Harry and I met for our last time this Thursday, and with that, Harry
seemed to be the most chatty with me today. He had a lot to say today
and I'm sad to say that I wish every conversation had gone more smoothly
and naturally like this one did.
To really kind of
wrap up our 45 minute discussion, I'll just hit some of the high points.
We talked a lot about internships and work again. I asked him what his
plans were since he already knew about mine, and he said he would just
like to have something that would pay him. Unfortunately, it's difficult
for him to get an internship, much more a paid internship in the U.S.
Not really sure why, but it seems like countries give priority to
citizens and not international students or others that have obtained a
working visa. I asked him if he could get an internship where would he
get it, and he said he wasn't sure at all. He knows he wants to do
business but, as of right now, he doesn't know what direction he would
want to take his business degree.
Whatever Harry does
though, it must involve a lot of money, he definitely made that clear.
He has an obsession with luxury vehicles and plans on buying a
Lamborghini sometime in his life. His parents own a Jaguar and Mercedes
(which he clarified to me that imported cars like that cause more than
double what we pay for them) so, allow your minds to wander freely as to
what they do. Harry said his parents own their own companies and
constantly working to branch their businesses out. Harry has discovered
that, although he doesn't know what they particularly do (which I found a
bit odd), we doesn't want to do anything that they do... confusing, but
I guess makes sense when you really think about it.
While
talking about business, he mentioned that the United States has
ridiculously cheaper products than China. In China, they tax all luxury
imports that are unique to China in order to encourage spending on
domestic goods, another aspect of the country that Harry isn't too fond
of. He has already purchased his own Mercedes while being here and was
excited tell me that when graduates his father will give him 100,000
Chinese dollars to purchase whatever car he'd like... now that, my
friends, is a kind father! He doesn't know what he'll buy just yet, but
he's excited for the day.
After our long discussion
about money and cars mixed with a bit of laughter, Harry and I gave our
final goodbyes. I wished him a safe trip home and he wished me a happy
break. I think we'll still stay in touch.. I still need the name of that
software...
Friday, December 7, 2012
Meeting number 7 with Harry
*My original post was saved over by 8th meeting post, so I'm rewriting this*
Harry and I planned to meet at our usual Tuesday time slot of 2:00 at the Barnes and Noble. Unfortunately, for Harry he couldn't meet at 2 and moved our time slot to 5:00. That definitely changed my plans up for the day, since my days are usually so filled with meetings and lately, interviews for this and that.
I came into our meeting a bit late and flustered and sat down so out of breath. He knew that I was definitely struggling a bit and asked me what was going on. I explained to him that these past few weeks have been more than exhausted with projects, meetings and interviews for potential internships I'm just at a total peak as to how busy one can be and have plateaued since I've reached that spot. He felt for me but still didn't quite understand. He only is taking about 9 hours and had nothing but projects to deliver for his finals, which he even claimed were easy. Today, he had just given his final presentation for one of his English classes about himself and he was ready to head home.
I, once again, asked about home for him and today his response was more than enthusiastic about going home. He's really beginning to get excited about heading home to his friends and family, although he's still not thrilled about the traveling to Australia and he's decided not to fly to Denmark. What's really got him excited for home was the food. I absolutely felt for him there. Having studied abroad in London this past summer and being there for a month, I had left behind me fajitas, briscuit, refried beans and a variety of other tex-mex, San Antonio goodness behind in the United States. I came across numerous places that took their own twist on my culture's food or they obviously hadn't had authentic food native to South Texas and made the food into their idea of what it would taste like. Harry explained to me that in China the food is a bit fresher, and more focused on chicken instead of red meat. Here everything is deep friend, and while he's not against the food here, he really wants to get back to the food he has grown up with, and speaking of that, he scoffed at the idea of Chinese food here. It's nowhere near as good as it is in China, and he's only found one place that comes close to it here in Fort Worth, but the one thing he has found that he likes are chicken wings... I laughed and said that was interesting choice out of all foods he could like in America.
After a long discussion of foods, Harry got me thinking of food myself and realized I hadn't eaten that day. I told him I had a meeting to get to, so I could grab some lunch beforehand, and we left it off there. Until Thursday, Harry!
Harry and I planned to meet at our usual Tuesday time slot of 2:00 at the Barnes and Noble. Unfortunately, for Harry he couldn't meet at 2 and moved our time slot to 5:00. That definitely changed my plans up for the day, since my days are usually so filled with meetings and lately, interviews for this and that.
I came into our meeting a bit late and flustered and sat down so out of breath. He knew that I was definitely struggling a bit and asked me what was going on. I explained to him that these past few weeks have been more than exhausted with projects, meetings and interviews for potential internships I'm just at a total peak as to how busy one can be and have plateaued since I've reached that spot. He felt for me but still didn't quite understand. He only is taking about 9 hours and had nothing but projects to deliver for his finals, which he even claimed were easy. Today, he had just given his final presentation for one of his English classes about himself and he was ready to head home.
I, once again, asked about home for him and today his response was more than enthusiastic about going home. He's really beginning to get excited about heading home to his friends and family, although he's still not thrilled about the traveling to Australia and he's decided not to fly to Denmark. What's really got him excited for home was the food. I absolutely felt for him there. Having studied abroad in London this past summer and being there for a month, I had left behind me fajitas, briscuit, refried beans and a variety of other tex-mex, San Antonio goodness behind in the United States. I came across numerous places that took their own twist on my culture's food or they obviously hadn't had authentic food native to South Texas and made the food into their idea of what it would taste like. Harry explained to me that in China the food is a bit fresher, and more focused on chicken instead of red meat. Here everything is deep friend, and while he's not against the food here, he really wants to get back to the food he has grown up with, and speaking of that, he scoffed at the idea of Chinese food here. It's nowhere near as good as it is in China, and he's only found one place that comes close to it here in Fort Worth, but the one thing he has found that he likes are chicken wings... I laughed and said that was interesting choice out of all foods he could like in America.
After a long discussion of foods, Harry got me thinking of food myself and realized I hadn't eaten that day. I told him I had a meeting to get to, so I could grab some lunch beforehand, and we left it off there. Until Thursday, Harry!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Meeting number 6 with Harry
We met for a short time today in the usual spot and thankfully we got the comfortable seats in Starbucks, our conversation felt much more natural than planned thanks to that addition.
We began conversation with how his week was looking, and boy does it feel like we both have it easy this semester. He has a few projects and presentations to make before he lives this Saturday and I only have two written finals. We both agreed that our lucky definitely won't last, especially discussing our classes for the coming semester. Harry will be diving deeper into his courses that are focused towards his business degree while taking more hours than just the twelve he's in currently enrolled and I'll be taking a whopping a 18 hours plus an internship (being a triple is such a joy sometimes). We both agreed that I would win in what schedule screams "death" the most contest.
After discussing that information I noticed that he was on that website that allowed him to download songs and movies for free. I was literally so in awe with it, we stayed studying that program for a good 15 minutes. He showed me how to browse, and let me tell you... working Chinese programs is not an easy task. From the layout to the language, it's all so complicated. He even says he struggles with a lot of Chinese made software. He searched for the movie Skyfall, and sure enough it was on there! High definition and all, and not a bootlegged copy. It absolutely blows my mind that this kind of software is available. Harry ended up giving me the information to download it myself, too bad I have no idea how to pronounce that program because the only way to identify it is through two Chinese symbols... Joy.
After our software discussion, Harry had to take to off. We planned to me Tuesday and chat again over coffee.
We began conversation with how his week was looking, and boy does it feel like we both have it easy this semester. He has a few projects and presentations to make before he lives this Saturday and I only have two written finals. We both agreed that our lucky definitely won't last, especially discussing our classes for the coming semester. Harry will be diving deeper into his courses that are focused towards his business degree while taking more hours than just the twelve he's in currently enrolled and I'll be taking a whopping a 18 hours plus an internship (being a triple is such a joy sometimes). We both agreed that I would win in what schedule screams "death" the most contest.
After discussing that information I noticed that he was on that website that allowed him to download songs and movies for free. I was literally so in awe with it, we stayed studying that program for a good 15 minutes. He showed me how to browse, and let me tell you... working Chinese programs is not an easy task. From the layout to the language, it's all so complicated. He even says he struggles with a lot of Chinese made software. He searched for the movie Skyfall, and sure enough it was on there! High definition and all, and not a bootlegged copy. It absolutely blows my mind that this kind of software is available. Harry ended up giving me the information to download it myself, too bad I have no idea how to pronounce that program because the only way to identify it is through two Chinese symbols... Joy.
After our software discussion, Harry had to take to off. We planned to me Tuesday and chat again over coffee.
Meeting number 5 with Harry
Well, Harry and I have really discovered that our schedules really have not matched well this semester. We met this past Thursday and decided then and there that we would hammer out the rest of our meetings this coming week. I thought, "Oh, wow. What will have to talk about if our meetings are so close to one another." Surprisingly though, meeting so many times in a short amount of time really forced us to stray from the usual, "how was your week?" and "what are your plans for the day?" type of questions.
Harry and I met at our usual Starbucks spot inside and had a bit of an interesting conversation about our usual weekend activities. We talked heavily about what we do socially, our life outside of the academic world. We chatted about our usual routine and I briefly explained what event I was going to this coming, I think it was a mixer I was telling him. I had to explain to him how fraternity and sorority events pan out; We have to board buses and transport to a location that nobody knows the whereabouts of (to prevent drunk driving). He thought it was a really interesting that we plan events like this for just one night out. I laughed and told him that's not all we do, that sometimes I just stay in or go to a friends house to relax after a long week or rough day.
He began to tell me that one of the things he missed the most about China was the small amount of regulation there is when it comes to going to bars and alcohol. While he's 20, in China he has the ability to go to any bar or any type of establishment where alcohol is served which is one of the most appealing aspects of China that he finds to be better than the United States. Most of his weekends spent in China are spent gathering at a local bar and just chatting and drinking with his high school friends. In Fort Worth, he enjoys that he still gathers at friends' houses but he finds the social scene lacking a bit here due to the fact the legal drinking age is 21 and most bars are 21 and up. He can't wait to get home and finally have a large drink after this semester. We both started cracking up.
We wrapped up the conversation and said our good byes and went our separate ways.
Harry and I met at our usual Starbucks spot inside and had a bit of an interesting conversation about our usual weekend activities. We talked heavily about what we do socially, our life outside of the academic world. We chatted about our usual routine and I briefly explained what event I was going to this coming, I think it was a mixer I was telling him. I had to explain to him how fraternity and sorority events pan out; We have to board buses and transport to a location that nobody knows the whereabouts of (to prevent drunk driving). He thought it was a really interesting that we plan events like this for just one night out. I laughed and told him that's not all we do, that sometimes I just stay in or go to a friends house to relax after a long week or rough day.
He began to tell me that one of the things he missed the most about China was the small amount of regulation there is when it comes to going to bars and alcohol. While he's 20, in China he has the ability to go to any bar or any type of establishment where alcohol is served which is one of the most appealing aspects of China that he finds to be better than the United States. Most of his weekends spent in China are spent gathering at a local bar and just chatting and drinking with his high school friends. In Fort Worth, he enjoys that he still gathers at friends' houses but he finds the social scene lacking a bit here due to the fact the legal drinking age is 21 and most bars are 21 and up. He can't wait to get home and finally have a large drink after this semester. We both started cracking up.
We wrapped up the conversation and said our good byes and went our separate ways.
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