Typical Ignorant American

When we were first informed that we would be assigned a foreign exchange student in the Intensive English Program to meet with and blog about, I was slightly apprehensive. It definitely sounded like a very interesting and beneficial experience for both us and our partner. The only thing was, it required the interest and openness of our partner as well, which was what I was most nervous about. I have always enjoyed listening to different perspectives, regarding almost anything, so I was very excited to have the opportunity to hear a personal account of a completely different lifestyle. I am not the most knowledgeable about life in other countries, which is pretty typical for Americans for the most part. And I don't like stereotyping, and have even more disdain towards falling into them, but a "typical ignorant American" is exactly what I feel like when it comes to global awareness. So I was both excited to learn about life outside of the United States, and nervous in regards to their attitude towards both having to meet with me, along with towards my American ignorance. I just had to hope for the best!

I finally had the opportunity to meet my conversation partner, Meshari, this past Wednesday. I figured that Union Grounds would be a suitable meeting place, and looked for the person who was most obviously looking for someone else as well. Luckily, he was the first one I awkwardly approached. After we each explained how to pronounce our names (this time I didn't mind having to do that for mine, considering I wasn't quite sure how to say his either...), we took a seat and started chatting. All of the worries I had about having to talk to a complete stranger for an hour instantly dissipated. Meshari was very talkative, and understanding of my lack of knowledge of Saudi Arabia. I was slightly afraid that the conversation would turn into more of an interview than just a talk, but that also was not an issue. He was very excited to talk about his country, and really enjoyed comparing his home to the United States. Two of his brothers are also at TCU, one is in the program as well, and the other is working towards a degree, so that made it a lot smoother of a transition to the States. He said that he barely knew any English before coming here, but was able to almost fully converse in English after just around a month. I took Spanish for three years in high school, and hardly knew a lick of it, so I am so impressed at how quickly people become fluent in another language after living there for such a short amount of time. 

I learned so much about Saudi Arabia. I don't know what I originally imagined it as, but whatever that image was continued to change the more and more he told me about it. I knew that it was quite a religious country, with the majority practicing Islam, but I didn't really consider how much it dictated every day life. Meshari told me that they pray at five specified times a day, when they go as a family to the local Mosque. He says that the Mosque isn't as convenient to go to in Ft. Worth, so he just prays at home when he can't make it there. He talked about how it was difficult to fast for 30 days during Ramadan here in Texas, because he had to be around food and people eating all the time, where back at home he didn't have to worry about that. Alcohol is completely outlawed there, which would make sense since Saudi Arabia is governed by Islamic law. Women are also not allowed to drive, which Meshari said they were the only country that still do not allow them to drive. I also somehow did not know that they were ruled by a king. His name is Abdullah, and he has been ruling Saudi Arabia since 2005. Meshari is quite fond of him, as he says that the government helps pay for a lot of things in the every day lives of the citizens. He said that everything is relatively cheap in Saudi Arabia, especially compared to the United States, because the government helps pay for so much. I asked about the foreign exchange program, and how it all works, and he said that you can basically just ask for a scholarship for the program, and you can get it. Apparently this program began a few years ago by the king, in order to create job diversity and opportunities for the youth, along with to build connections with other countries. Meshari said that since their economy is based on their oil exporting, they want to find other ways to keep it alive for whenever the oil runs out. I thought this was pretty brilliant. He said that this year they have over 200,000 students in this program around the world. Now that sounds like quite the networking project! From this we talked about a difference in the overall mentality of our countries, as their students study abroad to almost directly benefit their country, while our students study abroad to build them more as individual, which might aid in our personal benefit to the country. It makes sense, considering that Saudi Arabia is a collectivist country, while the United States is definitely an individualist one. I'm not saying either is better or worse than the other, I just find it all very interesting. It's all in the perspective. 

Well this was a lot longer than I was originally expecting, so I should probably tie it up. These topics were not even close to everything we talked about in our meeting. I learned so much about Saudi Arabia and the life of a foreign exchange student in just this one conversation. I sure hope we didn't breeze through all the possible topics, but judging from the ease of this first conversation, I have no doubt that I have nothing to worry about. I am so excited and grateful to have Meshari as my partner, and can't wait to learn more from him soon!