Sabina Ibragimova
Staff Writer
On January 25, 2013 International Office of Pierce College, particularly Jennifer Gruver and Chiharu Hariya organized one of the biggest and significant events “Conversation partners”
Conversation Partners has been an annual event for a very long time. Each quarter International Office organizes Conversation Partners for international students, to help them adjust to a new environment with the assistance of the American students. American students as well get credits for their classes due to helping internationals get used to the school and help them explore the area around them. Thus everyone benefits from it!
The Conversation Partners program for this Winter Quarter was set in HEC building 203, and brought together approximately 70 students. When the event had started at first students were feeling lost, and some of their partners didn’t come due to the class time.
After some time, the room was filled with a lot of students and the conversations between them were so lively. The food “tacos” and some pastry brought by the International Office made their dialogues even more exciting.
Students were coming and leaving, but most of the time they were enjoying having a new friend around. When being asked an American student “Why have you decided to participate in the Conversation Partners program? Is it because of the credit? ” The student replied, “It is because I want to learn more about the culture. Concerning the fact that I am half Filipino, I know a little bit about other cultures. I like getting to know people from other countries, and just learn about their culture and their language.”
There was one of the students of Mexican background who for the first time met an international friend from Indonesia. The student shared that she liked tacos that were served during the event and added that, “My food has to be spicy. If it’s not spicy, it doesn’t have a flavor.”
The music made the event even more interesting and students were thrilled to know more about their partner’s culture, as we know that even though you are American, you still can be of a different background!
