Erin - CP 6

I had a great time meeting Chia-Ni for the first time today; we talked about just about anything and everything. She only arrived in the States one month ago, but she has been studying English for a long time, so her English was very impressive, especially her extensive vocabulary. She told me that she doesn't feel very confident with listening to English, though, because although children begin to study English in Taiwan from the age of 12, they rarely practice listening. Therefore, when people speak quickly, or have strong accents, it is very difficult to understand, which is making her somewhat nervous to start her classes this fall. She brought up another listening complication I had never thought of before; she explained that she recently went to see Transformers, and although she could generally understand what the actors were saying, there were so many sound effects and so much background noise that it greatly hindered her ability to understand the words being spoken.
We talked about films for a while because, this fall, she is starting her Master's in Film Production. She is studying to be a director, so naturally, I asked her who her favorite directors are; Clint Eastwood...and whoever directed Slumdog Millionaire. When I asked if she would move out to L.A. after she graduated, Chia-Ni informed me that a lot more independent films are made in New York, so she would like to stay in New York for a while in order to direct independent-style films and then travel to other countries as well.
I always think that it is interesting to know how people of other countries and cultures view America, so I asked her what she did and did not like about America. I was told that probably the best and most interesting thing about America is its diversity. The aspects that she did not appreciate were mostly practical...such as how expensive the cost of living is, compared to Taiwan, that our public transportation is not dependable....but then also mentioned that people do sometimes look at her strangely when she is getting around town, especially on the bus; so to make her feel better about that, I shared some of my own personal experiences in Tallahassee.
We seemed to understand each other well and have a lot in common. I really enjoyed our conversation and thought her perspectives were really interesting; I can't wait til next time!