Going into my second TalkAbroad conversation, I was certainly much less nervous because my first one went so well. To prepare, I went over the discussion questions and wrote down and practiced my responses. My speaking partner this time was Flaminia Salvy from France. I thought that, since I was able to speak with someone from Togo last time, I could speak with someone from France. Initially, I was trying to find a partner from Canada, as I thought the accent would be easier to understand. I was very hesitant to schedule an appointment with someone from France; however, I think it went quite well. 

I will say that I think I went in less prepared this time than the first time, which I think contributed to the fact that this conversation went less smoothly. In choosing my partner, I noticed in her biography that Flaminia was a designer, and as I am a graphic design major, I thought it would be a good thing to have in common had we gone off topic to talk about. Regardless, our conversation was primarily strictly according to the script of the assignment. Looking back, I am happy we mostly stuck to the questions on the assignment because I would likely have been too nervous to come up with things on the spot. 

During the conversation, we alternated asking the questions for each section. For the most part, I was able to comprehend what she was saying, which I was happy about since she was from France. This allowed me to understand when she told me to ask the questions for the second part. This was new to me because, in the first conversation, my partner took the lead. I think this conversation was more realistic in that she did not do gestures and she was speaking much more naturally. This truly tested my comprehension in French, and I did have to ask her to repeat herself various times. Though I think this conversation went slightly worse than my first one, I certainly would not consider this a bad conversation.