As soon as I sat down with Nagwa, it was slightly awkward but we kept the conversation flowing. Her grammar and sentence construction is amazing--I found myself talking fast and using slang that I would with my English speaking friends--and she understood everything I said! I told her to interrupt me at any moment if I was speaking too fast or using words she didn't understand, and she said she wouldn't have to, she was understanding everything so far. We talked about her family--she's from Libya and has two older brothers and five older sisters--and how she moved here all on her own about 5 months ago. She is a nutrition major and decided to come here to learn English so that she could speak with more people back home and internationally. When I asked what she wanted to do with a nutrition major she said they only have 19 back home (I think she was joking, but it's a very low number none the less) and she wants to help the people of Libya become more aware about their own nutrition and health.
Nagwa is only 25 and has an excellent command of English language--we discussed how tobacco companies are now putting pictures of cancerous sores on their packaging and she commented in perfect English how could anyone still want to buy them after seeing those pictures. She lives alone in an apartment here but is looking to move in with a classmate from CIES. She is a completely independent Muslim woman and is so amazing. I can't wait for our next date at Black Dog playing scrabble this Friday!
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