Taylor CP #2

Yesterday (Thursday) at tea time, Victoria and I tried to hunt down our conversation buddies. She found out hers went home sick, and another CIES student helped me hunt down mine. Eventually, I met my conversation buddy Jose Miguel who is from Venezuela. Victoria, Jose Miguel and I sat down at a table with Baha and talked about stuff we like to do in our spare time and what they wanted to see or do in Tallahassee. Of course, Jose Miguel said he wants to go to the clubs which, I thought was pretty funny. I told him that there was not much talking involved when going to a "disco" because the music is so loud.

It was easy to keep the flow of the conversation going with a Spanish speaker since I am more familiar with the language. When Jose and I were talking, sometimes he did not know how to say the word in English, for example "violence." I told him to tell me the word in Spanish and I would tell him it in English. Although this did not happen frequently, it helped save a lot of time for explaining what a word means and kept the conversation moving. We also talked about his home town and that right now in Venezuela it is very dangerous and that three of his friends were robbed and killed. I thought about last class when we were discussing how people would say some place was dangerous when it really was not and I assumed that Venezuela was one of those places. However, after he told me about his recent experiences, it really put things into perspective.

We are supposed to meet next Thursday at tea time to talk however, I want to show him more of Tallahassee instead of just saying in one room. I think maybe going to karaoke night one Thursday would be a good laugh and something more laid back than a club.