Blog Post #1

I am looking to forward Chat Café starting up next week.  I am exited to have the opportunity to connect with international students on campus.  As comes with in any new social situation, there are the usual anxieties of wanting to make a connection with the other members of the conversation circle, but the overwhelming prospect of cultural enrichment and personal development greatly outweighs the initial fears.  

My excitement for this experience is closely linked to my motivation for wanting to be a conversation circle facilitator.  I studied abroad as an international student at a French university for 6 months in 2013; this was one of the most difficult and rewarding experiences of my life.  I took part in a French conversation circle to improve my conversational French while I was there.  I had a adequate fluency in French for most settings, but I still felt very uncomfortable speaking in casual situations.  Through my experience in the conversation circle, I learned a great deal about the intricacies of French culture as well as common and colloquial sayings.  

I view this conversation circle as an opportunity for me to "pay it forward" with other international students at my home university.  I am so grateful for my peers that helped me through the struggles of attending a foreign university, and I would like to be a resource for other students experiencing the same at Michigan.