Meeting Six

Most of this time I spent with Giovanka we talked about what is on most everyone's mind currently: the end of classes and summer.  Giovanka even showed me that she has a countdown clock on her phone that shows how much time is left, up to the seconds, until she is done with school.  I asked her about how finals work in IEP.  They still have final exams, but they are different; they are comprehensive tests to demonstrate how well they now know English.  The final tests for the program are split up by reading, writing, oral, etc.  We talked about our study habits and agreed that we preferred studying in our dorms over going to the library.

I asked her about what she was excited about doing back in Brazil.  She said that she is excited to get to meet up with her friends from back home and visit the beach.  Giovanka told me she was going to eat a bunch of the delicious fruits that she hasn't been able to have for months here in the U.S.  She showed me pictures of her new baby cousin who she will finally get to see in person when she goes back home.  This summer Giovanka will be modeling again, which she is excited for, but she also mentioned the pressure to stay thin/in shape.    She is also taking some English classes over the summer to make sure she doesn't regress any, which I thought was smart.

I mentioned that I was going to Puerto Rico over the summer and our conversation turned to the subject of travel.  I was a little surprised to learn that Giovanka had never been to any of her neighboring South American countries.  I know that Brazil is a huge country, but I thought it was interesting that she came and lived in the U.S., which is much farther away, before even visiting the other countries that are in closer proximity.  In fact, she said that she has only been to five of the twenty seven states (counting the federal district) in Brazil.  We also both expressed the desire to travel Europe eventually.

This time another friend of Giovanka and Allison ate with us, and most of the time while Giovanka and I were talking, the other two were talking away in Spanish, which I thought was funny.  Overall it was another interesting conversation.