Adam CP #3

Today I met with my other conversation partner Yen Yin Chen in FSU's Askew Student Life Center. He speaks Chinese and is from Taiwan. He has an undergraduate degree in Urban Planning, but hopes to go to Florida State University in order to study Statistics. He said that he liked Urban Planning, but was less interested in the humanistic and qualitative aspects of the social sciences than their quantitative aspects. He said he would prefer to study Statistics because it ties into the social sciences but is also very mathematical and exact. Yen Yin Chen seemed very happy and enthusiastic about our conversation. We introduced each other and had a conversation about each others' countries. I was curious to learn more about Taiwan. We discussed each other countries' history, for example, such as how the Chinese Civil War led to the creation of Taiwan's current government, as well as how centuries earlier political dissent had led to the separation of the United States from Great Britain. We also discussed major issues in our countries. For example, I learned from him that Taiwan has a huge debate over companies' wages for entry level employees, because companies have decided to reduce wages in response to the government subsidizing entry level wages (which Yen Yin Chen said was intended to make up for already low employee wages in the first place). I am not necessarily sure how accurate this is but I thought it was an interesting issue. We also discussed controversial issues in the United States, such as healthcare. He seemed surprised that it was a hotly debated issue in the United States since he said Taiwan's government subsidized citizens' healthcare. I thought that was an interesting aspect of our conversation that highlighted major cultural differences between Taiwan and the United States. He was also curious to know about the differences between political parties in the United States, which I explained to him in neutral and unbiased language. I also introduced him to my friend Caroline, and we talked about our families and about pet animals that we own. We also discussed celebrations in each others' countries. For example, we talked about July 4th/Independence Day in the United States as well as Chinese New Year in Taiwan. We also talked about food in each others' countries. For example, I asked Yen Yin Chen what American foods he found unfamiliar and he answered that he was very surprised by the presence of iced beverages in the United States. We discussed how it was more common in Chinese and Taiwanese culture to boil water and other beverages instead of chilling them. He asked me to give him a walking tour of campus, so I showed him the parts of campus I was familiar with and told him about good cafes, stores and restaurants near the edge of campus. In general, our meeting went well and we agreed that we would continue to meet twice a week (once on Fridays and once on Saturdays) in the future.