For my second conversation, I feel things went much smoother than they did with my first one. Since I had a better understanding of what to expect and how to approach my struggles, I went in much more confident. Instead of trying to write out answers to the questions beforehand, I just studied the questions themselves and mentally “wrote my answers down”. In my first conversation I thought it would be helpful to have different worksheets from the semester but actually it was just a distraction and did no good. My partner for this conversation was Albert. Albert was born in Togo. One topic we talked about was our favorite foods, here I talked about sushi and seafood, which Albert said was his least favorite and he doesn’t eat them at all. 

During the conversation I didn’t really struggle much, other than some simple comprehension troubles. When I did have those troubles, he made it very easy for me to understand what he was trying to say. He used pictures, hand gestures, and gave examples when he could tell I was struggling. Our conversation went smoothly, the only interruption was the connection between our calls. My connection with my first conversation was perfectly fine, but during the second we both were seeming to have technical issues. As for strengths during the conversation, I feel I went in with an overall better understanding of the language and how to handle not understanding something. 

Overall, I feel my second conversation went very well and I am very pleased with the way it went. I felt I could actually connect with my partner and find common grounds that we both met in. These conversations really helped to take me out of my  comfort zone and to have confidence in myself. Obviously the more practice with learning the language helped me but I think in all my main struggle was the mental barrier.