Matthew CP#1

Date: 9/4/15 6:30-7:30PM
Conversation Partner: Aviv Atias

After class on Thursday, Aviv and I discussed an array of topics. I think our conversation began by me asking him how long he had been in the United States, which progressed to why he was in Tallahassee. He said that preceding his trip to the United States he was serving in the Israeli military and it is custom to travel after one serves his term. He told me that he lives in Tel Aviv and really likes living there. He told me it was a very liberal place in Israel, which previously presumed did not exist. I found this fascinating. I told him about my last few years, including my transfer from UChicago to FSU. I then followed up by telling him about my plans to teach English in South Korea this spring. I continued by telling him that this was my last opportunity to travel before going to law school. We then had a long discussion about the conflict in the middle-east, mostly on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He told me that Jewish people aren't allowed in the Muslim areas, but Muslims are allowed in the Jewish areas. This led to a philosophical conversation about the reduction of liberty and cost of lives trade-off. This trade-off is extremely pertinent to today's policies and made a very interesting discussion that transcends borders.