Conversation #6

It is Saturday, May 2^nd and I have just met with my conversation partner for the last time. We were pretty short on time and could only meet for about 30 minutes but we knew we had to see each other one more time before summer break. I did not want to ask Nasrallah questions about a certain topic for this last meeting. Instead, I hoped that we would spend the time reflecting back on our previous meetings. The first half of the meeting we did exactly that. Eventually we began discussing how crazy it is that the semester is almost over. I asked Nas about his final schedule and he told me about how stressed he was. I did my best to reassure him that he would great and tried to inspire him to study as much as he can during this last week. It will pay off in the end.

             It was now time to say goodbye to Nasrallah. I told him how awesome it was to meet with him this semester and how much I enjoyed getting to know him. Over this semester, Nasrallah and I have developed a great friendship, which was something I never forecasted before our initial meeting. I have learned an incredible amount about Saudi Arabia and its unique culture. It is my sincere hope that Nasrallah has learned just as much about my home country as I did about his. To be honest, I can’t believe that was our final conversation. Although we are so comfortable with each other, it still feels like our first meeting was just yesterday. I am extremely glad that meeting with an IEP student was a pivotal part of this class and I hope that this class continues to entail this sort of learning experience.