We’re sitting at the UCWbL’s conference table in the back of the Loop Writing Center. The sunlight is coming through the windows, invading every corner of the space, and shining on our computer screens. Suddenly it hit us, Spring is almost here! Yippee!
Where did time go? It seems like just a couple of weeks ago a brand new year was in front of us, filled with expectations. It certainly seemed like not long ago the Winter Quarter meetings of Conversation & Culture started, and we had the opportunity to share so many perspectives of what American culture represents for both American and international students.
But we’re not complaining that time went so fast; on the contrary, we’re grateful and happy because our Conversation & Culture meetings have led us to build connections between dozens of people from places like Turkey, Thailand, Venezuela, and Egypt, among others. There’s a saying we’ve heard that seems relevant, “even a small seed will grow into a big tree.” That’s part of what we, as participants in Conversation & Culture believe in. Even the smallest conversations allow us to learn so much from each other.
Part of this successful cross-cultural interaction is due to the CMWR’s Conversation & Culture new team members, whose different backgrounds made it possible to exchange points of view and contribute their own perspectives of the subjects we worked around this quarter: Etiquette, How to Make American Friends, Pop Culture, Cultural Awareness, Valentine’s Day, and Multilingualism.
This quarter, and 2014, with Conversation & Culture started with an amazing group of people and a lot of interesting conversations. We have had good start to the year, and our experiences only give us more ideas on what we’ll talk about during Spring Quarter. And we’re certain that the warm weather—if it ever arrives—will inspire our conversations. We are certain—warm weather or not—that we will continue making connection with one another as our tree of friendship grows stronger.
Conversation & Culture will start back up in Spring Quarter on Friday, April 11th at 1:00 in Lewis 1600. For more information, email us at cmwr@depaul.edu or like us on Facebook!
See you in Spring!
by Marcela Z. and Galina K.