Meeting with Meshal: Med School and Futbol

My last meeting with Meshal proved that not only was I interested in what he had to say, but also that he is interested in learning about me as well. The majority of our conversations have been about him and his transition from living in Saudi Arabia, but our last meeting focused mainly on me and what I do here at TCU. I was stressing pretty hardcore about an upcoming organic chemistry test, so that launched us into talking about my classes and how I am a pre-med. We chatted about how I want to be a doctor one day – hopefully working in pediatrics somewhere, maybe specializing or maybe not. He wanted to know what kind of classes I have to take, so I told him about all my biology classes and chemistry classes, how my schedule next year will consist of genetics and biochemistry, and how hard it is to get into medical school. Then he wondered, “how long is medical school?”

 I then let him know that in addition to my four years at TCU I will be attending medical school for another four years. After that will come my residency, which is about two years long and is essentially like a paid internship that provides specific training in your chosen field, whether it be pediatrics or orthopedics or oncology or family medicine, etc. And THEN, if the goal is some sort of specialization (for example: choosing to be a pediatric neurologist or pediatric cardiologist as opposed to a pediatrician) there will be another several years of training involved for that.

        

    “That sounds terrible,” he replied. “As soon as school is over, *boop* no more for me, I’m outta there! I want to do something and get working as soon as possible.”

          

     Ahhhh to be a non-science major…

           

In addition to our meeting, we also were jointly surprised to discover that we would be playing on opposite teams in an intramural soccer game last Wednesday. Jogging around the field to warm up it was impossible for me to not spot him and his giant ‘fro. We said best of luck to one another and began the game. Turns out he is very good at soccer and very fast… I played defense for twelve or so years of my life (though I stopped playing four years ago), and he was on offense for most of the game. He was very hard to cover, and I definitely got burned a few times, clearly out of shape and out of practice in comparison. My team ended up losing 4-2, but they also had five substitute players while we had zero…and one of our players had food poisoning that day and still played. However, it was still fun to play against Meshal and see him in his element on the soccer field. No doubt we will definitely be talking about it in our next meeting, and I’m sure he will be joking about how out of shape I was! 

Meshal: Soccer & Brazilian Models

This week’s meeting found Meshal a little quieter than usual, for he took his writing test on last Friday to determine if he was ready to leave the IEP. He needed a 5.5 but only obtained a 3.5, which was very frustrating to him. He speaks English well and is proficient at typing, but handwriting our language just stumps him and frustrates him greatly. He is trying hard to accelerate his process through the program in order to get into TCU as soon as possible, which he stated today is his “main and most important dream.” However, Meshal is an extremely fun-loving and easygoing person, so he isn’t too down about the situation. If anything, he has more fire with which to accomplish his goal!

           

After this initial downer conversation we found our way to the topic of soccer. Today is the match between Real Madrid, led by the fast and furious Cristiano Ronaldo, and Manchester United and their anger-prone front-man Wayne Rooney. Meshal was very excited about this game, as both his brothers are huge Real Madrid fans and he wanted Manchester United to win in order to spite them. He himself is a dedicated A.C. Milan fan, so really his only stake in today’s game is to see his brothers crestfallen and angry at the end of the day. We discussed soccer and how we both played: me for my entire childhood up through freshman year and him up to this day when he can. I was informed that soccer was the biggest sport in Saudi Arabia, which I guess makes sense since America is probably the only country in the WORLD who doesn’t obsess over the “real” football, unfortunately. Everyone there plays soccer or at least watches soccer, so it seems weird to him that so few people care about it (it seems, at least) and how limited the soccer channels are.

Last Friday he and his brothers moved into their new house and out of their small apartment, so Meshal now has his own room! He no longer has to be woken up by his brother coming in and sitting on the couch (where Meshal slept) early in the morning, playing Xbox, and smoking… Needless to say, he is extremely thankful for the move. It is a little farther from TCU unfortunately, but Meshal’s next goal is to get a car so that he won’t have to rely on his year older brother who is also in the TCU IEP for transportation.

On another high note, Meshal worked up the courage to ask the girl of his affections on a date! She is in the IEP with him, and apparently all the guys in the program “are in love” with her and “see her as a queen.” She is a model from Brazil wanting to attend TCU, and according to Meshal she is even famous in her country and her face is all over TCU! All the guys who wanted to take her on dates were just too afraid, I suppose, so Meshal just called her up and suggested they get lunch, which they did this past Sunday; he said it was a lot of fun and they definitely plan on going out again after spring break is over since she leaves tomorrow for her vacation. Funnily enough, they ate seafood which I found out during our last meeting Meshal does not enjoy at all! I asked why they got seafood then, and he replied, “She said ‘let’s get seafood!’ so it’s not like I could say no! She’s too pretty to say no to.” Hopefully things work out between the two of them!