Nicole -CP1 (Isabela)

      On Tuesday I was fortunate enough to have a spare hour between my public speaking class and our TEFL session, so I was able to plan a quick meet and greet with one of my conversation partners. I have been so excited to meet my conversation partners but with everything going on in my life and theirs it has been a struggle to find times that work. Alas, Monday was successful! Isabela and I met in the CIES student lounge and got to know each other a bit over coffee. She is extremely proficient in English with a and I am so excited to spend more time with her. 

    Isabela is 20 years old, from central Brazil and is extremely bright and outgoing. In her home country she was going to school for civil engineering and hopes to continue her studies here after she receives a highschool certification. She told me a little about her home life, her mother is an insurance agent and her father a property manager. Isabela has only been in the United States for about a month and is loving it so far, the highlights being her visits to Panama City and Universal Studios. We talked about our trips to Orlando that we had both taken in the past couple of weeks. (A suprisingly popular place that our CIES students enjoy visiting in their freetime) She loves Pixar movies and Disney characters, especially Mickey mouse. Both of us are very excited about Halloween, I promised to help her think of costume ideas for parties she will be attending. Considering we are both 20 something's in Tallahassee we have many common interests and I am so excited to spend time with her and provide her a glimpse into some American cultural experiances. Our next meeting will be lunch on Friday at my sorority house, I thought it would be a fun way for her to practice her conversational skills with a group of girls our age. This will be a completely different cultural setting then anything she's ever experianced, as a very social person I know she'll enjoy it and my sisters will as well.