Mansour and I met for the final time today. After a full semester including 3 failed meetings, and 3 good meetings, we reached the end of the semester. Obviously I did not get to meet with Mansour for the full eight times and I am kind of disappointed. Unfortunately I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. We met the first time at the end of September and everything was looking great. Then Mansour didn't respond to my emails for a good three weeks. Finally we had three meetings that were scheduled but Mansour didn't show up for, strange but I guess we had miscommunication.
Regardless, our last meeting went great. We talked about what each of us did over thanksgiving break and agreed wholeheartedly that the break was too short. He told me about the turkey he had cooked himself, it was the first time he had ever had turkey.
We also got on a random tangent of the Internet and the differences between here and Saudi Arabia. I was very interested in this because I spend so much time on the Internet. Mansour told me that the government in Saudi Arabia has certain sites blocked for the entire country, for example adult content and anti-government blogs. I found this interesting because it causes the citizens of Saudi Arabia to only use the Internet in sparing fashions because it is so limited. I, on the other hand, have a completely different view of the Internet. Yes, there are sites out there that are explicit in nature, but I see the Internet as a bridge to success that has never been there before. With the computer access in the US, just about anyone can start a company on the web and be on the road to success for a low barrier to entry cost. Needless to say I was a little disappointed when Mansour explained how limited the Internet is in Saudi Arabia.
Mansour and I also discussed how different the education experience is here. In Saudi Arabia, you can learn as well from the textbook as you can from the professor. Here, the classes are much more interactive and less lecture. Mansour told me that his plans to get a degree from a university in the US was a daunting task because of how much harder the schooling is over here.
Overall I felt that I had a great experience meeting with Mansour. I wish that we could have met more often and that we hadn't had so many issues scheduling meetings but I'm glad we got to meet at least four times. Mansour is a great guy and I wish him the best of luck.
Travis,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you and Mansour had some really good conversation. I found what Mansour had to say about the education in Saudi Arabia interesting. I was surprised to hear that Mansour thought that school was so much harder here in the United States. It’s hard to imagine attending school in Saudi Arabia, and in all honesty I have no idea what it would even be like. I don’t know what to imagine, everything from what the classroom looks like to the material being taught. I also thought the conversation about the Internet was interesting. Its crazy to think about the idea of our government blocking certain sites from the whole country just because they wanted to. I agree with what you have to say about the Internet being a bridge. I think that Internet provides a whole world of opportunity. Everything from learning how to tie a bowtie to reading about George Washington can be found and read about on the Internet. This post made me think about life beyond the US and life living in a different country. Thanks for jogging my imagination.
David Belpedio