Anthony CP#1

     I met with my conversation partner, Abdulaziz, inside of the CIES building during his lunch break. We decided to walk over to the Subway on campus for lunch. On the walk, we talked about ourselves and the various things we are interested in. He is a fascinating guy; he is from Jazan, Saudi Arabia, and he has been at CIES since November. He made me laugh when he said he likes how cold it is here, especially in relation to Saudi Arabia. I told him to wait for the summer, when it is hot and humid! I asked why he chose to attend Florida State, and he said he did research and found the FSU ESL program to be one of the best in the country (Hats off to the CIES folks!). He was particularly interested in why I wanted to complete the TEFL program, and I delivered my answer of wanting to be involved in the language learning process as an instructor, since I myself had such good teachers.
     In Subway, we ate and talked some more, although the meeting took a humorous turn when Abdulaziz spilled his orange juice all over the floor! He was so embarrassed, but we cleaned it up and had a good laugh. He told me a bit about what he does in his free time, and here we really hit it off. We discussed some of the same video games we played, and he told me he loved to walk around in nature. I've been to most of the nature parks surrounding Tallahassee, and I enjoyed bestowing my knowledge of all the cool outdoors locations upon him. We have already talked about making plans to visit these places, as well as some of the really great food joints in the Tallahassee area! After lunch, we walked back to CIES, and parted ways, as he had more class that day.