Mohammed and Camila

So the last time I’d met with Mohammed was before Spring Break. Time kinda slipped away from me as the end of the semester flew by. And now it’s almost the last week of classes. We certainly had a lot of catching up to do.

Mohammed and I met in our usual place at the TCU Bookstore Starbucks. It was a fairly hot Thursday evening – especially since my home town in Illinois usually has forty-degree weather this time of year – with high winds and some humidity. I forwent the usually coffee and just got an ice water. On this occasion, Mohammed, knowing I’m a Spanish major, brought along his friend Camila, an ESL student at TCU originally Bogotá, Colombia. She was quiet and timid at first, but as we chatted more she seemed to loosen up more. We spoke Spanish and English together, however English more so as not to exclude Mohammed. I used Spanish mostly to clarify things for her.  She said the thing most different between Colombia and Texas is that we have seasons here. It’s generally just hot and humid tropical weather in Colombia. Also, everything here is really spread out compared with Bogotá. It’s the largest city in Colombia and everything was in walking distance for her. She says the people here are also much friendlier.

Sooner or later, we got to the usual topic of soccer, and, after the important Semifinal matches the day before, there was no shortage of substance for discussion. Two days before we met was the Barcelona, Chelsea match, in which Chelsea triumphed as the underdogs. On the Wednesday before we met (during Lit & Civ), the match between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid took place, with another loss for a Spanish powerhouse team.

The Potbelly across University from the Bookstore is visible from the window adjacent to the table we sat at. Several weeks ago Mohammed asked what it was like. Since then, he’s tried it, and half-jokingly wants to open one back home in Saudi Arabia.