Blog Post 2

Everything is still going well with my conversation circle this semester! Unfortunately I had to cancel it this week because I was sick, but last week we met up at the Tropical Smoothie Cafe and had a great time. I feel like my group is growing closer and closer every week, something which, although we definitely still became friends, didn't happen as rapidly for my members last year. We hope to hit at least one restaurant before the end of the term, but until then we're still enjoying meeting up in East Quad every week.

Sorry for the late reply, it completely slipped my mind last week! I know my post was short, but honestly I just don't have that much to report. Basically, I just love my group and we're having an awesome time.

Blog Post #2

I can really tell that I've started to make friends for a lifetime with this group. In our most recent meeting, we went to the Jolly Pumpkin and had an awesome time! One of my members even brought a friend from her class and I thought it was great to get more exposure of the Chat Cafe program to international students. We ordered truffle fries and chickpea fries for the table and everyone feasted on burgers and and pizza. Everyone loved the food and we all wanted desperately to go to a different restaurant every week. However, since this idea may not be the best for our wallets, I suggested trying coffee places/ice cream shops as an alternative. We definitely will try some international cuisine in the weeks coming though. We chatted for another half hour at the restaurant after we finished our food and all headed back to central campus together. Three of my group members went to Hatcher to study together after dinner. Seeing them walk away laughing truly warmed my heart. I am so grateful that I have had the ability to bring together students from completely different parts of the world and help them to form friendships. A number of students have sent me essays and applications for me to look over and I have helped them wholeheartedly. I love to be a resource for them and a source of support. My group member who returned from last semester informed me that he is graduating in December and would like to continue in the same group until he finishes he education here at University of Michigan. I was so happy to have made a lasting connection with this student and I think that Chat Cafe has done an extraordinary job of connecting international students with peer mentors. With stellar attendance and amazing experiences, this Chat Cafe group has made my semester so memorable.

Mid Semester

So surprisingly enough my attendance has continued to be stellar! Though the conversation doesn't always flow super easily, I have noticed people have been becoming much more talkative and open and it's really fun to see the transformation!
Now that we all know a little bit about each other's lives it helps conversation. Every week we get an update on one participant's fish that he works with in a lab and we find out about the progress anther is making on a project for a material science class.
I think it's made me more confident as a chat café leader that you just have to give everyone time to ease into things. And there is no shame in asking a question and going around the circle having everyone answer it. It actually works quite well.

Blog Post 3/15

The last couple weeks of chat cafe has been pretty smooth. Even though the group is smaller than last semester, I feel like we still have a very good dynamic. I am pretty surprised that the 4 who are registered are still coming. Two of the guys who came already knew each other, and the other two girls are getting pretty close. I think I want to do my minute to win it event soon and pair up one of the guys and one of the girls to make them closer, but I don’t know when to do it because I have to get in the room early but I have class right before chat cafe. Last week I took the advice of putting questions in the center of the table and having people answer them. It went pretty well but I wish I made it more interesting by having people write down their answers on the back of the card and having people guess other people’s answers.

  The woman at our last meeting who asked us to put down our names for videotaping us never contacted me, but that’s okay because I forgot to ask my group members :/. I think I also want to take my group on an outing soon. I’m hoping to wait until it gets a little warmer though. I want to do the museum scavenger hunt, and going out to eat is fun. However, I did an anonymous survey at the beginning of the semester and one of them asked about going out to eat and someone put no. I’m wondering if I should do the survey again.