My Last Meeting with Omar (Meeting with Omar Part 6)

Today was my last meeting with Omar. It was sad knowing that I likely would never see him again; he finished his finals this week and leaves for Mexico on Saturday.  He truly has taught me so much about myself and has impacted how I view my life. Omar has been a shining light throughout this whole semester and has never failed to put me in an amazing mood. I cannot say enough great things about Omar and my experiences having a conversation partner; it has been hands-down my favorite experience I’ve had since coming to TCU.

As usual, Omar and I talked about a variety of different subjects in our conversation. However, our chat focused mainly on different holidays in the United States and Mexico since Christmas is right around the corner. We talked about Christmas, and how it is equally a big deal in both the United States and Mexico. It is such a joyous and giving time of year, and Omar and I both agreed it our favorite holiday. We then got chatting about various other holidays throughout the year. One holiday in Mexico, called, “Day of the Innocents,” occurs on December 28^th every year. Omar told me that it is a day where people play jokes, tricks, and pranks on innocent friends for some good fun. Immediately, the first topic my mind was drawn to was April Fool’s day here in the United States. It sounded strikingly similar to me since on April Fool’s day, we play practical jokes on our friends and family. I told Omar and he seemed to agree. I thought it was extremely interesting how there is practically the same exact holiday in the United States and Mexico, but on two completely different dates. It truly shows how similar the two countries are.

Another topic Omar and I focused on today was politics, due to the upcoming presidential election. Omar was amazed at how complex our government and political system is. For Mexico, the presidential election runs for two months. This is drastically different to the United States, where it seems as if events for the election have already been going on for ages. I also asked Omar further about politics and police in Mexico. I have always wondered if they are as corrupt as they are always portrayed in movies. Omar said that Mexico is just a corrupt country. The politics are unethical, and the police are even more dishonest. The police will often pull you over and ask for bribes instead of writing a ticket. Basically, if you have money, you can get away with doing essentially anything. I compared this to the United States. I believe that politics can, at times, become corrupt and dishonest. However, it is in the nature of the U.S. politician to lie in order to please their constituents. Often, corrupt actions will occur, but I do not believe that they will ever be to the extent of the situations that occur in Mexico. Moreover the police in the United States are, as a whole, not corrupt. It is generally believed that our police are well-trained, law-abiding individuals who are working for the good of the country. The Mexican police, on the other hand, are working for the good of themselves. I found this topic fascinating to focus on solely because it is so different. It truly highlighted the fact that Omar and I come from two different backgrounds. However, even though our backgrounds are different, we bond over these differences and have become amazing friends.

I cannot believe that this semester has come to an end and I will not be able to see Omar on a weekly basis. I had never thought I was going to have such an amazing experience with my conversation partner, let alone make a close friend from it. My time with Omar has created some of my favorite memories from this semester and I am grateful to have had this opportunity. He has taught me so many lessons throughout the semester that I know I would not have learned on my own. Omar was a primary reason I appreciate the importance of pushing myself to step more outside of my comfort zone, and gaining a deeper understanding other cultures. This semester has been truly unforgettable thanks to Omar.

Hunting for Humor

My adventure to find and photograph laughter was much harder than I was anticipating. I was expecting to get a flawless picture of a group of people laughing. Instead, my pictures turned out to be far from perfect. It was difficult to photograph a group of people laughing without them knowing about it, but also not be totally creepy.

My hunt for laughter took me to Sweet Sammies and the Super Target on Saturday night. I dragged my roommate (pictured below) to come along with me so I did not look like a totally crazy person. We first went to Sweet Sammies and we sat there for about 30 minutes while I tried to sneakily take a picture of laughter. However, I did not get great footage. Other than my poor attempt to take a photo of the two girls laughing behind me by taking a selfie (pictured below), I had come up empty handed.

My first (and failed) attempt to photograph humor

My roommate Tori, smiling for the camera

As a result, my roommate and I drove across the street to the Super Target. We walked around the store for around 15 minutes while I attempted to get some photos of people laughing. Although I did not get any action shots of people laughing, I was able to get a picture of a mom and her daughters shopping together. In my pictures, it looks as if they were talking, however, within their conversation before and after my picture was taken, they were joking and laughing. I was able to eavesdrop on what they were talking about.


 Photo of mother and daughter

  First attempt to photograph mother and daughters

The mother and two daughters were looking at the women’s clothing section and a lot of their conversation was cheerful and playful. The three ladies joked around with each other and laughed about it. At one point, one daughter picked out a dress that was hideous and teased about how she thought her sister should wear it. The three of them thought it was hilarious because because the dress was so atrocious. I also found that laughter seemed to be contagious between the mother and daughters. Whenever one of the ladies would start to laugh, the other two would think that the comment was funny and let out a chuckle. Overall, it appeared as if the ladies were lighthearted and easy-going. A large part of what made them laugh was focused around making fun of themselves and not taking everything too seriously.

Wrapping Up the Semester (Learning Experiences Part 4)

As this semester comes to an end and finals quickly approach, I cannot believe how fast this semester has flown by. It seems like just yesterday I was writing my first blog post for this class, when in fact it was around three months ago. It has been a whirlwind, but this semester has changed me and I have grown tremendously as a person. Even though at times it has been difficult, I would not take any of it back.

Starting with this class, I have enjoyed learning about humor. Humor was never something I thought about in depth before Lit and Civ II. However, it has been interesting learning about everything humor has to offer. By far my favorite part of this class were the “Humor Around the World” presentations. I especially expanding my worldview and learning humor in other countries. Also, it was fun researching about my group’s country, the Czech Republic, because the Czechs have such a dry and sarcastic sense of humor. It was easy finding information for our presentation, and Grace, Hailey, and I were excited to talk to the class about the Czech Republic because the humor there is hilarious.

Another one of my favorite parts of this class has been the opportunity to have a conversation partner.  I always look forward to my talks with Omar. Omar has impacted my life in so many ways and I am truly blessed to have met him this semester. He is a brave, driven, and intelligent individual and he has transformed how I view the world. Before I met Omar, I thought I was open-minded and had a decent grasp on other cultures. However, after my talks with Omar, I now know that I had so much to learn. There were several topics that I had no knowledge about.  Omar helped widen my knowledge, but also made me thirsty for more. He was a large reason why I applied to study abroad this summer. Moreover, ever since meeting Omar, I have admired him for his bravery to leave his whole life in Mexico and start over in the United States. He is unbelievably driven to advance his career, and he knew that learning English would do this. I could not imagine doing the same, but I hope that I will be able to pick up some of Omar’s courage and translate it into my life.

In my other classes this semester, I have learned a lot about time management and study skills. My classes got significantly more difficult, which required me to put in a lot more studying for each class. Compared to last year, I was not accustomed to this. This was an adjustment for me and I had some late nights, but I now understand the amount of work I need to put in for tests and assignments in order to get the most out of it without losing too much sleep. It has been difficult, but the semester has been important in teaching me about how to make the most meaningful use of my time.

Moreover, a large part of my schoolwork semester has been group projects. I have had a lot of group work in Lit and Civ II, as well as one large group project in one of my business classes, Business Information Systems. Before this semester, I had never enjoyed group projects, mostly because the group dynamic was poor and I would get stuck with the brunt of the work. However, this semester has been much different. Every single group I have been in, each person has carried their share of the project and finished it in a timely manner. This was much less stressful than group projects I have had in the past. In my Business Information Systems class, my group worked amazing together. Although it was a journey from beginning to end, we created a solid business report that was turned in the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Thanks to this project, I learned effective communication skills, the importance of dividing up work, and how to interact with different types of personalities. These are vital lessons that could not have been taught through a lecture or individual assignment, so I am glad that TCU provides these opportunities for academic growth. However, my favorite part of this group project was how the members of my group became my friends through the process. We had group meetings at least twice a week, long group texts, and several late nights together. We bonded through our mutual stress and our drive to get an “A” on the project. Nothing was going to stop us from receiving an amazing grade on that report, and each of us knew that it was going to require constant communication and a lot of work. When we turned that report, it was one of the most rewarding feelings of my life. This semester changed me from being someone who favors individual work to a person who would rather collaborate and work in groups. I truly believe that working in groups provides endless learning opportunities that an individual would never receive on their own.

This semester has been a wild ride from beginning to end, but it has been a great experience with endless learning opportunities. From my time in Lit and Civ II to all my other classes, I have learned a lot about myself and my academics. I have grown and matured as an individual and I am definitely a different person than the woman who walked on campus in August. It is sad to see this semester coming to an end, but I am looking forward to see what 2016 has to offer.

Travel and Life after TCU (Meeting with Omar Part 5)

As the semester draws to an end, so do my meetings with Omar. Yesterday I met with Omar in the TCU Bookstore. Considering Thanksgiving is right around the corner, we immediately began to talk about the holiday and what activities we were planning on doing. We had talked about this briefly last time, and I remembered that Omar was excited about potentially going to Las Vegas for the holiday. He told me yesterday that he thinks he still will be going to Las Vegas. Omar is eager to be able to visit the city for the first time. Omar asked me what my plans are for Thanksgiving and I told him that my family is flying here to Fort Worth this year to celebrate. The main reason is for the Baylor football game on Friday. It will be interesting because we have no real plans for Thanksgiving dinner. This will be a new twist to the traditional Thanksgiving festivities my family normally partakes in, but my family is equally, if not more, excited to switch things up and have Thanksgiving in Texas this year.

Later in our conversation, Omar told me that his English exam is on December 12. He has to pass this to be able to apply to graduate schools and attend schools internationally. He is nervous for it and still has a large amount of studying to do, but he hopes he will be able to pass. If he is able to do well on the test, then Omar plans to go back home to Mexico and find a graduate school to attend. As a result, this will be Omar’s first, and last, semester here at TCU.

Omar is extremely curious about the United States and experiencing all it has to offer. Therefore, in our conversation, we chatted about the best cities to visit in the United States. I told him about iconic cities such as New York, Hollywood, and New Orleans. However, Omar was the most interested in my hometown in Arizona. I am from Scottsdale, Arizona, so I told him all about it. It is a great place to visit and it does attract a lot of tourists. Especially during the winter, since Scottsdale has great weather. I told Omar that if he likes to golf, hike, shop, and eat delicious food, then Scottsdale would be a great place for him to visit. By the end of my long speech about Scottsdale, it sounded like I had done my job and convinced Omar to visit the city at some point in his life.

After Omar and I discussed the best cities in the United States, we got talking about the different types of people in each state. I casually brought up in our conversation that each state has a different character. Omar thought this was surprising because he just assumed that all Americans had the same general personality. I went on to explain to him that people from California are much different from people who live in Texas, while those who live in Boston or Chicago are much different from people who live in Texas or California. Basically, each state has its own quirks and tends to cater towards a certain type of person. Omar then told me that this occurs in Mexico, too. He said that people who live in North Mexico are much different from the South Mexicans. There are also smaller differences in personalities among regions. I thought this was interesting how this change in character throughout a country occurs in Mexico as well. I naïvely assumed that all Mexicans had the alike personalities, just as Omar had thought the same of Americans. This widened my perspective of the world, as I’m sure it also did for Omar, and made me realize that other countries are diverse and different, just like the United States.

Getting to know Omar has truly been a humbling experience. Not only has it been amazing getting to know a talented and driven individual, it has been eye-opening learning about other cultures. Before I met Omar, I thought I was an open-minded individual that had a decent grasp on world events and cultures. However, after my conversations with Omar, I know that this is far from true. I have so much to learn about the world and how other cultures work. Thanks to my time with Omar, I want to experience many different cultures during my lifetime.

Talking with Omar (Meeting with Omar Part 4)

Today I met up with Omar for the fourth time. As usual, I had a great time talking to him and am enjoying seeing his year here at TCU unfold. It had been around two weeks since I had last seen Omar, so we had a lot to catch up on. When I first saw Omar, I could immediately tell he was stress-free and relieved. He told me that it was partly because it was a Friday afternoon, but also because he had just made it through a week with a bunch of tests. The tests went well and he is now looking forward to being able to focus on other things. For one, Omar has been searching for graduate schools to apply to once he is done with the Intensive English Program here. He is looking at graduate programs at TCU as well as universities in Liverpool, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland. Omar told me that he would be able to complete his master’s degree for free at TCU through a program that TCU offers. Under this program, Omar just has to work for a professor in the department he would study and his tuition would be paid for. He said that this is especially appealing to him, since the work would be in something of interest to him. However, he is excited about in the universities in Liverpool and Edinburgh. I have a ton of respect for Omar for expanding his horizons literally all over the world. He is not afraid to drop everything about his life and go somewhere completely new. After meeting Omar, this is a characteristic I admire and am hoping to adopt in my life.

Today, Omar and I talked a lot about the people he has met in his Intensive English classes. One of his favorite parts about the program is being able to interact and become friends with people from all over the world. He is learning about all different kinds of cultures. Omar told me about one person in his program who is from Korea. One day in class, they were talking about going to the movie theater. Apparently in Korea, instead of eating popcorn as a tasty movie snack, people in Korea eat fried Octopus. Being a vegetarian, naturally the concept of munching on some fried Octopus while watching a movie grossed me out. However, Omar and I both agreed that it is interesting how the type of food people eat vary drastically from culture to culture. Casually in our conversation today, I mentioned a “grilled cheese sandwich,” assuming that Omar would know what I was talking about. However, as soon as I started talking about it, Omar’s face was puzzled and he had no idea what a grilled cheese was. When I explained it to Omar, he was surprised that people just ate bread and melted cheese. It is fascinating how the type of food people eat varies so much depending on the culture.

Omar and I also talked about sororities and fraternities today. Not having any type of Greek life in Mexico, Omar is curious about the whole Greek system. I tried my best to explain to him sorority recruitment, “bigs” and “littles,” and basically how a sorority works. Omar said that nothing like this exists in Mexico, so all he had to rely on about sororities were how they were portrayed in movies. I told him that sororities, at least at TCU, are nothing like how they are in movies. He seemed to understand a little better about Greek life once we finished talking about it, although we both decided the whole concept of it is kind of strange.
 
Omar has become a great friend to me during this semester and I have loved getting to know him. It is great seeing him become accustomed to TCU and the American culture. I admire Omar for his drive and passion in his career, and his un-faltering bravery to follow his dreams. He has inspired me to grow as a person and expand my horizons. I am looking forward to my next meeting with Omar to see how else he has succeeded in his journey in America.

Harold (Uncontrollable Laughter Part 2)

It is always refreshing whenever I visit my home in Arizona, simply for the reason that I get to see my cat, Harold. I believe that all college students can agree that the number one “person” that is missed when they leave for college are pets. I was no different. During my freshman year, I constantly told my parents that I never really missed them (sorry Mom and Dad) and I just wanted to see Harold. Being a sophomore now, I thought I would grow out of it; however, it is no different. I still wish I could take Harold with me to Texas, but unfortunately, cats do not travel well.

Harold has provided my family and me with an innumerable amount of occasions of uncontrollable laughter. Most cats are stand-offish and do what they want. However, Harold is just the opposite. He is a quirky cat and thinks he is part dog. He drinks out of the toilet, chases after balls and even chews on dog bones. He will chase me around my house and want to have his belly rubbed. In short, Harold is strange, but he is a great cat.

The funniest example I can think of with Harold is during fall break my freshman year at TCU. I went back home during fall break and since it was around Halloween, my parents thought it would be a great idea to buy Harold one of those pet costumes. My parents went to PetSmart and purchased a bumble-bee costume. At this point, I truly believed my parents had finally lost their marbles. When my parents got home with the costume, they were so excited and were convinced that dressing Harold up was going to go well. My dad ripped open the package and told me to grab Harold. I reluctantly did. Poor Harold at this point had no idea what he was getting himself in to.

My parents dressed Harold up in his costume. Once Harold had his costume on, it was close to one of the funniest things I have ever seen. My dad sat Harold on the ground and he refused to do anything. When I say he did not do anything, I mean literally nothing. As soon as Harold stood on the ground, he plopped over on to his side because he was so mad about the situation. It was as if he was saying, “How dare you make me look like a bumble-bee, I am a cat!” Eventually though, Harold stood up and started walking around. There were antennas on the costume that messed with Harold’s equilibrium. He sulked around the house, trying to bat them off. After walking around for a little while, Harold decided to give up and sit down. At this point, my family and I were dying of laughter. I think he realized he was putting on a show for us, and so if he stopped moving around, he would be taken out of his costume.

My family and I love Harold, so even though watching him prance around as a bumble-bee was close to one of the funniest things we have ever seen, we could tell he was not happy. His face resembled something close to grumpy cat. We decided that it was best to rescue Harold from the costume. I picked him up and took it off. As soon as the bumble-bee costume was off, Harold was back to normal.  

This experience was extremely amusing for my family and me. Since Harold was not having a great time, I could understand how this experience could be taken as being a bit cruel. However, watching him walk around as a bumble-bee was hilarious. We love Harold and he is spoiled rotten, so putting him in a bumble-bee costume for ten minutes was no big deal.

It is interesting, though, that my family and I thought that this situation was funny. After being in Literature and Civilizations 2 this semester, I believe that this instance illustrates the incongruity theory humor. This is because we did not expect Harold to act the way he did when he was dressed up as the bumble-bee. My family and I expected him to act as a normal cat. However, he was upset about the situation and grumbled around about it. This created an incongruity between what was expected and what actually happened, making the situation funny. It is interesting to see the humor theories in action. However, more than that, seeing Harold prance around in a bumble-bee costume was downright hilarious and will always go down as one of my funniest moments.

 

 

The Blessing and Curse of Technology (Learning Experiences Part 3)

Coming from Arizona, I do not exactly have a great grasp on how to deal with crazy and abnormal weather. I grew up my whole life with sunny skies almost every day. Clouds in the sky were rare and rain was even more of an anomaly. I still remember one time when I was shopping in target while I was in high school and it started raining. Everyone freaked out and did not know how to handle themselves. Many people took pictures of the rain and posted them social media, as if to prove that it is not always sunny in Arizona. To put things a little further in perspective, the first time it rained in Texas during my freshman year at TCU was the first time I had ever used an umbrella in my life. I never had the need for an umbrella, rain boots, winter clothes or anything else of that nature before. As a result, the bipolar weather of Texas proved to be quite a shock when I first came here.

I thought I had gotten accustomed to the weather here in Fort Worth. However, that was all until the storm of last weekend happened. As pathetic as it sounds, I have never seen that much rain in my life. I still haven’t invested in a pair of rain boots, so that made walking outside in the rain a lot more difficult; I went to all my classes on Friday with wet shoes and socks. However, the biggest causality of the storm was my phone. I was walking to dinner on Thursday night in the BLUU and it was pouring rain. I put my phone in the pocket of my rain coat (not the protective Velcro pouch that I discovered later). As a result, my phone got drenched in my pocket. Being the smart, honors student that I am, I did not notice that my phone was wet, so it sat around in its dampness for a while. This was the downfall for my phone, and while I was at dinner, my phone started to malfunction. The screen kept fading in and out with different colors—red, black, white and blue. My friend and I looked up what this meant, and apparently the red screen is called the “red screen of death.”  I concluded my phone was toast. I asked around to see if anyone knew if there was anything I could do to salvage my phone. Someone suggested putting my phone in a bag of rice. At this point, I was desperate, so the next day, I bought rice from Kroger and put my phone in it.

While I was without a phone, I actually learned a lot about how dependent I am on technology. When I did not have my phone on Friday for class, I felt naked. To clarify, I did not have the safety net of looking at my phone when I had no one to talk to. I did not realize I looked at my phone so much between classes, while studying and so many other times of the day. The largest issue for me, though, was communication. I had pretty much no way to communicate with my friends to ask where they were at, when they were eating dinner and what they were doing that night. I tried to communicate with them through Facebook messenger on my computer, but many of them never check Facebook, making communication challenging. Moreover, it was nearly impossible to get ahold of my parents to tell them my phone was broken. This snowballs with not being able to find my friends, because if I was able to find one of them, I would have called one of my parents from a friend’s phone. However, because I had no way to communicate with my friends, I could only hope I would run in to one of them so I could use one of their phones (which did not happen). I had to resort to e-mailing my parents on Friday night telling them that my phone was broken.  

In a sense, I did enjoy not having a phone and being unplugged for a day. I got a ton of homework done because I did not have the distraction of texting and looking at my phone. Moreover, I felt like I was more present in my conversations and was noticing more about my surroundings. I was focused on living in the moment and was not worried about what I had to do in an hour, or who was texting me to meet up somewhere. Not having my phone allowed me to take a step back, look around and appreciate my surroundings.

Miraculously, the bag of rice worked its magic on my phone and it came back from the dead on Saturday afternoon. I was not expecting this at all and assumed I would not have a phone for a week or so. This was a pleasant surprise, however, I did learn a lot from my experience without a phone. First of all, I am reliant on technology. I have been working on not using my phone as much. For instance, I will turn my phone off when I study now. Second, I am trying to use my phone less when I am in large groups of people. If I am with a group of friends or acquaintances, I put my phone away and talk to them instead. After this experience, I understand the importance of acting in the moment and being present in my conversations.

I believe that my phone breaking was a blessing in disguise. If my phone did not break on me, I do not think I would have understood how much technology engulfs my life. Technology is such a great tool to employ, but I have to be careful not to over-utilize it to the point where I do take the time to talk to the people around me and appreciate my surroundings. I am thankful for this experience so I was able to learn this lesson. At the same time, I am also slightly thankful that my phone survived the rain so I did not have to buy a new one!

Comparing the United States and Meixco (Meeting with Omar Part 3)

Yesterday, I met with Omar for the third time this semester. Our meetings are becoming more routine and it is becoming easier to talk to each other. When we met for the first time, I could tell he felt a little awkward; I definitely did too. However, as we have talked and are getting to know one another more deeply, I am really appreciating my time with Omar and I believe Omar is enjoying it as well.

Omar and I talked about a multitude of different things during our last conversation. One main theme that always seems to dominate our discussions are the differences and similarities between the United States and Mexico. I believe this happens since it allows us to create points of commonality and makes our conversation flow more freely. Moreover, I am curious to learn about the different customs in Mexico, so I naturally find myself asking about these topics.

One topic Omar and I focused on today was language and accents. Omar told me that different people have different Mexican accents, depending on where the person is from in Mexico. Omar is from Northern Mexico, and he said that Northern Mexicans typically have a stereotype of speaking more rudely. The first thing I thought of when Omar mentioned this is how this can be compared to the United States. People from Boston, New York or Chicago are typically known to have accents that can come off as impolite (although this is not always the case). Even though this is just a generalization, I thought it was interesting how Omar and I were able to draw parallels between language in Mexico and in the United States. I told Omar that he should visit Boston, New York or Chicago one day so he could get a better idea of what I was telling him about.

Moreover, with our mutual excitement for all the different holidays coming up, Omar and I shifted our conversation towards this. This is Omar’s first Halloween in the United States and he is particularly eager for it. However, he does not have a costume yet. We both laughed when I told him I did not have a costume yet either, and am most likely going to whip something up the night before. Moreover, Omar told me that Halloween is not a huge deal back in Mexico, but they still celebrate it. He is looking forward to embracing all the American traditions that Halloween entails, such as handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. Also, in Mexico, a big holiday that is right around Halloween is Dia de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead.” I remember learning about this in my Spanish classes in high school, but Omar basically explained to me that it is a day to remember loved ones who passed away and celebrate their lives. In Northern Mexico, the holiday is not a huge deal, and Omar said that he and his family typically would go to the cemetery and visit their loved one’s graves. In Southern Mexico, however, Dia de los Muertos is an immense celebration with parties to celebrate the lives of those who have passed. I always have thought that this holiday is fascinating. It is a big part of Mexican culture to embrace death and celebrate the lives loved ones have lived. This contrasts drastically with the culture in the United States, where death is typically viewed as a morbid and frightening event.

Furthermore, Omar is looking forward to having his first Thanksgiving ever. In my ignorance when talking to Omar, I completely forgot that Thanksgiving is only an American holiday, so Omar has no idea what it entails. I told Omar all about it—the huge turkey dinner, family, football and the history of how the holiday originated. I believe that my explanation gave Omar a better understanding of what Thanksgiving actually is and why it is celebrated. I look forward to talking to Omar after Thanksgiving to see how he liked the holiday. Stay tuned!
Near the end of our conversation, Omar and I began to talk about work and minimum wage. I just began working on campus this past week, so Omar asked me about it. We eventually got talking about minimum wage and I was extremely surprised at how different minimum wage is between the United States and Mexico. In Texas, minimum wage in $7.25/hour. To put this further in perspective, minimum wage in Arizona, where I am from, is $8.05/hour. The minimum wage varies by incremental amounts from state to state, but these variances are typically due to explainable variables such as the cost of living. When discussing the minimum wage with Omar, I did not even think to say it was “per hour.” I merely just said, “$7.25.” Omar replied back to me, asking if that was the daily rate or hourly rate. He then went on to tell me that minimum wage in Mexico is around $7.00 a day. I was stunned when Omar told me this. He said that this is not nearly enough money to live off of. Fortunately for him, since he has attended college, Omar was making above minimum wage before he came to the United States.

Omar has been doing great ever since coming to the United States. His mom might come visit him this weekend from Mexico, and Omar is tremendously thrilled about this. It has been over four months since he has seen anyone in his family. Moreover, my conversations with Omar are always great. Not only is he benefiting from our conversations by practicing his English, I am learning a ton, too. I am grateful for this opportunity to participate in this program and get to know Omar. I cannot wait until my next meeting with him to see what exciting new experiences he has had.

Food and Culture (Meeting with Omar Part 2)

Today I met with my conversation partner, Omar, for the second time. We met up again in Union Grounds for about an hour and caught up from the last time we saw each other. It had been awhile and a lot had happened to the both of us. Therefore, we had a lot to talk about such as fall break, school and football games. I really enjoy my conversations with Omar and find it especially interesting hearing about his experiences in America after living in Mexico his whole life.

Funny enough, even though Omar and I had a ton of other topics to talk about, we spent most of our time talking about a seemingly insignificant topic—food. Omar began by telling me that the food here in Texas is a lot different from the food back home in Mexico. Also, American eating habits are much different from Mexican eating habits. His uncle, who has lived in America for a while, has been influenced by the American culture. Omar said that his uncle eats a lot of fast food and does not make a lot of home cooked meals. Omar does not like this. He wishes his uncle would cook some meals and sit down and eat with Omar. Omar prefers to prepare his own food because that is what his family did back in Mexico. Also, Omar told me that this past weekend he had his first “Mexican food” in America. He was appalled because it was not real, authentic Mexican food. The food he ordered was nothing like the food he would eat at home and he did not enjoy his experience in this restaurant at all. If anything, it just made him miss Mexico more because this mockery Mexican food reminded him of everything great about his home. I then asked him what true Mexican food is like, because to me the only good Mexican food I know of is Chipotle (I know it is pathetic). Apparently, burritos are not popular at all in Mexico. I found this extremely surprising because one of my favorite things to order in a Mexican restaurant are burritos! Tacos, however, are popular in Mexico and they will put beans and meat inside them. The typical family in Mexico will cook all of their meals together which normally consists of some sort of meat, rice and beans. I especially found this last piece of information very interesting. Families in Mexico will prepare their meals and eat them together. In America, this is becoming rare. A lot of families in the United States will not even sit down and eat together, which I believe to be an important part of family life.

Even though Omar was upset by his experience in the Mexican restaurant he visited this past weekend, he has ate at a few good places here. One of these is a Mediterranean restaurant located on West 7^th called Terra. I was thrilled when Omar said he loved this restaurant because Terra is my favorite restaurant located near TCU! It seems only natural that Omar and I go eat there together some time, considering we are both big fans of the restaurant.

Omar and I then got on the subject of our favorite foods. Omar’s favorite are tamales, which he said he has not been able to find in Texas yet. When I was telling Omar about my favorite food, I told him that I am a vegetarian, which he thought was crazy. The Mexican food culture relies heavily on meat so he could not believe I did not eat any meat! When I told him one of my favorite foods is tofu, he had no idea what I was talking about, so I had to pull up a picture of it on my iPhone.

After talking with Omar, it is crazy to see the differences in how people in America eat and how people in Mexico eat. Omar said he is having a hard time adjusting the food here in Texas because it is so different from the food he is used to eating. Putting myself in Omar’s shoes, I could not even imagine going to Mexico, especially as a vegetarian, and trying to adjust to the food that is prepared there. It would definitely be a large obstacle. However, other than challenges with food, Omar seems to be doing great in America. He said he loves the Intensive English Program and is doing well in it. He just had his first round of finals and he thinks he did well on all of them. I am so glad to see Omar doing well so far in America. I can see his drive and passion to be successful in life and I know he deserves the best.

Tamales-Omar's Favorite Food

Tofu-My Favorite Food

Boys in Heels (Uncontrollable Laughter Part 1)

It is hard to pick out just one instance when my friends and I broke out into fits of uncontrollable laughter. It does not take much to get me to laugh; I’m the type of person who laughs at pretty much anything. Moreover, when you put me with my friends I laugh so much more because we feed off of each other’s humor. For these reasons, I find myself uncontrollably laughing a lot, which makes it extremely had to just pick one instance.

However, the most recent time I can think of when I just about fell over because I was laughing so hard happened just this past Tuesday. I am a member of the Alpha Chi Omega fraternity and our philanthropy is domestic violence. I know at this point you are probably thinking, “What is so funny about domestic violence? You have a pretty twisted sense of humor, Courtney.” Just keep reading, I say, and you will soon understand. October is Domestic Violence awareness month, so my sorority puts on a domestic violence awareness event called “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes.” In the event, a group of four men from various fraternities will sign up to be a team. Then, these teams do a relay race around the commons... in heels. The guys literally go all out and run as fast as they can in the heels. Some sprint, others struggle a bit and fast walk. I am not kidding, one guy had sparks coming out from his heels he was running so fast. He made “hot wheels” a real thing. Basically, this event is one of the funniest things I have ever laid my eyes on.

This year, my roommate, Tori, and I were coaches for one of the fraternity teams. We had never met these boys before, but as soon as we did, we could tell they were particularly excited for the event and wanted to win. Before our team was up to race, the boys wanted to practice running in heels. Right when one of our team members put his heels on and stood up, the first thing out of his mouth was, “Why do you girls do this to yourself? This is painful!” He continued then to try and walk in his heels, although it was more of a waddle.

The boys practiced walking in their heels until it was their turn to race. I don’t think I have ever seen four men so excited to run around in heels. To say the very least, it was prime entertainment. Soon, it was time for the team to race. All of them were put in their prospective positions along the relay. Next, the flag was waved and the race started. Our first team member ran his portion of the race with flawless grace. Our second and third person also did a great job, although they rightfully struggled a little bit. At this point, we were in an amazing position to win the race. I could tell my team members were ecstatic. We had a lead and if we could keep it, we would win! However, everything went downhill during the last portion of the race when it was handed off to the last team member to run. As soon as he began running, or should I say a semi walking and trotting, we lost our lead quickly. It was all okay though because it was just about the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life. At that point, I could care less about winning because watching my team member running in those heels was enough entertainment for a lifetime.

We came in second to last for the race, but it was such a great time that no one on my team cared. By the end of the race, we all could not control our laughter because it was so funny. The boys also could not believe that they had just run around the TCU commons in heels. Although it might have been a “you had to be there” sort of thing, I like to think the image of boys racing in heels is pretty hilarious.

Don't Freak Out! (Learning Experiences Part 2)

Sometimes it is insane the amount of work that college professors expect their students to keep up with. I really wonder if they think that their class is the only class I am taking. When I get assigned a paper, a quiz and a test all in one week, the typical student starts to get a little overwhelmed. Multiply that workload by five and you get a mountain of assignments that is near impossible to climb. This situation was my life for the past two weeks. I had never faced a workload this large over such a condensed time period since arriving at TCU and it was, to say the least, hectic. I am not the type of person to cram for a test or procrastinate an assignment until the last minute, but when I had 5 tests, a presentation and 3 quizzes, plus multiple club meeting and extracurricular activities all stuffed into 2 weeks, some assignments fell pretty far down on my priority list. However, now that these past 2 weeks are over and I did well on all my assessments, I can say I have learned a few important lessons about time management and most importantly, not freaking out.

I truly believe one of my greatest strengths in life is my perfectionism and my drive for success. However, ironically enough, I also believe it is one of my greatest flaws. Often, it is not possible to be perfect, and I have a hard time telling myself this. When it comes to school, I will never feel satisfied with myself until I understand every detail for every single one of my tests. In the past two weeks, this was not feasibly possible, and I had to keep telling myself that. I struggled a lot with this aspect because I thought that if I did not know everything, I would not do well on my tests. I also knew that if my tests were more spread out, it would be a slam dunk for 100%, or near 100%, on every one of my tests.  However, even though my various assessments were so heavily condensed into 2 weeks, I still did well on all of them. For these reasons, I believe the greatest lessons these past 2 weeks have taught me is that: first, I am not a robot, so I can make mistakes, and second, I do not need to know every minute detail to be successful.

Another important lesson I learned in these past two weeks is how to deal with stress. More precisely, I worked on reducing the amount of pressure and anxiety I put on myself. I realized that stress is pretty much useless and is counterproductive in my studies. It was more beneficial to me to take a step back and breathe. I just had to tell myself to take it one day and one test at a time. Fortunately, this was successful. I was able to reduce the amount of stress I had and do well on my assessments. I studied much more productively than if I had overwhelmed myself with the colossal amount of work I had looking me in the face.

I am beyond happy that I made it through these past couple weeks. Even though they were a bit torturous, I did learn a lot about myself and how to handle stress. However, more importantly, these past two weeks have made me wonder about the education system as a whole. I truly believe that today’s society places an unreasonable amount of pressure on the young adult population to be flawless and to accomplish feats that are nearly impossible. Over the years, it seems as if more and more work is assigned to students over shorter and shorter time periods. In a sense, I believe this has great outcomes; our young adult population is becoming more professional and educated. On the other hand, I have been asking myself a lot lately if this is really the right way to do it. What if I had not been able to overcome my stress in the past couple weeks and decided to give up? My high school back home has been riddled with this predicament. It is extremely competitive; we had both Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs. On the positive side, I completed AP classes in high school which over-prepared me for my time here at TCU. However, the competitiveness at my high school got to the point where if I got a “B” on a test, I would feel like a total failure. I know I was not the only person feeling this way; my high school has been cursed with student deaths, mostly suicides, ever since its opening in the 1990s. The most recent of these deaths hit closest to home for me. At the beginning of last August (during my freshman year here at TCU), an upperclassman who was part of the IB program killed himself the day before the 2014 school year started. The suspected reason was that he didn’t want to go to school because it was too much pressure to maintain good grades. It is horrible that the only way he sought peace was to kill himself, that way he would never have to step foot in high school again. The sad thing is, my high school was that competitive that I can see where he was coming from. Is this really what our education system is coming to? Those that cannot handle the pressure are left to eat the dust of the successful. Thankfully, I was able to overcome the competitiveness of my high school and the massive pressure of college. However, what if I did not? Would that leave me living at home with my parents and not attending college—or worse, would I have had the same fate as the poor student at my high school? If this is what the future of the education system is, I do not know about you, but I do not want any part of it.

Exploring Different Cultures (Meeting with Omar Part 1)

Today I met my conversation partner for this semester, Omar. After talking for just one hour, I have so much respect for what he did by leaving his whole life. I especially applaud his efforts in learning English and his determination to advance his career. Omar is from Mexico and has already completed his undergraduate degree in biochemistry. Before he left, he was working as a Biochemist on weekdays from 9 AM to 6 PM and as a grocer at a grocery store on weekends. He told me he found out about TCU literally by googling “Intensive English Program” on the internet. TCU’s program showed up as one of the results, and after some research, he discovered it was located very close to where his Uncle lives. In June, he decided to apply. By July, he received his acceptance letter to the program, and in August he was here in Fort Worth.

A big part of our conversation revolved around talking about Omar’s friends and family. He said it has been extremely hard in this past month being far away from them. However, he knows that this is what he needs to do to improve his career and create a better future. I respect Omar for being able to completely uproot himself from his friends, family and culture, and start over in a different country. That is not something that just anyone could do. Omar has one sibling--an older brother. His brother is a doctor and is currently working towards a specialty in psychiatry. He lives and works in Mexico. Omar’s mother is a secretary and his father is a family doctor. Omar talked about his family with an extreme amount of affection and I could tell he really missed them. Also, when I complimented him about his family being so successful (I mean, who wouldn’t?) he was so humble, playing off having two doctors and a biochemist in the family as if it was nothing.

Omar and I also talked a lot about the differences in culture between the United States and Mexico, especially in college. One thing that stuck out to me was the costs of an education in Mexico versus in the United States. Omar told me that in his four years of an undergraduate degree, he spent around the equivalent of $6,000. This was appalling to me, compared to TCU’s pricey tuition. He also told me that class schedules were extremely structured. So, for instance, if you were a psychology major, you would have every single class mapped out for every semester since your freshman year. Students in Mexico also were not free to determine the times of their classes; classes typically ran from 8 AM to 1 PM every day. I thought this was interesting when comparing this to class schedules at TCU. My accounting major does have a decent amount of structure with regards to what classes that I am supposed to take, but with my second major, economics, I can take whatever classes I want as long as I get them all done by senior year. Additionally, uniformly across the TCU campus, students can schedule classes for whenever times they want. This is unlike Mexico where every student was in class at the same time.  

I asked Omar how his classes have been going so far in the Intensive English Program at TCU and he loves it. Funny enough, his favorite part is having the afternoons off. He said that every afternoon, without fail, he goes home and takes an hour nap (which I am slightly jealous about). His schedule was so crazy back home during college and after he graduated that he is really enjoying his free time and not being busy 24 hours of the day. Needless to say, I think he has worked hard enough during college and in his career before coming here to earn that hour nap.

The hour I spoke with Omar today flew by and I am looking forward to the next time I get to talk to him. It was interesting getting to learn about his upbringing and the culture in Mexico because it is so different from the United States. The whole time I was speaking, I could not help but think that Omar’s English was excellent, especially since he has only been in Texas about a month. I respect Omar for his bravery for coming to the U.S. and learning English—if this situation was flipped I’m not sure I could do the same.

Learning Experiences from My First Three Weeks of Sophomore Year (Learning Experiences Part 1)

Just three weeks in to my sophomore year, I have already learned so much and had many amazing experiences. It is crazy to think that just 21 days here at TCU has already provided a massive amount of opportunities for me to grow as an individual. I am so grateful to attend a school as amazing as TCU, where literally only a few days on campus cultivates my personal development.

This course, Literature and Civilizations II, has been nothing like I was expecting it. I took Literature and Civilizations I last semester as my honors class, so I was imagining this class to be set up somewhat like a book club, which was how Literature and Civilizations I was structured. However, ever since attending class on the first day, I realized my preconceived notions were far from correct. Within just these first 6 classes, I have learned a lot without having the intense pressure of tests and due dates looming over my head. Also, I am especially enjoying the focus on humor. Before this class, comedy was never a topic I thought deeply about, but learning about the different theories of humor and why we laugh is very interesting. It makes a lot of sense and I am finding myself applying it to my life outside of class. For instance, my friends and I were watching the movie, The Proposal, together one night and we started laughing when the fluffy, white dog, Kevin, was scooped up by the eagle. I thought later that the reason why we were laughing was because of the incongruity theory of humor since the eagle taking the dog was an unexpected outcome given the situation. As nerdy as it sounds, I thought it was awesome I was able to tie what I had been learning in class into real life.

My first three weeks of classes in my other courses have been an adjustment transitioning from freshman to sophomore year. Beginning this year, I just transferred into the business school, so it has been different adjusting to my business classes since I had not been able to take any beforehand. Also, now being a double major in accounting and economics is already starting to be a lot of work. I am learning how to manage my time more efficiently and handle the workload. However, on the positive side, I am taking classes that I enjoy and am excited to learn about because it is what I will be doing with my career. It is exciting to be learning material that I will be using for not only the next four years in college, but for the rest of my professional career.

Within the realms of my academics so far this year, I have already learned so much and have transferred these skills in my day-to-day life. However, not only have I had learning experiences in the academic spectrum, but outside of class as well. I was tested the very first week of classes with a family emergency. It was stressful to deal with, but it has taught me a lot about myself and those around me. I learned how to become a more compassionate person and be there for others; not that I was not before, but I often find that I encompass myself in my school work and make little time to be a solid support system. However, during this time, I had no choice but to take a step away from school and extracurricular activities and just be there for my family. Although it has been hard, this situation has taught me to look at the big picture and appreciate the importance of my loved ones.

These first three weeks of classes have been a whirlwind, to say the least. The days flew by and were mixed with a rollercoaster of ups and downs, but I would not take a single second of it back. Even though they have been crazy, I am excited for what sophomore year has in store for me and hope it does not fly by as rapidly as these first three weeks did.