The Third Interview

Preparations for the interview

I conducted this interview with my American friend Lucas. He is the CA of the fourth floor of my dorm. Before the interview, I did the review of my last two interviews. I thought that I still had something need to prepare before my interview. I need to learn more about the country where my interviewee from. During the interview, I need to ask some more questions about his country and add it to the country report. I changed some of the 12 questions I prepared before. I think it is more suitable for this interview.



How Did You Approach People?

Lucas is one of the CA in my dorm. He is easy-going, when I first entered my dorm, he helped me to check in and brought my staff to my room. After that, we talked much about our each other. Until now, I have already gotten much help from him. We are good friend now.



When, where, and how did you Conduct the Interview?

I did the interview with Lucas on 9th November. He would go camping in the afternoon on that day, so we started the interview at 12:30p.m in his room. The interview took about 45 minutes. The day before our interview, we met at Atwood Center. I talked with him about my interview and asked what time is suitable for him to do the interview. He gave the time for me and we decided to meet at noon on Friday.





Country Report

I chose United States for my third interview because that this is the first foreign country I have been. I need to spend more than three years to complete my undergraduate study in United States. Actually, before I came here, I had learned lot about culture, history and geography of United States.

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic consisting of fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. At 3.79 million square miles and with over 314 million people, the United States is the third- or fourth-largest country by total area, and the third-largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. (1)



Geography







http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States

The United States is the world's third or fourth largest nation by total area (land and water), ranking behind Russia and Canada and just above or below China. The ranking varies depending on how two territories disputed by China and India are counted and how the total size of the United States is measured: calculations range from 3,676,486 square miles (9,522,055 km2) to 3,717,813 square miles to 3,794,101 square miles. Measured by only land area, the United States is third in size behind Russia and China, just ahead of Canada.(2)

Language

English is the defacto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language. Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. (3)

Religion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Capitol_Building_Full_View.jpg

The United States is officially a secular nation; the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion and forbids the establishment of any religious governance. In a 2002 study, 59% of Americans said that religion played a "very important role in their lives", a far higher figure than that of any other wealthy nation. According to a 2007 survey, 78.4% of adults identified themselves as Christian, down from 86.4% in 1990. (4)

Interview report

This is my third interview. This time, I tried my best to do the preparation. During the interview, I got the answers of my 12 questions and at the same time, I asked my interviewee some questions about his country. I also recorded it into country report. From the interview, I learned much not only from the resource but also from my interviewee. I like America more and want to make more American friends due to this nice interview.





Transcript

ZeYu Chen ( Z )

Lucas ( L )





Z: Hi Lucas. How is your going today?



L: I`m pretty good. How about you?



Z: I got cold yesterday. The temperature dropped so quickly that I could not adapt it.



L: Oh, you need to wear more and take care yourself.



Z: Thanks for you remind. So, can we start our interview?



K: Sure.



Z: Can you tell me your full name?



L: My name is Lucas Golliet.



Z: Where are you from in America?



L: I`m from Coon Rapids in Minnesota.



Z: When is your birthday?



L: It`s 25th July.



Z: What is your major?



L: My major is Management and I`m a senior here.



Z: It means that you will be graduate in next semester?



L: Yes if it is fluky.



Z: I think you will be cause I know you are hard-working,



L: Ahh, I hope so.



Z: What do you usually do when you are free?



L: I like doing organizations, playing Ping-pang,golf and hanging with friends.



Z: I also like playing Ping-pang. You know Ping-pang is popular in China. In primary school, we often play Ping-pang in PE class.



L: Really? We can play it together someday.



Z: OK, we can reserve the time after the interview. Why you choose the St.Cloud State University?



L: Because I know that St.Cloud State University is the biggest state university in Minnesota and lots of my friends also chose it.



Z: That`s cool. It `s suitable for you. What courses do you take this semester?



L: I take Blaw 436, Blaw 438, SOC 456 and CMST 330.



Z: Umm, all of these courses are in high level. I think they are difficult.



L: Yes, they are really tough. But if you spend enough time on them, I think it will not be extremely hard.



Z: Yeah, that`s why you always hard-working. I often see you study in meeting room.



L: Yes, I think the living room it`s the place for sleeping and relaxing. If I need to study, I will go to library or the meeting room.



Z: Can you tell me about activities that young people like to do in America?



L: I think most youth like doing some sports during free time, such as basketball. Also, some of them like playing TV games or online games, sometimes we like hanging out with friends or have a party.



Z: Actually, I have seen some youth from America in our dorm do something boring I think. They just played flying disk. One of them throw the disk and the other one try to catch it. In my opinion, I think it is really boring, but I know it is a kind of sport. It just like running.



L: Yeah, I think so too. But if you play with your best friend and you can make scoring just like a match. For example, you can decide the people who loss the match will drink one bottle of beer. Oh, both of you must under 22. I think that will be interesting.



Z: That`s a good idea! I will try it. This is my second year in America. Before I went there, I heard about something about that some native American refuse Asian people and maybe have discrimination on Chinese. Did you see it before?



L: In fact, many years ago, maybe it happened in some parts of America. But now, with the development of economic, people gradually accepted people from anywhere. I never saw the discrimination nowadays.



Z: Yeah, actually I agree with you. I think Americans are really kind to people from foreign countries, such as you. Haha.



L: Yeah, sure.



Z: Can you tell me one goal for the year for you?



L: I hope to become good friends with all of you!



Z: What do you mean by" all of you"? Who?



L: I mean you, who lived in Lawrence Hall.



Z: Oh, I think you almost accomplish your goal now.



L: Yeah, that`s what I hope to.



Z: What are the majority holidays in America?



L: I think Thanks Giving Day,and Christmas are the majority holidays here.



Z: How did Americans often celebrate them?



L: During Thanks Giving Day, we always stay with our family and cook turkey. On Christmas, we usually go shopping and place some Christmas trees in our home. For some people who in different religion, they have different celebration.



Z: That`s great. I think the Thanks Giving Day is same as the Mid-Autumn Festival and it is coming soon!



L: Yes. You can enjoy your holiday.



Z: What is the traditional food in America?



L: Turkey, steak and hamburger.



Z: I think so too. They are really different from them in China. What is the majority religion in your country'?



L: It`s Christian. I also believe that. From the research, more than 60% of adults in U.S are Christian.



Z: Yes, it close to the research from Internet.



Z: Alright, is there anything your want to add or do you have anything to ask me?



L: No. We gonna finish the interview?



Z: Yeah, it takes about 40 minutes now.



L: Oh, I don`t feel that. I feel so happy to talk with you that I don`t care time.



Z: Me too. Thanks for your time. I need to do some modification on my record paper.



L: Hmm, I need to prepare for my camping tonight. See you!



Z: See you. Enjoy your camping!

Reference:

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States 11/12/2012. 

(2) http://archives.starbulletin.com/1999/10/18/special/story4.html 11/12/2012.

(3) http://www.nps.gov/archive/jeff/lewisclark2/circa1804/heritage/louisianapurchase/louisianapurchase.htm. 11/12/2012.

(4) http://www.adfl.org/resources/enrollments.pdf 11/12/2012.