Sunday, October 7, 2012

Coffee with Monique (second meeting)


After weeks of trying to organize a time when we could both meet, Monique and I finally met for some coffee the other day. We had both been very busy since our last meeting. Monique had actually travelled back home to Brazil for a friend’s wedding and I had been busy with a lot of events and school. We had been exchanging text messages and postponing meetings for weeks so I was surprised that we finally met up when we did. I was worried because on the day of the meeting, I saw that I had received a text message from Monique an hour before we were to meet. I thought that maybe something else came up and maybe we wouldn’t be able to meet again but it turns out she had just turned up early and told me to take my time. I had another meeting to go to before so I came at the time we decided to meet. When I finally got to Union Grounds, I ordered a coffee and sat down.
Since so much had happened since we last met, we had a lot to talk about. I asked her a lot about Brazil and her friend’s wedding. I was excited to hear about some of the little details but really, she told me more about how much she enjoyed going home even though it was just for a few days and that it was great to see everybody. I felt that I could sympathize because home for me is also so far and even just a few days at home would be comforting. She also apologized about having to postpone our meetings. Not only had she gone to Brazil but she also had gotten into a horseback riding accident. Fortunately, it was not too serious and she has recovered completely. She just laughed it off. I found it interesting because we tended to laugh at the same things like at all the little stories she told me about the wedding.
In turn, I told her about the few things I have been doing since we last met for example, going to TCU football games. She said she had never attended a TCU football game and that she had planned to go to the SMU vs. TCU game at SMU since one of her friends goes to SMU. However, she was unable to. I told her that she should definitely join me for a home game some time. I said that while she’s at TCU, it’s something she must experience. This reminded me of all the little things that come with the TCU experiencer other than academics.
I told her that even if she didn’t understand football, it’s definitely a great experience. And she told me about the presence of soccer in Brazil. Of course, being a Brazilian, she is a big soccer fan. In fact, she goes to multiple FC Dallas soccer games while because she personally knows some of the players. She related the excitement of soccer in Brazil to the excitement of football at TCU.  
After talking about sports, we discussed our fall break plans. We talked about how there are different school calendars in different countries like how in Brazil, there was no such thing as fall break or spring break. So, she found the idea of fall break quite strange but she wasn't complaining. I had actually been planning to go to Dallas on one of the days. As she lives in Dallas, she started telling me about all the things I could do and what places I definitely should visit. I thought about how smoothly she has transitioned to living here and I realized that I have too. It was interesting to see that both of us were homesick, yet we were enjoying our time here as well.
This ended our meeting as I had a class to run to but we wished each other a good fall break. This time, we scheduled a meeting for after fall break so that we would not have as much trouble meeting up again. 

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