Fifth Meeting with Paula

My last meeting with Paula included a few of her classmates as well. She had forgotten that we were meeting so she included me in her lunch she was having with three of her other classmates. They were from Rwanda, Germany, and Saudi Arabia. This was probably one of my favorite conversations I have had because there were so many perspectives on everything we talked about. They were interested to hear my take on things and asked if some of the things they have observed here in the U.S. were actually considered normal.

One of these things was clubbing and partying. Apparently in other parts of the world, people just don't stop partying until six in the morning. The classmates from Germany and Rwanda said they were both surprised when they got to clubs here at one in the morning only for it to be closed an hour later. According to them, 2 in the morning in the best time to party so they were surprised when people here want to go to bed by then.

Another thing they noticed was that people eat on the streets while walking here. Paula and all her classmates agreed that this isn't really something you see, except maybe in Germany. They said it was a bad habit and shows a lack of manner, which I can definitely see. I kind of had to explain that sometimes Americans forget what manners really are. On the same note about eating, they were also amazed about how low-class McDonald's is here. I thought this was funny because McDonald's is considered to be a high-class eatery in their countries while it has such a horrible reputation here.

I really enjoyed having lunch with Paula and some of her classmates because it was really interesting and also funny to here some of the things they were saying and to get that different perspective of everyday things.