do you mind if I sit here?
no, of course not. Go ahead.
don't I know you?
yes, now that you mention it, I think we had a chemistry class together in high school.
you're right! How are you? It's been a long time!
What did you do after high school?
I went straight to university afterwards. What about you?
I took a year off to go travelling.
that sounds exciting. Where did you go?
I went all over the world. It was the best year of my life. Where did you go to school?
I went to a small school in Connecticut. It has a very good reputation for its languages department.
Oh, did you study a foreign language?
yes, I got a grant to study Chinese.
that's a very difficult language to learn, isn't it?
it is, but it's very rewarding.
so you can speak Chinese?
I can, but not as well as I'd like to. I'll be studying Chinese until the day I die!
I think most languages take a lifetime to learn well.