How to Improve Conversation Partner for Next Year

After having so many difficulties with meeting with my conversation partner, I have a couple ideas of how you can improve it for next year.  First, I definitely agree with lowering the amount of meetings to 5-6.  College students have such a hectic schedule and that is double for honors students.  My days are always filled with meetings, studying, and trying to get to bed at a decent hour.  In addition, it is extremely important that the partners that sign up for mentoring actually want to do it.  After watching my partner continue to cancel on me the day of, I realized that she probably did not want to meet up with me.  This made sense considering she had a long day and probably just wanted to go home and get some rest.  Another way to improve conversation partners is to possibly to meet in groups.  Having 2 ESL students and 2 from our class get together would allow the ESL students to not be so intimidated.  I observed that my partner was often nervous speaking in front of me, but if she had someone from her class with her, she would not be a scared.

A Foreign Experience

In my family we have 3 generations of Air Force.  I've been to more Air Force Academy football games than I could count, and even wore their cheerleading uniform.  It was destiny that my older brother, Blair, would attend the academy and then become a pilot.  While I was in high school, Blair and his wife, Holly, were stationed in Yokota, Japan, which is about an hour train ride outside of Tokyo.  I was fortunate enough to be able to go visit them the summer before my senior year of high school.  It was one of the best vacations I have ever been on, and coming from a daughter of a United pilot, that says a lot.

Once my parents and I arrived in Seattle, waiting to board our flight to Tokyo, I noticed a culture change.  First, half of the plane was Japanese or Asian.  As I walked around, I was hearing languages that did not sound remotely like English or even Spanish, which I studied in high school.  On the plane (which is 10 hours!) I was offered sushi for a meal.  I definitely knew I was no longer in Colorado.  Walking the streets of Tokyo, I stuck out like a sore thumb with my bright blond hair and blue eyes.  It seemed like everyone looked the same and were all heading in some important direction.  Tokyo was such a blast, yet I constantly would have people staring at me, wondering why in the world I was there and in their way.

Once we met up with my brother and sister-in-law,we headed out towards Yokota.  One of the places my brother took us to was a Saki factory.  Being 17, I had no idea what Saki was.  Sitting at the table while my parents tasted the various types of Saki, I was absorbing the atmosphere.  Japan is such a lush country and they take so much care with their gardening.  As I was sitting there, some older Japanese men (who were clearly drunk) came up to me and started rambling in Japanese and patted my head.  To be honest, I was freaked out.  Looking back on it, I find it quite humorous and know that they were probably shocked to see American there.  Overall, my trip to Japan was a eye-opening experience.  I saw how different cultures are and lived outside my comfort zone.