 but apparently that’s not late enough. Aitana said that they wouldn’t go out until maybe one o’clock in the morning. And then rather than coming back by maybe 3 am like we do here, her friends will stay out until 7 am and then go have breakfast together. So they wouldn’t even get to bed until maybe 8 in the morning! I don’t know how I would feel about that! I think I would waste the whole day sleeping rather than being productive and doing something with my life.

Another interesting thing that I discovered during our conversation was the fact that mainly American movies and TV shows are shown in Spain. Aitana said that only older people watch actual Spanish television shows. I asked her what shows that she watched and Lizzie McGuire and Friends were the two that came up. She also said that they would just have Spanish voiceovers with the normal American actors. She thought it was funny how the voices and the actors were mismatched.

I’m a little nervous for the next conversation. I sort of ran out of things to talk about and questions to ask. Hopefully I can come up with some stimulating topics before our next meeting.