Description of The First Interview

It seems to me that this interview went surprisingly well. I didn’t expect it that my interviewee was so prepared and talkative.

I was a little nervous at the beginning part of the interview because as an international student as him I don't speak English fluently and I was worried about whether or not the language problems would hinder the progress of the interview. However, my friend, Issa,  was very relaxed and seemed to ecacty know what we were doing.

With time going on, I felt more and more comfortable because of him. During the interview, he answered my questions at length. I realized that as a Chinese, I had some connections with this African friend.  He told me that Zheng He, an explorer and diplomat in Chinese history, once commanded voyages to his country – Somalia, which I didn’t know about. He said Chinese people were helping Somalis and he appreciated it. We also have similar recent history but I feel sorry that his country is not doing well after the independence. We have some similar customs, for example, he has Ramadan is his religion and in my religion we also have similar event. What also surprised me was that their longstanding ties with the Arab World and how the Islamic culture has significant influence on their public life.

After this interview, I realized that having a talkative interviewee and having some connections with the interviewee would help the interview process much more smoothly. To be honest, I conducted an interview for another class before, and it went terribly. The main reasons that it didn’t go well were 1.I am not very prepared for the interview, 2.I randomly chose a person on campus who I barely, 3. The interviewee didn't felt like talking. Thus we felt awkward half way through the interview when we didn’t have much to talk. As a result, we ended the interview rushly.

With those experiences, I will be more prepared for my next interview.