International Friendship
Friendship is an important theme of international education. Students from the ELI tell their stories about new friends that they would not have met if they had not decided to study abroad. #IEW2021
Beyond Learning
by Ana Franzoi Simi Marson from Brazil
Besides learning English, the ELI teaches us the diversity of different cultures, and also other languages. An example of this is my classmate, Lucia. Lucia is from Colombia, but she has been living here for some years. She is a great example of what a good student should be, no matter the situation, she’s always trying to learn more. While studying, reading and talking to her I noticed we have many things in common. For example, we have kids, our ages are similar, and we are both from a Latino country. She’s here to improve her English and during breaks we mostly talk about our children, family and trips.
The ELI is temporary but the friendships we make here are for a lifetime. We talk a lot about our cultures and while talking to them it makes me respect people like they are independently where they are from.
My Favorite Person in the ELI
by Lizbeth Chamorro Lita from Ecuador
The Eli program is interesting because we meet with people from all over the world and we learn new cultures while we study English. Also, we make strong friendships with some people because we share thoughts and adventures in Gainesville. These people become important in our life as our family because they share the day-to-day with us and they are in the happy moments or sad moments of our life.
One person that become to be important to me is Mireya and she was born in Venezuela, but her father is from Ecuador. Furthermore, she is unique with her extrovert personality and all the time she is happy. We have a strong friendship because we share excessive time together here and she helped me with everything when I had sad moments in my life. Also, we share amazing and funny moments since we live together.
I met Mireya in the ELI and the first time was in the orientation of Eli program and we talked, and we had a good connection because we talked about Ecuadorian food and different things of my country. Also, in our leisure, we went to external of ELI to know new places here and we learned together new things that adjust our life here. In this time, I learn from her to be a better person and I want this friendship not to be temporary because we rely on everything, and I want us to be friends forever.
Yun Sun and Adrian
How I Met Male
by Daniela De Gouveia Exposito from Venezuela
Do you know the reason why someone becomes important in your life just very fast? I think that now I found the answer. I arrived here in Gainesville almost three months ago, and I’m so glad of all the experiences that I had in a short time. Before I came here I was so scared because I didn’t know anyone, but that only lasted a few weeks. I remember the first day that I visited UF and then the ELI. It was an amazing day, and also it was the day that I met Maria Alejandra, who is normally known as Male.
I consider Male as my friend since the first day. I don’t know why, but I saw something in her that made me think that she will be a great friend and I was not wrong. She also studies in ELI. However, she doesn’t have any class with me because her English levels are higher than mine, but that did not stop our friendship. Male is 17 years old and she is from Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela. The same country as me, but from another city. Definitely being her friend helped me get used to my new life here in the United States.
She is a very energetic, respectful and nice person. Her attitude is incredible. She constantly has energy for everything, which makes her be responsible and focused on her goals and try to achieve them everyday. She is always worried about the people who are around her surroundings. She is the kind of person that can switch the humor of the person, she transmits a real good vibe and always knows what needs to be done for the other person to begin to feel better. She is the person that when establishing a friendship with someone is very sincere and always tries to tell you the truth.
Male and I everyday we meet in class and then we return home. She lives in the same residence as me, and that is one advantage, because that gives us more opportunities to spend time together. Usually when we finish our respective tasks at home, we go to the gym at night and we work out about one hour a day. On the weekends when we have leisure, sometimes we can go shopping or have an ice cream, when we just want to stay at home I usually go to her home. Despite the differences we can coincide in many ways, and some people in the ELI even tell us that physically we are similar.
Studying at the ELI has given me a lot of opportunities. In addition to learning English everyday, I have the opportunity to meet amazing people from other cultures and meet incredible friends like Male.
Haley: Best Friend and Best LA
by Kukhyun Kim from South Korea
We first met in LA class. When I met first her, I thought she is an ELI student, but Haley was a temporary LA. She always tried her best and showed all her passion during the LA class. She enhanced my English level by teaching primary expressions in conversation. Also, she always kindly explains when I ask some questions. Because of this, I always look forward to LA time.
We also met in various ELI activities and talked a lot. She shared various travel experiences and activities in ELI, and I was able to learn the overall culture of the United States. For example, she told me about conversational etiquette, American food culture, tip culture, and perspective on other.
Because of Haley, I was able to adapt to ELI life without difficulty, and my English has greatly improved. This experience is an unforgettable memory for the rest of my life, and I hope to continue my friendship with her.
Camila and Victoria
Friendship through the English
by Diego Velasquez Meier from Switzerland
The ELI is an English program that helps people understand and improve their English skills, such as reading, writing, grammar, listening and speaking. This program is helping me a lot at improving my English. Also, here you can meet a lot of new people with different cultures and languages, such as from Korean and Arabia Saudi. In my case, I met a Korean girl whose name is Sujin and I have established a friendship through the English with her and now she is one of my best friends here at the ELI.
This requires us to speak English, practice it, learn new words and find ways to understand English. My friend Sujin has help me because with her I have practiced my English and also, she is constantly teaching me how to speak Korean.
To conclude, the ELI program gave me the opportunity to meet nice people like Sujin. As a result, thanks to my friendship with her, I have learned different traditions and cultures that exist in Korea.
A Friend in ELI
by Bertha Lucia Rodriguez Pena
This year I decided to study at ELI in the Fall. It has been an interesting time because I have met wonderful people starting with my teachers who are people from different countries such as Scotland, United States, and Ukraine. I have also met interesting classmates, but today I am going to talk about a special one called Ernesto, he is of Cuban origin, and has unique features such as friendship and empathy. This has let him share many things about his country and today I am going to highlight the things that have impacted me the most. There are many things about his culture that he explained to me like Cuban history, baseball, education, gastronomy, and free time.
We talked about the history of Cuba, without delving into details because we both know that they have been having difficult times. He explained a little about how Socialism affected the Cuban population. In the beginning poverty and inequality were reduced and there was education, health and food, but on the other hand there was repression and a lack of opportunities for something better. In 1991 with the fall of the Soviet regime came more misery and loss of food and many people trying to escape died in the attempt. In short, he told me that Cuba was frozen in time, and it is something devastating, and the country has remained that way for many years, but the positive thing about the situation is many people like Ernesto are studying and preparing for if the situation changes to return to their country.
Another thing I learned was baseball because I did not know that it was a national sport in Cuba, and he told me his father took him to the stadium to the baseball games, and that recently it was declared a cultural heritage of Cuba. Although it is not a secret it is quite important for Ernesto’s story, because he learned how to play and enjoy games with passion, Ernesto explained to me the basic goal of baseball, it is as follows: a small round ball is hit with a bat, to move it across the field and runner with the same objective, to reach as many bases as possible. When the player completes a lap and returns to the base from where he batted, he gets a full run. I think that one day I would like to play it.
Finally, we got to talk about the subject of education, since Cuba stands out for its high level; that is to say that people of all statuses can access free education and study at the University can be acquired through scholarships, but he said that there is something crucial and this is that when they finish university, many professionals, such as doctors and engineers, are on the streets doing any job to survive. We have said that Cuba needs changes that generate a new Cuba with more opportunities and economic and professional growth.
We have also talked about the food and the delicious meals that his grandmother made as he says, nobody cooks like her, she was unique, although the recipes are the same, her grandmother gave them a special touch and the best recipes were Grandma had. We talked about “old clothes”, that is a dish with flaked meat, containing onion, garlic, olives, and white rice. Another dish, for example, is roast pork. The secret of this dish is the preparation of pork full of spices that give it a unique flavor, and on the other hand it is accompanied with black beans, and fried plantains. We also talk about desserts like rice milk, which also we have in Colombian but with another recipe and from the delicious Cuban flan.
I could not finish without telling you what I have learned from him about leisure time because I did not watch much of Netflix or movies whereas Ernesto loves it so he shares with me each series that he has seen. His enthusiasm is contagious and has led me to see several series like the squid game, and we have gone to the cinema to see several movies together. Halloween and Free Guy were both super fun. Now every week, I watch series and that has helped me to enhance my English.
In conclusion, this friendship has represented a lot for me in the time at ELI, I am very happy to have met Ernesto, to share so much of his culture, and learn lot of detail about Cuba that I only knew superficially by news. I hope that this friendship lasts for a long time, and I am very grateful to have known him.
Thanks ELI
by Sofia Escalante Borrego
You know that you have met a unique person, when you feel such a strong mental connection with him or her. I met her at the ELI, we started talking because when I see someone alone I tend to come up to talk to them. I think it was one of the best decisions that ever happened to me, because I established a very beautiful and healthy friendship that adds a lot to my life with Valeria López.
She is a responsible person. She works, studies, and spends time with her friends. We both have similar physical characteristics, we both have freckles, long hair, and thick eyebrows. She is very beautiful physically and her personality. Her laughter is crucial to make my days brighter, the way she tries to help people, she is very mature, and her sense of humor is equal to mine. We both share tastes associated with music and clothing.
We are from the same country Venezuela, but from different states. But something that I learned from her customs is how she makes the “arepa” and how she eat the “hallaca”.
I hope that one day other people will have the opportunity to meet a wonderful person like Valeria. I hope that when we leave classes in our free time we will see a beautiful landscape like the sunset in San Agustín.
Malek and Faisal
A New Friend Thanks to the ELI
by Luz Garcia Murillo from Colombia
There are many expectations that one has when one is planning to go to live in another country and these grow even more as the time to start a new lifestyle approaches. One thing I was sure of before the traveling to Gainesville to study English at ELI was that I was going to meet people from different countries and therefore with cultures different from mine. During the first week of induction at ELI, I met some people from countries such as Venezuela, Korea, Spain and Panama, but in the first week of classes, when the courses were assigned, I met new colleagues, including Ernesto from Cuba. I coincided with him in that first week in the three courses and for this reason we began to share not only classes, but also lunch time and other activities outside.
In this time, I have learned about part of his culture such as the taste for music, especially the salsa genre, but this salsa can be differentiated from the one heard in Colombia because it has an exclusive Cuban rhythm that contains the conga, the casino wheel and the timba. Also, this is danced with slower movements and in a circle where the pairs are rotated. Furthermore, I like a typical Cuban dish called Arroz Congris with Roasted Pork, the rice is very well seasoned and contains very rich beans.
Although the cultures are different, we have several characteristics in common such as the passion for our profession, although he is a dentist and I am a forestry engineer, we both have the desire to continue learning much more about our careers and become specialists, for which it is crucial to learn English. We are both responsible for fulfilling all the assignments we have in the courses and we take the time to do our best. In leisure time, we like to watch sports such as soccer, watch action movies, series, and discover new places in Florida. With Ernesto, I went to a football stadium for the first time to watch the Gators play, he explained the rules to me and I was able to understand this sport. That day the Gators achieved a victory against Tennessee and we were excited.
Finally, Ernesto has not only been a study partner, but a friend with whom I have shared several experiences inside and outside of ELI. To whom I have to thank for all the help, advice, and understanding that he has given me to be able to face in the best way the process of adaptation to this new culture, to learn more English every day, and to be a better person.
Join the English Language Institute in celebrating friendships, cultures, languages, and experiences. Contact us: StudyEnglish@eli.ufl.edu
#IEW2021 #UFLELI #StudyEnglishFirst