The Final Project You've All Been Waiting For

Here, making its world debut, is the new hit single of up-and-coming artist Destiny's Parent: Poets and Prose.

Conversation Partner: La Nuit De L'Homme

I received an email from Youness last week with an interesting request. He asked if I could meet with him because he had "a homework about commercial presentation" and was hoping I could help him out. I was not 100% sure what this would entail, but I was humbled Youness was asking for my help and was happy to agree. We planned to meet Thursday in the library to tackle his assignment and I was excited to interact with him in this new situation.

When Youness walked up to me in the loud section the first thing he did was pull out a bottle of cologne from his backpack and set it in front of me. Probably being able to tell I was confused, he then took out some papers and began to explain his project. His class had been assigned to pick a product and gradually do various projects to eventually come up with a commercial to sell it. Youness and his partner had already done all the preliminary projects, such as interviewing people about the product and things like that. They had chosen to do their assignment on the cologne he put in front of me, a men's cologne named La Nuit De L'Homme (which Youness translated for me as "the night of man"). At this point in the project, he and his partner had to make a one to three minute commercial for the product, and Youness was asking for my help to write up the script. My inner high school theatre nerd came to the surface and I was thrilled to help him with this project, so we started brainstorming right away.

Youness came prepared with an idea for the commercial, and it was what we ended up using. The commercial starts with a man and a woman on a date at a bar, with the lady less than interested in being there. The man desperately tries to engage her in conversation, but to no avail. He then escapes to his friend who is also at the bar, asking for some help on how to improve his night. The friend suggests he try La Nuit De L'Homme, and after the man puts it on he heads back to try and connect with the woman again. When he does return the tables have changed, and now the women is the one interested in talking to him.

By the end of our meeting, Youness seemed excited about the script we had prepared. We ran with his idea because all he had needed was help with manifesting his ideas into the proper English words. It was exciting for me to know that I was finally able to contribute something to our friendship. This whole time I have felt like I have only been receiving learning experiences and personal enrichment from this, not contributing much to the relationship other than asking "what?" more than usual. Now I felt like I was about to give something back to Youness after everything he has given me this semester.

Also an exciting piece of news: Youness asked me to be in his commercial video so as of now I will be making my film debut sometime next week. We'll see how that goes.

Funny Situations

From looking up "How to Pronounce..." videos on YouTube to googling the original definition of "biddy", searching for things on the Internet while in class always has the ability to be very funny... or very awkward. Either way, nervous giggles will occur.

The Great American selfie provides a person to completely humiliate themselves by taking a picture in public and contorting their face in ways that were not thought humanly possible. Plus, Superiority Theory kicks in for the person who gets to safe it as black mail.

Odd things tend to happen in college dorm rooms and your friend walking in with a one-piece bathing suit over her clothes in the middle of the day makes Incongruity Theory all too applicable.

Conversation Partner: Tick, Tock

When Youness and I tried to meet last week, we had talked about both bringing a friend along so we could have the ping pong tournament we agreed on having the last time we were able to hang out. Unfortunately he was sick last week and had to cancel and Ali Rafetto, the friend I was going to bring, was not able to come because of work, so I assumed it would just be Youness and I again. When I entered the rec lounge, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find I was wrong.

Four gentlemen from the English language program waited for me around the pool table, already in the middle of a heated game. Youness introduced me to Ali and Nadir, both from Saudi Arabia, and Chan from South Korea. He informed me that since they all came to Texas for the program they had spent most of their time together, to the point where the teacher referred to them as "the foursome". They were all very gracious, trying to offer me the snacks they had brought and even restarting the game so I could begin to play right away. Nadir, Youness, and I did win two (out of five, but that's a minor detail) games of pool, and while it was an absolute blast the most interesting part of the afternoon was watching the four of them interact.

Youness, Nadir, and Ali all spoke Arab due to their backgrounds, but they spoke it very rarely while I was with them (I'm assuming so Chan and I would not feel left out). I loved watching how casually they all interacted while using a foreign language, acting like any other group of friends I see around campus. They joked with each other, trying to mess up one another's shots and teasing their technique. They even used some American slang, saying things like "come on, man" and having their own inside jokes.

When they talked about how they were going to take their shot, they would always say "tick, tock" to indicate where the ball would hit the table. At one point, and this is not an exaggeration, they have a four minute conversation that only involved these two words. The experience was so fascinating to me because it showed that even though the American culture was foreign to them and even amongst themselves they had different backgrounds, they still hung out and bonded like any group of twenty-somethings. I'm not sure why I would have expected them to interact in any other way then just average guys, but watching it happen right in front of me was a growing experience. 

Youness and I planned on meeting again and I told his friends they were more than welcome to join again. Maybe, if I'm lucky enough, I can become part of their "gang" and grow my cultural experiences even more.

Uncontrollable Laughter in the Wee Hours of the Morning

My fondest, and most dreaded, memories from college will without a doubt come from the numerous hours I have sent in the Mary Couts Burnett Library. Even as I write this I sit in a Frog Pod named "club lib life" working until the early hours of tomorrow. What makes the endless stream of readings, over-lit computer screens, and watered down coffee bearable is the fact that I sit here with friends who share my struggle and who somehow find ways to make it a little less miserable.

A few nights ago there was a large group of us crammed into a small study pod, all furiously taking notes and writing papers we waited way too long to start. Someone, I do not remember who, came out of the haze of studying long enough to realize there was a white board in the pod, and that she had brought erasable markers. It was decided that, since we would all be there until the sun came up, we would write all the funny things that were said on the board and use it as a sort of study break. What resulted was two of the most ridiculous drawings I have seen college students produce.

The first featured a drawing done by my friend Jessica of us all going on an "adventure", which quickly escalated into a story about how we were crossing a bridge to go to taco bell in Gratchet City. "Gratchet" is the nickname we gave to my friend Gretchen, combining her name with the term "rachet"(it means something is just a hot mess, basically). I somehow ended up as the bridge troll in the story where it was raining waffles and I was kept company by a bird (they all thought this was hilarious because of my fear, I was not as amused). On the picture you can also see the word "Gangle" was fabricated to describe the picture of my friend Sloan, who was drawn abnormally tall. I'm not confident where the banana came from, but at this point I was not questioning and just letting it all happen.

At midnight we decided to erase this drawing and start all over. New day, new picture! This time the pod was named "#gratchet2.0" and started out with Mary Kate, a graphic design major, drawing an elaborate typography picture of a favorite quote from New Girl. Events that happened throughout the night were added, such as the guy who passed us stealing a rolling white board and our friend Ali completely ignoring us. Some iPhone emojis got added around 2am, and I again cannot explain the pac-man or why I was drawn. Either way, it provided something to check in on and enjoy when we came up for air during our studies.

Although I know this post will not be funny to anyone else, I cannot help but look back at these pictures and find them hilarious. It was definitely one of those "you had to be there" moments, but that is exactly what makes it so special. As I talked about in my previous laughter post, inside jokes are the moments of laughter that make me laugh to the point of tears and stay with me the longest. It is the intimate connection that comes from them, in this case the shared misery, which causes them to last in my memory. These random and meaningless drawings serve as a relief from studying, and a release of all the pent up stress that being a college student can cause. Moreover, they solidify friendships and give special opportunities for bonds to be formed, which I believe is one of the most important functions that humor and laughter can have.

The real kicker of the whole experience: When I walked by the pod a week, (a whole SEVEN DAYS) later, Mary Kate's quote drawing was still on the board.