Claire_ITA3

Today I spent the afternoon with Shuying, my ITA conversation partner. My car broke down again on my way to meet her so Shuying was nice enough to come rescue me! For only being here a year, her driving skills are quite impressive. We had a great lunch at Applebee's (she really wanted to go there for some reason) and Shuying tried her first American hamburger! She loved it. :) Shuying and I talked about pretty much everything because we have so much in common when it comes to food, traveling, clothes, our families, and the relationships that we are in. I enjoyed hearing Shuying talk about her fiance; they met on a blind date! I know how hard long distance relationships are so I was able to relate with her in that way. Shuying, being the girly girl that she is, wanted to go shopping so after lunch we headed to the mall. She told me that clothes in China are very expensive and that's why she loves going to American malls! We shopped for her fiance and walked around for quite a bit. Then, we decided to go get pedicures because Shuying had never experienced one! We went to the Nail Bar right by the mall and got our feet pampered. Shuying was in heaven! I think her favorite part was getting to sit in the massage chair. She told me that when her mother comes to visit from China she is definitely going to take her for a pedicure. While we were getting our pedicures Shuying and I talked about the TOEFL exam and her experience with it. She said she struggled with the listening comprehension the most but everything else wasn't very difficult for her. Next time we meet, Shuying is going to give me some of the materials she used to study for the TOEFL that helped her. It was so much fun introducing her to so many new things today, I can't wait to hang out with her next weekend!

Shuying's first American hamburger experience!