The Caribbean Student Experience | Ft. Malique, Areana, & Osbourne - Let's Talk Di Tings

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you're listening to the podcast on Apple Podcast, please
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forget to follow us on Instagram at Let's Talk the Things. Now,
Grab your tea, coffee, or a glass of wine and
let's talk the Things. Hello everyone, welcome back to the

(00:23):
Let's Talk the Things podcast, where we discussed personal growth, travel, music,
beauty and wellness while encouraging you to live looking like that.
Sorry I just looked up and laugh. Okay, I can't

(00:46):
look at you. Oh god, sorry, oh my god. Okay,
Hello everyone, Welcome back to the Let's Talk the Things podcast,
where we discuss personal growth, travel, music, beauty and wellness
while encouraging you to live fearlessly and fabulously. I'm your host,

(01:10):
Ash and this week we are talking to teams with
three of my favorite people, Malik, Arianna and one of
your faves from season two. Hi, guys, how are you good?

Speaker 2 (01:28):
So?

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Why you guys have the shy boys on? You know
you're trying to be very demure? Okay, I like it.
I feel like we should open up with what's that
talk with my friends? Damn, but not straight to That's

(01:49):
why music is like listen to.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Please?

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, we have to switch it up. Don't worry, we'll
get to my word. So, as you guys know, we
begin each episode with our listener's favorite segments, and it's
called that aisode safe.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
What money is that? That's what I said.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
You definitely said. That doesn't sound for us.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
I forgot, which is let's run that back.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
So, as you guys know, we begin each episode with
our listener's favorite segment and it's called that. So I'm
going to read messages or social media posts that listener
sent in. And if you think it sounds crazy or
a little bit concerning, you'd say that sounds safe and

(02:51):
explain why. And if you agree, you say you agree,
and you know, explain why? All right? The first one,
I will take you seriously when I see no one
has access to you like I do. Agreed, sounds safe,
very safe? Us goes the problem hair called depro.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Explain why though?

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Why does it depend?

Speaker 2 (03:23):
I will only take you serious when I see that
no one is.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
No one has access to you like I do.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Okay, that's that's that's it.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
That's safe, right, because the idea is like if everybody
has access to you, then you're you're not special like
I'm not special to out exactly, and we're like private
spaces exactly exclusively. Yeah, yeah, reserved, can park here after
four Okay. The next one, someone asked what did you

(03:59):
eat after a breakup, and the person responded, nothing, I
went down to a size three.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
T Oh, no, that.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Sounds like a normal relationship to me.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
Whoa.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
I mean it depends like, Okay, I broke up with
my ex at night, so yeah, I went to sleep
like crying, I guess. But in the morning, best believe
I ate some cheese. That's what I'm saying, Like, what
do you mean you went down a size? I probably
went up a size.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
I think I did.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
Come.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
But see, some people emotionally eat. Oh yeah, that's exactly that.
Some people can't eat. They lose their opportunity to crumble
cookie the next day to lose weight though. No, see
it's a good weight. It's just I don't know. Maybe
as a Caribbean person, losing weight doesn't That's that's a point.
That's what I'm saying. It doesn't even sound right. I

(04:56):
put on weight faster than I lose. It takes a
good while for me to lose weight. I think sometimes people,
depending on what the breakup is if it's maybe like
a shock, you know, or maybe you caught someone doing something,
you know what I mean. Like some people could be
in so much shock that they just they don't have
an appetite. That's what I'm thinking. But even that is bad.

(05:18):
But I think we've all been there in some capacity
where something happens and you literally have no appetite, Like
even if your favorite food is in front of you,
you just can't eat it, you know. So it's still
not someone safe, but it's like it's not worth doing
intentionally or someone I think that's what we're all saying differently.

(05:43):
All Right. The next one. Last time I saw my aunt,
she looked at me and said, mm mmm, look how
you get fat? Oh yeah, it am lockdown. When you smile,
it's a little too real. It's not everybody's face. Literally
your heads went out like reminiscent. I was a big kid, Like,

(06:07):
I feel like you guys have some stories do you
care to share? Freshman year freshman twenty, that's fifteen twenty.
Everyone was like, oh, you just beating up to school,
like what are you being like eating off? Oh but luckily,
luckily they said it wasn't going to my front. It
was okay, So it's okay, okay, okay, that's so on.

(06:31):
See if that sounds sick, that so it sounds sick,
it could have been worse. Yeah, the back soones, you
too are but the front so.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, I was a big kid, you know. I went
to Jamaica like a two parts fan in the middle
school and like I was like big, and then I
grew so then I just lost all the weight and
I was skinny. And then the second time I went,
my Grandfa was like crying to here so happy. He's like,
I thought, you can fat the rest of your life.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Oh no, why do Jamaicans are Caribbean people just say
whatever is on their mind.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
It's good though, because it motivates you.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
It does, it does. We're we're gonna get we're gonna
get to talk about how, you know, we've managed to
tackle growing up Caribbean. But it's true. It gives you
that extra oomph you need, right character, And that's why
when you get in the real world, nobody can say
nothing to you. Yeah, You're looking at them like do
you know Caribbean? Like right, like this is nothing.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
That oh story.

Speaker 4 (07:37):
Yeah, I've always been a skinny child my whole life,
and then when I came here, I gained twenty pounds
in three months.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
My dad said the same thing happened to him, And
it's the food. It's the food, yeah for sure, Yeah sure,
and preservatives they put them here. Yeah, So, ladies and gentleman,
Malik would like you to know he has two percent
and body fat, so he doesn't know what we're talking about,
living a life joking Okay. The next person said, I

(08:14):
had to cut a friendship of twenty years because she
enjoyed it when I struggled and didn't like when I
started healing.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
That's safe.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
I'm glad she cut off. It's safe, she cuts it off.
But that's so undsafe that she enjoyed it. Like when
you said trouble, that's not a crazy, that's a monitoring spirit.
That's cocketings. That's things I was never a friend. Never
have you guys ever had any experiences like that? Yes, okay,

(08:46):
that's that's but you know what, hopefully it doesn't take
you well, twenty years.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Years long?

Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yeah, ten ten.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
I go through friends pretty fast though. That's the thing.

Speaker 4 (09:02):
The like, they're probably my oldest set of friends right here,
because I every time. I've been so used to changing
schools my whole life that once I once I start
a new one, I just forget about the last.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
Really, yeah, I just had to do because my dad
was in the military.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
But is it that you guys grew apart or you
just literally just all the sites all to mind kind
of thing.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
I kind of just had to move on, you know,
and we grow apart two as well.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Mm hmm, okay, I could see that, but I think
in this case, it's more like someone enjoying you struggle.
It's crazy. I feel like I understand why I took
the person so long, because maybe people kept telling her
to like mmm, yeah, no, I get that person that
person and they're just like, no, it just can't be
that way, like give them a chance, because I was
the same way. Yeah, no, it's not like that. And

(09:49):
then one minor inconvenience in our friendship and I was
just like, oh my gosh, this is this is how
you are, Like, this is who you are. This is ridiculous.
And that's all it takes. Sometimes, Yeah, because the thing is,
and my parents always say, like, people can't hide from themselves,
you know, so they can try and they can pretend
for a while, but we usually project like goodness onto people.

(10:11):
So that's why we'll see those little things and be like,
maybe she was having a bad day or maybe you know,
maybe he was going through something because he did this
two weeks ago. But that's them like the mask slipping
little by little. So yeah, I definitely get it, but
it sucks that it took twenty years. I mean, I
can't imagine the story is behind that. That sounds crazy,

(10:35):
right pretty much?

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (10:37):
Okay, a couple more so. The next person said it's
hard to stay friends with people who knew you before
you knew yourself.

Speaker 4 (10:48):
That's fair, though, I think there's It's not a bad
thing because I like to Well, firstly, if someone knows
me and understands me, I think they bring value. They
have good insights that could tell you whenever you're you're
messing up, or you know, whenever you're stepping out the line.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
You need that type of person grown.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, I think the.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Problem is when that like they know your past self,
but they like they're so start too that they can't
see the new person. I think that's when the problem
starts and they're like, you have that girl and they're
still pulling you back into that old place.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, yeah, that could be a problem because I've had
friends that I've known since I was what ten nine,
ten years of friendship. I would say, now she's seen
the whole ups and downs, but she's also progressing with me,
so it's like she will give me like, wow, aerie,
like it's interesting watching girl from like point A to

(11:44):
point B, like seeing you flourished, and vice versa for her.
But I've also had those friends who like, oh, well,
I miss when you used to be like that, and
I'm like, girl, yeah, those have to stay away from yeah, exactly.
So it's like you get half and half. I think
both of you have a really good point, Like you
don't want to be around people that you know they
reach their peak in high school and they just want

(12:06):
to talk about remember those days, and it's like, sir,
like we're way past that now because those were like
their glory days. And so you also don't want to
be around people that, like you said, you're progressing and
maybe they're not progressing at that speed, but you both
started in the same area. So then envy builds because

(12:26):
it's like, well, why is OZ doing all those things,
or why does he get to get those opportunities because
we came from the same place. And yeah, especially if
you're a Caribbean period, and if you even think about
situations like just talking about famous people like Nipsey Hustle,
you know, going back to his neighborhood, trying to do
the right thing, helping, and you still had people looking

(12:47):
at him being envious, you know, like why do you
get to leave? Why do you get to do these things?
So it's kind of it's kind of like a double
edged sword because on one hand, I agree with Malik.
You know, you need those people to ground you and
maybe if you got famous or got a lots of
money to say hey, you know, like remember who you are.
But at the same time, you don't want anyone to

(13:09):
pull you back. So I think your friend is like
an ideal situation, Like you guys are growing together. You
might not be interested in the same things, but like
she's going yay for you and you're doing the same
for her. I think that's like the ideal situation. So
I think I guess that's so kind of saying it's
not really relatively right, Like Amber said, for sure, Okay,

(13:35):
two more he didn't leave you on a red. He
left you. No, he didn't leave you on a red.
You left him speechless. It's all about perspective.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
That's taking over this world.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
That I've heard things like that before.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
Hilarious, real, Oh my gosh. I hope that person was joking.
I hope that's not a serious perspective. Not similar that's concerning.
Yeah that if you're listening, I really hope that was
a joke, because while I do enjoy positive perspectives.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yeah, that's.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
The only thing you should be chasing is a boss
that not even that. My question is all right, let's
let's let's analyze it though, never chase no man as
a woman. Why are you even in the position to
be left on red? Yeah, that's the question. It should
be vice versa, respectfully, Why are you texting him first

(14:45):
or having to be the one spearheading the conversation. That
doesn't make any sense. And it could be that they're
having a conversation and then maybe she responded and was
left on red, and if that's the case, it's probably
not the first. So if that bothers you, and like,
I don't know, I feel like that's anything. Anything could

(15:06):
happen though, Like what if the man got in a
car accident they don't care, or what if like I
don't know, so anything can happen. So I like to
give people like a BLI you know, give them a
little pass. But if you bring it to someone's attention
and then they don't change it, or if it happens
multiple times, then okay, that's who they are, that's their character.

(15:28):
But if it's something where like you guys typically text
back and forth and then one time they don't text back,
you're blocking him a very strict I'll say the second time.
I me personally, if a man is trying to pursue me,
I'm very much I don't want to use the word aggressive,

(15:49):
but I make it very clear that you rarely have
a chance. So if you're trying, you should really be trying, Okay,
because that's fair, you know, Yeah, that's just what this.
So if you're doing that, in my opinion, I like
to take it like it's like you're on a child
run for a job. You don't come to work late
because you know you're going to get fired, saying that

(16:10):
for text messages, why are you taking someone to text
me back? I'm going to fire you a ka blockie.
So I don't know that's just because they don't call, Like,
why aren't you answering your why don't you answer the phone?
I don't like I don't call. It's great because I
don't badly let people. No people be doing that, But

(16:34):
why is it called crazy? But see, my thing is,
I just don't like people having access to me unless
we're close. I don't like people having access to me.
I don't want people having my number.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
So it's like even the fact that I even allowed
you to do that, and this is how you know, Yeah,
that's true. That's fair for sure. Yeah, because the access
thing is a real thing. But us please elaborate on
the phone, like we have a text for reasons you're okay,
wait silent.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
It's different when if you call me and you have
like a purpose to the call.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Some people, like people you're close.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
With literally anybody.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
I'm not gonna lie what literally you hate when I
call you.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
I don't hate when you call what you call me?
Like with the reason I hate.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
People call me like for a small talking like yo,
and just ask me.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
Like some dumb questions like what should I eat for lunch.
I'm like, you grow a man, grow call me Like, yeah,
that is it?

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Is it dependent?

Speaker 3 (17:41):
That's a bad example, Like that's crazy, Like it's just
when I see something on my phone it's a call,
Like my whole energy just drains, like because it's like
when I text you, it's on my time or on
the phone, I feel like I give you. So it's
like I can't multitask.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
I'm not gonna lie.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
I have exacted that with my dad twenty five eight.
But wait, I have I have a question, hold on,
stick a thing. Is this in relation to and I'm
asking for the guys, is this in relation to anybody
or specifically to a partner, like someone you're interested in
or someone you're dating. It's like like, do you get
aggravated when your mom calls you?

Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yes, oh my.

Speaker 4 (18:22):
Love, I'm sorry mom, But yes, sometimes it's from it's
from different purposes.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
I was I second, Okay, this is the part I
agree with you. I don't like calls that have no purpose,
Like I don't want to hear you breathe in and out.
I don't, I really don't. I honestly, I'm glad you're breathing.
That's a good sign, but I don't want to hear
it called with a purpose. But I feel like, when
you're courting somebody, especially as a man, how can you

(18:51):
possibly get to know them over text? I don't understand
that that's you are. And when you're talking to somebody,
you prefer text.

Speaker 3 (18:58):
We only face tom if it's like.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
But not even FaceTime, you gotten too far. I'm talking
like the phone, I don't do that.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
You go straight into FaceTime, either FaceTime or text.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
Wow, it stays with it stays with text. And then
if I'm like, they'll ask they'll be like, oh, can
I FaceTime you? And if I'm like, okay, like sure,
you know, you gotta do the whole get ready for
the FaceTime and all that whatever, and then I'll you know,
be on FaceTime whatever. And if it's a vibe, no,
I feel like FaceTime really is how I feel it out.
Sometimes texts you can't. Really, That's how I feel. I

(19:35):
don't think you can tell it on FaceTime. If I'm like,
if it's so silent, I'm like, eh, never mind, this
is like, don't call me again. And see, I think
that's weird. When you're looking at somebody's face, you're looking
in their face and it's silent. It's already weird. You
know what these guys like, they'll they'll put their phone
facing the ceiling in a pitch black round. Excuse me,
I'm so serious.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
What do you mean?

Speaker 1 (19:56):
Okay, that desert now, that was that's crazy. I've never
dealt with that like a college but like high school wise,
like that's that's what they'll do. What I'm so serious,
and they'll speak to you, but they're like, the phone's
facing this. I have to pray for this generations.

Speaker 4 (20:10):
But like, let me feel myself though, it's like defend yourself.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
I'm coming from a place so I don't like being
on the phone. So if I'm on the phone with you,
that means you already got like points you feel me?
So no, But like if the if I'm doing something,
I'm like, all right, we can stay on the phone.
I'm not gonna hang up on you. But you got
to compromise, Like I got to multitask. I can't have
the camera, Like, okay, let me ask you this.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
Why do you have to Like why can't you just
pay attention to the person you're speaking to for like
fifteen minutes? Like why do you have to do.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
That's when you're like, oh, I gotta go after fifteen
and they're like, what you mean?

Speaker 1 (20:45):
So you're trying to like stick around, but yet.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
They're like, who else you want to talk to?

Speaker 1 (20:48):
I'm like, oh, okay, okay, I see the message here,
I see the see I don't know these things as
you know. One, we're not men, so that's a different perspective.
But to hear yeah, I'm surprised, Like one the dark
room and looking up at the ceiling, that's weird. And
the straight to FaceTime if someone face times me, Like,

(21:12):
first of all, I'm glad to hear you said the
person asked, because I remember dating someone and they literally
just FaceTime me out of nowhere. And I literally looked
at my phone and I was like, why would you, Like,
why would you do that when you're dating somebody? No,
like just somebody I was just talking to, like on
a date, that's like and just randomly face timing. I
literally text back, are you okay? Like are you well?

(21:35):
Because there's no way you could think you were just
gonna FaceTime me out the blue. And his perspective was, oh,
that's what I always do. So see that's what reference.
That means he's friendly exactly, and that not so safe
at all. That not soun's safe all right. Last one,
I never leave when it gets hard. I leave when
it gets disrespectful. I don't know about that one.

Speaker 4 (22:00):
Sometimes I like to change my mind a lot.

Speaker 2 (22:03):
That's the thing.

Speaker 4 (22:04):
So if I'm not comfortable, if I if I don't
feel like it's already ruined, because in my mind, I'm like, Okay,
it's not gonna go good anymore. It's a terrible It's
a terrible trait to have, though, I'll say, because sometimes
you need to just thuck it out and realize that
you need to just.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
Get it done.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Yeah, that's a good perspective. I never thought of it
that way.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Yeah. I think it depends on the level of commitment.
If y'all committed, well, I don't know if you're not
talking specifically about relationships, but like, yeah, in a relationship,
if y'all are like deep into it, then yeah, leaving
when it's hard instead of dispectful, you know, like you
should stick it out. But if y'all like the commitment
level is not that much, the cons are more than pros,
and it's like I might waste my time.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
That's true. Yeah, that's true, Arianna. I mean, like I said,
I've done the oath. Okay, I have a history of
doing both because like going off what us says, I
really take the time to sit there and be like
is this even worth it? Like is the situation worth it?
Friendship or relationship? I feel like is it really worth it?

(23:08):
Like do I need to have you in my life
for real? Like is this I really value?

Speaker 2 (23:15):
This?

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Is this like long term or is this short term?
Like is this for a season or is this real lifetime?
And then from there I'd be like I really don't care.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
That much for it.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
But I feel like if we're being honest, sometimes the
disrespects and the hard kind of sometimes, yeah, I agree,
sometimes when it does get hard, it gets disrespectful.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
So I don't know.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
That's why that's a really good point. Yeah, I have
a history of bulls and that also, hard can mean
different things to different people. It's like offer interpretation because
someone could think old he never enters phone, Oh god,
I wouldn't care about that, or he hangs out with
all these women, now that's how men are. Some people
can look at it like that, and someone else would

(24:01):
be like, but some people don't care about stuff like that,
So you know, like, what is your heart? I'd say
for me for both, I'm a runner, I'm a track star.
I can't do like I like peace. And while I
do agree with you, like sometimes you have to stick

(24:22):
things out. You don't have to stick out someone being
disrespectful for sure, like under any circumstances, And you don't
have to stick out hard when you've brought it to
somebody's attention, right, Like, if it's something like both of
you are working through and you're both acknowledging, like, oh,
you know, and we're talking about relationships in this instance,
but with anything, if it's something that both parties are acknowledging,

(24:45):
I think that's something you can work through. That's hard.
But if it's something where like, you know, we talk
about this all the time and you're still doing the
same thing, well, first of all, that person doesn't respect
you because they're doing the same thing over and over again.
But yeah, I think I'm with you, like I'm both
I like peace. So if someone like, if someone's not

(25:08):
bringing you peace, why are they in your life?

Speaker 3 (25:10):
That part fuck?

Speaker 1 (25:14):
Okay? So I basically want to talk about your experience
in university in college, sorry Caribbean, you know, as a
Caribbean person, a person of Caribbean heritage, because that means
you grew up in kind of like this nuance and odds.
We talked about it when you were on last season.
You grew up with like this. You're living in America,

(25:36):
so you're American, but you have Caribbean parents, so you
have to like abide by those certain like rules and
not upbringing. So I feel like, whether you're in your
first year or getting ready to graduate, university in and
of itself is full of challenges. Yeah, So I just
wanted to have a conversation on like what you guys

(25:58):
think is your biggest challenge. So let's start there, Like
what do you think your biggest challenge is? Or was
maybe first coming to school like something that you notice
It's like, wait, this is different than high school. I
guess I would For me, it would theorectally be academics

(26:20):
in a sense. I feel like I grew up a
lot having academic validation, specifically coming from Caribbean parents. My
grandfather he immigrated down here from Guyana and he went
to Howard. But for him, he was like you know
I went to Howard, but you need to go bigger.
You need to go bigger. That's why I told him

(26:40):
I was going to Maryland. He was like, that's it.
I was like, what do you mean. That sounds very
He was like, no, Harvard, no Princeton, what do you
mean Maryland that's down the street. And I was like, no, jipaw,
Like it's like you know they actually they're really good.
Like I was an engineering major freshman year, so I
was like, there, you have the top engineering school in
the country. He was like, yeah, okay. So when I

(27:03):
get here and I'm seeing people who don't look like
me the engineering department, I would say, well, I was
in computer engineering, which is minority, is way smaller, so
I would say I probably would see at least one
black person in my class, maybe even max one black
person in my class.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
And I was struggling, like I wasn't doing good any
of my classes, like at all. I went from coming.
I came here with a four point for a GPA
from high school. I've always had trade a's. I've never
dropped an A before a day in my life. I
got a D like I want a homework assignment when
I was in the second grade. I will never forget
those lastions again in my life after that. When I

(27:45):
tell you, that was motivation to never and when I
tell you it was like one of those cartoon character
you ever seen Tom and Jerry. You're running around exactly
what that see it. I would never forget that day
of my life ever since then, I've only gotten straight
a's on everything. Y'all have that one story. That's why
I'm cracking up straight a's on everything. So when I

(28:08):
got here and I'm just failing. I remember calling my
mom after I took my first computer science exam. You
know I thought I was. I was like, oh, I'm
gonna just do the multiple choice in my past multiple
choice and the coding part will just wing it blank.
I was like, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
Come. Mom's like, Mommy, I failed. I failed, Mommy? Or
what am I do?

Speaker 1 (28:29):
She's like, calm down, it's not that serious, Like.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
What do you mean?

Speaker 1 (28:31):
It's not that serious? And I got a thirty five
percent on an exam, but I dropped the class. I
chose peace, but I chose peace from there like it
really taught like it taught me, And I think I
definitely saw my parents in a different light. I don't
know if it's because that little bit of American, you know,
came in because my parents they went to school in America.

(28:53):
My dad he immigrated up here in high school, so
he came here what we call like eleventh grade to
his eleven grade year in high school. He went to
Maryland too. And then my mom, she's born here, but
she was raised with Guyanese parents, so she has the
American school system too. So they were like, you know, Arianna,
just breathe like it's serious, but it's not that serious,

(29:15):
like you know, you can fix it. My dad just
kept selling. He was like, seez get degrees, sees get degrees.
Just get the darn degree, Areana. That's all you gotta
do is get the degree. And I was like really,
He's like, he's like, no employer is going to look
and say she got a B in this class and
F in this class and C in this class. Did
you get the degree or not? And I was like,
oh wow, okay, so yeah, I would say figuring out, like, dude,

(29:40):
does academic validation really like matter that much to me anymore? Now? Yeah?
I have straight a's. Now I changed my major because
my major is much easier now I'm information science, but
I don't stress that much when it comes to my academics.
I still put my best foot forward. I still try,
I still study. I still want to be like the
best at what I can do. But it's not like

(30:02):
I'm crashing out in the corner in my room anymore.
Right about the fact that I got a hard assignment
coming up, so I would say, that's different. Yeah that
makes sense, Yeah for sure. How about you guys?

Speaker 3 (30:14):
Excuse me. I think my biggest challenge was luky. I
knew this going into high school from college, but it
was like my learning style because I'm a very visual learner.
But I think that's probably what brought me in engineering,
is that I see like how things are done and
are like duplicated, if that makes sense. And coming from
high school to college, the lecture is there is a

(30:35):
waste of time for at least my experience in the
engineering school, like they just yap yep, And the thing
is they don't give the answer keys to practice problems
that part, So it's like you have to work through
all them and guess if it's right or not. And
for me, that doesn't help at all. Because like, you
know the concepts in your learning, but if you don't
know what's right, then what's the point of doing. So

(30:56):
I think I had to really figure out my learning
style as in like just saying forget all that and
just finding stuff online to actually help me learn, and
like finding my own textbooks and finding that way, and
that took a while. I'm not gonna lie, so I
got a little more school left, but you know, I
think it was And also like relying on other people
because I'm definitely like have that stubborn male stereotype which

(31:20):
just like grind through it and don't even you know,
you're gonna figure it out yourself. But I have to
learn how to learn on like my advisors and my
parents and you know, other like engineers that I know
to give me that advice to get through.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
So yeah, and I think it's interesting that you say
like the whole grind or like hustle mentality. I think
that's also very Caribbean, you know, that's how it raised
like just figure it out, like just make it happen,
you know. So I think it's good that you acknowledge that,
but that you've made your own way to deal with it.

(31:51):
You know what I mean. You're not just like, oh,
well that's what I saw my parents do, so I'm
just gonna do that too. Like you both have found
your own ways to figure out your own path, but
still stay true to what you were taught or those
values that were instilled in you.

Speaker 4 (32:06):
So that's good growing up with pure just Jamaican lifestyle communicating.
We don't speak English with each other unless you're in trouble,
and that's when they start calling you by your first name,
not the nickname or the pit name. What you get
growing up. Mine was SpongeBob.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
What.

Speaker 4 (32:32):
I watched SpongeBob since the day I came out of
the womb, and I probably still watch it now.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
If I can.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
It's your favorite sho Okay, got you?

Speaker 4 (32:41):
So, I I remember telling my aunt the other like
my first semester, my first semester, my first time, my
second semester were great. I started off my first semester,
I got three point seventy five as my GPA, and
I told my ash sh sh. I told my grandma.

(33:01):
She said, listen, do not tell your aunt, cause she's
gonna be disappointed. Cause it's always like, oh, if you
don't get all a's why did you get that?

Speaker 2 (33:10):
Be? Why are you not doing good in school? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (33:13):
So the semester after that, when things went downhill, I
never kept I s K. I kept that to myself,
you know. So I realized that it's not as easy
as it was in the beginning, cause I had all
the drive coming in, I had all the will power
to do it.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
I wake up, I'll just go off three hours of sleep.
Nothing is I go to the gym and then come back,
and then I just get overly tired. I'm like, no,
I can't live my life like this.

Speaker 4 (33:40):
Something needs to change, like start getting the harder courses.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
I can't.

Speaker 4 (33:43):
I can't function the same way I did the first
semester and used the same approach cause I've always been
a A B student and that's without me putting in
my maximum effort. But I realized now I have to
actually try harder than how I used to approach it
when I was in uh elementary or middle school here
because uh the schooling system in Jamaica when I went

(34:05):
to high school was so uh crowded. Like it's a
whole different learning style. You don't use no laptop, there's
no you still get your textbook. You walk around with
a thirty pound bag all day in the sun hut, yup,
if you're wearing the wrong colorss socks. Principal out of this, like, yeah,
it was a lot more uh, very different, a lot

(34:26):
more different than that it is here and coming in
having to f pro like basically take care of my
own self, like things like food. Oh god, I remember
I I got some kind of uh dog sickness when
I came in. Yes, dog like y it's something like

(34:48):
it's a it was a part of sock. Yes, I
had a parasige from my first semester and I didn't
know what it was. And they're like, oh my, you're
not eating rine eating it right, I got it. I
got it tested. And they're like, oh no, you need
to just take these anti anti parasitic medication and then
they'll go away.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
I was like, okay, but.

Speaker 4 (35:11):
It was a lot to go through all that, taking
all that by myself. Why but nevertheless we proceed.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
Right, No, that's I mean, I think that's really good
that all of you, like I said, have recognized the
things that we take from our culture that are not
so good anymore, you know. And I think We're in
a generation now, especially your generation, where we're able to
have certain conversations with our parents that I can assure

(35:42):
you they weren't able to have, you know what I mean?
Or yeah, no, so do I you know? So I
think that's good. I think every generation is doing better
and better of having like more open conversations, more of
saying like no, but in a way that will not
get you oh lashes exactly right. But like it's like

(36:03):
we're still maintaining the respect for our parents because that's
ingrained in who we are, but also being aware that
we live in a time in a space where like
we have our own opinions and we are our own people,
and that our parents they got to live their lives,
they got to be this age before, like we haven't
been this age before, you know, And they probably were
the same way. But they're not gonna tell us that exactly.

(36:25):
We're gonta leave that part out, you know what I mean?
And nine times out to ten, their heart is in
the right place. But you have to be able to
live your own life and have your own experiences. And
none of us are parents yet. But I'm sure it's
hard to watch that because you probably want to save
your child, like from everything, but then you don't learn,

(36:46):
like I think, all of the hard things that we've
all been through, that's where you learn the lessons. You
don't learn lessons when everything goes right exactly, you know.
So it's not like the best thing, and we don't
want to go down to a size three T, but
the lessons definitely are important. So in that same vein,

(37:07):
do you guys or have you guys ever felt like
you had to assimilate in the way that Malik you
were saying, like growing up you only spoke proper English,
like when you were in trouble, but like obviously coming
here and also being in the military, like you mentioned earlier,
having to move and go to different places, like people
have different dialects in different states here much less coming

(37:30):
from another country, you know what I mean? So, like,
have you guys ever felt that you couldn't be your
full selves? Or are you in groups where you can
be but you're aware that, like you can't speak Poto
for example, to like your friend in class because they're
legitimately not gonna understand, but you're still yourself, like they
know you're Jamaica or Guyanese or you know, like they know,

(37:52):
yeah I have. Well, yeah, so I'm a part of
two organizations here on campus. Caribbeans do an association and
the Blacks doing union. Those are two different environments. The
stuff that we say in our Caribbean Student Association board meetings,
I surely cannot say got it because I feel like,

(38:20):
because it's culture, it's culture, it's the Caribbean. This level
of wokenness that is here in the States is not
it's not the same. So it's like it's crazy that
I still have to code switch between my own people.
I guess you can say because I grew up with
a Caribbean setting, Like my father was born and raised

(38:41):
in Barbadas my mother, Yeah she was born here. But
when you got two parents who immigrated from Guyana, you're
you're im better than that, Like, so, oh so your
dad is Beaijing, but they both came from No, my
dad came from Barbados, Okay from My dad came straight
from Barbados. Yeah, he came in fired but they both

(39:02):
went to Maryland though. Oh yeah, that's how they met.
But it's it's really different because like there's so many
things that I feel like people in CSA would understand
me like my political views, my views and just stuff
in school, my music tastes, the way I talk, the
way I see, the different levels of respect. It's only

(39:26):
even gender roles. I feel like literally are hangouts. We
were even talking about the structure of homes and you
can see the difference of how US as Caribbean people,
we look at home structure as compared to African Americans,
Americans period, how it's different. It's completely different. So I
feel like I'm more one hundred percent myself in my

(39:49):
CSA setting compared to my BSU setting, because it's like
I still have to code switch. I have to put
on that American side on more of understanding what you know,
how they feel a just quiet because my mother has
always told me, if you have nothing nice to say,
don't say anything at all. So yeah, I feel like
with my CSA, I'm completely open, like I don't have

(40:11):
to adde anything because it's not the matter of feeling like,
oh they're gonna judge because they don't know. We all
think the same way with majority of things, and we
have different hot takes on certain things that if you
were to say in anybody in anywhere. They'd be like,
oh my gosh, you believe that, and ask Caribans would
be like, what do you mean? Yeah, it's right, Like

(40:33):
what's the problem, Like why do you like even just
simply saying when you walk in walk into a room,
you greet somebody like good morning, got off to gosh?
Think that is the crazy. I don't understand how people
and they'll look you dead in your face and just
keep I don't speak. It's crazy. We literally, literally just
yesterday saw somebody we knew looks as dead in our

(40:54):
face and just keeps walking. I'm just sitting here like
what insane?

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Just rude.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
I'm just like, wow, no bra topsy Like that alone
could just make me just I could just cut you
off from there. Yeah, that's one thing with me. I'm
very big on respect and manners and like speaking when
you see somebody is very big and I used to
be somebody that would say something like hello, like you know,
but then I just realized I'm going to be going

(41:22):
after everyone there. So I just I just noticed it
and I say, okay, well you won't see my two
pupils again. I'll just pretend I don't see you because
I'd rather do that than to be having a stare
off with you and you don't speak like that's so crazy? Absolutely, yeah,
what about you guys it.

Speaker 4 (41:41):
I realized that we can't exactly, I can't give people
what it's feeding to the whole idea that they need
to get.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
A reaction out of me.

Speaker 4 (41:49):
So I'm just like, Okay, you know, I've said a lot,
and when it comes to CSA, I act a completely
different way that I operate with than CSA that I
do outside of CSA. I have to be code switching.
I I learned that when I just came here that
I can't just be my normal self around other people.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
Because they we start.

Speaker 4 (42:13):
I first came into North Carolina, so I was in
the countryside of North Carolina. There was Confederate flags in
the yards beside us, Like honestly, they used to peek
through the windows when we drive past and everything. So
I had to learn their terminology speak like them. I
n I don't know anyone who learned how to code

(42:34):
switch better than my dad and my mom.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
Always I tell you that.

Speaker 4 (42:38):
Okay, First, on my dad's side of the family, it's
we speak straight straight Patua like all the time. Pretty
much only when I you're in trouble, you speak you
speak English my mom's side, because I grew up with
my mom primarily it was straight English. She wasn't allowing
me to speak PoTA in the beginning. So that's why

(42:59):
my part our sounds kind of broken in some sense
covered to other people.

Speaker 1 (43:06):
So why you have to look at me? Why everybody
has to look at me? Yeah, opt represents not the
whole room looking at.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
You.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
Guys didn't get no popcorn, No, you always said it.
Application denied in unison is insane. That was like, you
guys could have broke that up. But that's cool. It's
fine speaking of that. What do you guys think about

(43:44):
Music's just music? Period effects on how how do I
phrase this? Unlike whole men and women in our culture
interact with each other. Do you think it has an
effect on our interactions or do you think that's more
from just like general culture of what we've seen growing up.

(44:10):
I'm gonna say general culture, yeah, because you still have
to think that the artists who are singing these songs,
they're learning it, you know what I'm saying, They're brought
up with the way that they're coming into their music.
And so it's like, I feel like the music mainstreams it,
but you gotta think, where do they even get it

(44:30):
from in the first Exactly, it's their experience, I agree.
So I think they just put it into the music.
But then the music for those who may not hear
it or don't have firsthand experience, that's their exposure. And
I feel like it carries from that. Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
I realized that it has. It's it's like a same
thing in getting with the double edged sword. So you
have these people who grew up in.

Speaker 4 (45:00):
Already like poverty stricken society r or where they uh,
they have the mentality that you would see like a
Cartel would have.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
Yeah, he grew up uh just as they would have
grown up.

Speaker 4 (45:13):
And then they see him as a beacon of hope
because he still displays the same characteristics that they have.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
Meanwhile, he's making the money. So they're like, Okay, if
I go with it that same.

Speaker 4 (45:26):
Approach, I'm gonna be able to do those things and
be able to reach to the level of magnitude of
car uh Viges Cartel. So they rather than changing their
approach or no one seeing for your realizing for themself
what exactly. He does pay attention to how he communicates,
he's mastered the ability to do so because he's gotten

(45:46):
to the point where it doesn't even matter cause he
he has the power to basically just be himself.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
Yeah, that makes sense us.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
Man.

Speaker 3 (45:58):
I mostly agree with what you all said.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
Honestly.

Speaker 3 (46:01):
I think you guys both had good points. I think
in a general aspect, like Arianna was saying, it has
the impacts, but I think it's for everyone's like self interpretation,
like I think, especially like from my perspective growing up
in America, I think I don't even I probably interpret
it differently than people that are still living in making

(46:22):
the Caribbean as a whole, you know, right, that's a
good important Yeah, like contrast to make it as well.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
No, definitely that's a good point. And I heard somebody
because this is an argument that as we know, has
been going on for like before we were all born.
But I heard somebody say that it's interesting that a
genre like dancehall gets so much flack. But there are
reggae songs that talk about growing up you know, hard
or having a hard life, but it's just sad beautifully,

(46:50):
you know, versus like maybe the cuss words and the
raunchiness of it, or a lot of people compare Dowancehall
and Soca in the sense of Soka talks about you know,
gyrating and dancing and it's about freedom to me, like
having fun, but it doesn't get as much flack. Do
you guys have any opinion on why you think that

(47:12):
might be? It was because of where Soca comes from.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
I guess I feel like.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
People so obviously as we all know, so it comes
from Trinidad, and everyone's saying, you know, people look at
Trinidad like, oh, it's so sweet. You know, carnivals here,
even the accent is singing song nothing, you know, it
can't be no wrong, like no worries for me. My family, Yeah,
my parents Beijing and Guyanese, but they both grew up

(47:41):
a very very very strong dance all influence. I grew
up on dance all.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Oh okay.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
When people are saying like, oh, dance all is so vulgar,
it's this, that and the third, and I'm sitting here
like at the age of like three, my dad was
also a dance artist, and I'm just like, yeah, it's
like it's just it's like it depends on where you
come from in the sense like I don't have sensitivity
to it now Rajah wild right now, I definitely be

(48:08):
on something like yeah, we're not going to repeat those lyrics,
but yeah, much we got to have a little bit
of a That's the thing. I feel like there's no threshold.
I think that's what's happening. There's there's no threshold because
there's no one. I don't artists are not becoming, they're
not like, they're not mentoring. I feel like when in

(48:33):
the game and I feel like this is music. No,
this is music just in the Caribbean, because music and
the States anywhere else, you'll see these you know, older
artists will come in and be like, okay, young young
and young blood. You're not you know, this is how
we do it here. But they're not doing it. Is
it that they're not mentoring or they're not listening. No,
it's because I've seen certain situations where you see older

(48:56):
people say yeah, man, this is what you should do,
when they're like, no, nobody does that anymore. We do this, no,
and they don't want to listen. So I think there
could be both. Whereas it's like we're also in a
different time, so dantaw Artists back then had to go
to shows and get bottles thrown at them and whatever. No,
they go on YouTube, they make a TikTok. They have

(49:17):
different mediums, you know what I mean. Like anybody can
make a song and it's on iTunes in two seconds
before they had to ride their bike give out records.
If we're talking all the way back that you see
what I'm saying. So they might look at them and
be like, you don't know what you're talking about. You
haven't had a hit since nineteen ninety five. I'm the
new personnel because my TikTok went viral, you know what

(49:38):
I mean. So I think there's also that like generational,
like you don't know, it's different times now, but I
agree with you that they should listen because people like
Shampaul Shaggy have stood the test of time. Like Shampaul,
I don't know if this is a fact, but I
would say he's probably the richest Jamaican musician up there

(49:58):
with Shaggy. Yeah right, And he's always been true to himself.
I've never seen him twang. I've never seen him switch up,
you know, his style in a sense, like I know
he's done like some reggaeton and stuff like that, but
he's still Shampaul, Like he's still the same cadence everything.
And to your point, I think that's a great example
that new dancehall artists could could mimic. But then again

(50:21):
they're themselves right Like like you said earlier, they're talking
about their own experience. Shampaul grew up a certain way.
They grew up a certain way, you know what I mean. Like, yeah,
so it's kind of hard to see, I guess, to
really know what the why is. I just feel like, okay,
like going back to Rajah Wild for example, if somebody

(50:41):
like Mavado came up and was like okay, listen, yeah,
like even publicly or in person, all right, you know,
let's turn it down some you know, it's you know,
having that baseline. I feel like that's not really necessarily happening.
I feel like most of those old heads like who
Fit you know, can relate, just go on the backgurnd

(51:02):
and they just watching.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
Even at Freedom Street with Chronic Law, he got off
on stage. He said, I hate all my fans, I
hate everyone here. I'm here for Chronic Law.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
Why did you do that part?

Speaker 3 (51:16):
He said? I'm only here for vibes. Forget the d
J to he was crashing out.

Speaker 1 (51:22):
I'm like, bro, was this the part where him and
popcorn popcornn okay? First of all, I would just like
to say that that was just a test to make
sure the Mican okay. As I was saying popcorn, of

(51:53):
course that would happen. No, But was this the time
where they were upset like they were on the stage
because they were held at the gates or something like that.

Speaker 3 (52:02):
But Chronic was doing a little too much, Like I
don't know it, he's like a newer artist.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
Of course.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
I honestly think it's a generation thing, honestly, Like I
just feel like every generation is getting more like free
to just do it. Yeah, And it's like it's a
catch twenty two because earlier when we were talking about
that freedom, it's a great thing, you know, like to

(52:29):
be yourself and to do things how you want to
do them. But when it comes to like respect and stuff,
it's like, are we getting too passed the point? But
then again, we don't know what happened, you get what
I'm saying, So like we're all speculating based on what
this one said and that one said. But at the
same time, it's like if we look at old videos

(52:49):
from like the early nineties, like I was a toddler,
but you see the videos and they were throwing bottles
to me, that's worse. Or they were custing and getting
in fighting on state. So it's like, I mean every
I don't know. It's hard to really say. I just
like having this conversation because I feel like I personally

(53:10):
think music in general cannot make somebody do something. That's
how I feel because to your point, although I grew
up a little differently, my parents were very strict, So
although my dad's a musician, like I could not listen
to dancehall like at all. Right, but here's my point, though,
you're still a respectable person, you see what I'm saying,

(53:32):
So that has nothing to do You just talked about
before you even got there. You talked about never getting
a bet. You know what I'm saying. If we had
this conversation backwards, somebody might be like, Oh, why is
she gonna even ask her about academics. She probably feeling everything.
If all she listens to is dance, people will really
have that like mindset. So that goes to show you
music has nothing to do with like like raise your children,

(53:56):
because if your children are raised correctly, they can listen
to all the bad songs and blasted in their car
and then gets out and attend their class. Quite literally, yeah,
like you know what I mean. And I saw an
interview with Cartel. It was an old interview that I
recently saw, where he was asked something like that, like

(54:16):
do you think your lyrics are irresponsible or you know,
would you let your children hear this? And he said
something similar. He's like, yeah, but my children get like
you would say straight age. I don't know exactly what
he said, but like, my children do well in school
and they do this and do that. It's not my
job to raise your children. I've heard Beyonce say something
like that all these artists because it's like, at what

(54:36):
point do you separate the two?

Speaker 2 (54:39):
You know?

Speaker 1 (54:39):
They did that to Spice right, not too long ago.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
Daughter.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
No, not even with her daughter. She was at the school.
She was going on tours to primary schools in Jamaica
and this one school. Basically they were just like, you're inappropriate,
you're a bad influence to the children. We don't want
you here. And she was like, what are you talking
about like I'm coming here to, you know, show them
that a little girl like me from Jamaica can do

(55:07):
what they want to do, right, And they were just like, no,
you you're disrespectful. You're very promiscuous. Da da da da.
You're just gonna lead them down that route. And you
know it's serious. When Spice starts wearing black hair, she
tried out. She's like, I'm not Spice anymore. I'm Grace
and I'm telling you that's not who I am. And
they they even and I hate when people try to

(55:27):
do this, but they even pulled out. They were like,
you know this is a I think this is a
Catholic school. We don't want you coming here doing this.
On the third, you don't know the lord off the
way that your music sounds. And she's just like, excuse me,
So now you're coming from my character, like you're doing
defamation of character because how are you going to tell me?
And she she went back to back. They want to
pull out a Bible verse to her. She pulled out

(55:48):
a Bible verse herself.

Speaker 3 (55:49):
She goes like it.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
Actually also says da, but it's like, how can you
like you gotta be able to it's not fair because
you're not coming at Shincia. You know, I'm saying you're
not coming at Nyla Blackman, because yeah, like there's so
many other people that you can come for. I mean,
even Kespy having subliminals in his music like come on.

(56:13):
So a lot of Caribbean songs period, doesn't matter sound
is the lyrics are there, but that that's actually crazy,
It's terrible. And I think she she tried to. I
don't know if she was suing or way to sue
for defamation and character, but yeah, I remember seeing it.
She did like a live when they were in the
room having the conversation. I was watching and I was like,

(56:36):
and she's to me, she's one of the most like articulate,
well spoken intelligence heself, very like she separates the true
in America even more too, Like when I watch her
on like love and hip Hop, and I'll be like, oh, no,
she's doing a great job because she could be responding
in many different ways than one and she's not. I
like the fact that she's herself, but she knows she's

(56:58):
always herself, but she knows when to switch kind of thing,
you know, And and I take her switching as she
knows when to let people know she's educated. Don't think
because she's singing these lyrics and dancing, that means you
can't tell her anything or do anything to tricker, you know.
I think that's that's amazing. But well, yeah, I didn't
know that. Okay. So for our last segment, I'm going

(57:24):
to ask you guys seven rapid fire questions and I
want you to answer with the first thing that comes
to mind. So I'm going to ask the question and
then let's go this way. So Malik first us, Okay, nervous, Ready,
it's hot seat, let's go. Okay, what's one thing you

(57:47):
always pack when traveling? First thing that comes to mind clicks?

Speaker 2 (57:52):
Water?

Speaker 1 (57:54):
Well, hello, water is about seventeen ninety five. In the airports,
I don't I don't blame you, although you have to
like kid before security.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
But yeah, they have water fountains in the airport. Is
now I don't trust that?

Speaker 1 (58:07):
Yeah, yeah, that's all but water water, ariana, lifesow products
either life safcepur or Io wipes. Yes, yeah, and one
day we never have that today, but it's okay. Came
through moy, came through the wives us. What you bring

(58:27):
your own? Well, I know I'm the same. Okay, okay, okay, okay, Yeah,
you know what, because you said airport earlier, I'm thinking
I was thinking airport yeah, my mind, but you're right, yes, yeah,
a rag is yeah okay. Next one, If you could
listen to one genre of music for the rest of
your life, what would it be.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
Done?

Speaker 1 (58:49):
So soka?

Speaker 2 (58:52):
Yeah? Who?

Speaker 3 (58:53):
All of them?

Speaker 1 (58:55):
All of them? What's your go to comfort food when
you're stressed?

Speaker 2 (59:03):
Skittles, tropical flavored.

Speaker 4 (59:06):
Specific I'll have an obsession with.

Speaker 1 (59:11):
Really, That's how I used to feel about s felt Arianna.
Oh I don't you don't have a comfort pastaapasta?

Speaker 2 (59:22):
Okay?

Speaker 4 (59:25):
She made she made herself, made it seem like it
was so hard to choose and she couldn't think of
but she had too many.

Speaker 1 (59:31):
To So you're a foodie, I am. Okay. I was like, girl,
you don't have a little comfort me Okay, okay, I
say chocolate, real chocolate, Okay, okay. What's the most memorable
place you visited and why?

Speaker 4 (59:53):
I went to the cathedral in d c by where
the embassies are. They have a nice garden, a botanical garden.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
It's really nice. I went on picnic date.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
Wow, very fun. Now that's the kind of date that
it's Yeah, that's it's safe for Mariana because she is
very strict. So if any of you are listening, young
men out there, those are the kind of days you
need to come with or you will be fired. Okay, Arianna,
I would say, going back to Barbados and seeing where
my dad grew up and he's like the street right

(01:00:26):
over from Rihanna, so I also got yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
So basically you guys are like no, like no, okay, yeah,
I got it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
Us memorable, that's hard.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
And you know what hurt me as is the last person.
So every time we get to as I lean.

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
Back to Baltimore, he's trying.

Speaker 3 (01:00:58):
I didn't even think about that. Pizza hut just popped
my mind.

Speaker 1 (01:01:03):
Next question, please answer the questions. Every weekend, pizza is
your most you know what? No judgment here, So no
judgments on pizza probably okay, So os is most memorable place?

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
Is food? Okay?

Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
Great? Yeah, fitting what's one piece of advice you would
give to your younger self?

Speaker 4 (01:01:30):
Stop crying, bron lock In, it's not you're you're over
dramatizing things.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
Just just stay focused.

Speaker 3 (01:01:41):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
Actually Ayana, stop expecting other people to beat you. Since yeah, yeah,
that's a word.

Speaker 3 (01:01:55):
I would say, like the whole culture thing thing we're
talking about, because I want to do that in like
middle school, in elementary school. So I would say, just.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
Like yourself, my brother, I can't manage all right, a
couple more. What's your favorite Caribbean tradition that you absolutely
cannot live without?

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
Sunday cleaning.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
Yes, yes, that's a good one. I'm surprised you said
that as a man, but my leak is very clean,
big up mummy for a reason. A very clean man,
very clean person. I would say, I can tell that's
one thing. Don't even have a piece of every time
I see my money, just neat does not play. But

(01:02:45):
you only see that in Caribbean men. These American men
are not that. They're not like that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
Is that? That's all?

Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
Okay? Wow, I forgot what my thought was. Oh my gosh,
don't your favorite So it could be like eating something,
It could be so I thought y'all were coming at
me about right, Okay, I really I don't know, Like okay, Well,

(01:03:21):
I would say, hmmmm, well, I guess okay, passing, passing
down the baton I would say, And that goes in
different ways. With my family. It goes from like not
too long ago, so my mom she had she was
a she was a manager. She was manager for most
like artists and badgments and stuff like that. She had

(01:03:43):
her own website and all that stuff. And not too
long ago I played master her for the first time.
So for her, that was like passing down the baton.
Even like my grandmother, like she's usually she's like the
spearhead of the family, like she runs everything, like, but
now I'm like that with my little So it's like,
I guess it's just like kind of just like handing

(01:04:03):
it down. I love that. I don't really yeah, I
can't really be specific on it, but it's like a
great example. Yeah, yeah, I would love that. I would
love to play mass at my mom. She would never
do it. Yeah, never. But wait, wait before you say
your answer, where did you play masks? Like what kind
of it was boring? It was Miami, but I want

(01:04:24):
to say Lucia in July. Oh so yeah, all right,
you've had about seventy five minutes to think.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
I mean, my answer is going to be done on cheese.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
On cheese, just the cheese like, yeah, in the canon,
he said geese.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
Yeah, Easter is necessary, especially with cheese.

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
Take it back now, I take it back. I take
my back. Why that because we were talking about food.
Pepper pot on Christmas Day with the with the plated bread.
That's a guy in these tradition pepper whatever, pepper poet
is so good. I look forward to that every single year.
You have to try shot.

Speaker 2 (01:05:11):
Yeah, and you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
Actually pepper pot. Okay. My grandmother she does beef tips,
my dad, my grandfather does ox tails. My grandmother's. I
actually prefer the beef. Really, I've never had beef. It's
really good. I have to try that. Okay, all right,
two more. If you had to choose one super power,

(01:05:37):
what would it be? It's easy?

Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
Can I go last? Yeah? This one?

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
Okay. Teleportation I like that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:50):
I want to say flight. It's like transportation for real,
but like it's also fun.

Speaker 1 (01:05:55):
That's true.

Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
I just want you there.

Speaker 1 (01:05:59):
I just want to fly to experience. I don't want
the experience. I want to be laying in my bed saying,
you know what, let me go to Barbados real quick.
Snap there.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
I don't need that because you ain't walking nowhere.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
That's flying. The listeners are going to come after.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
Public setting that we see now you're gonna have You're
gonna have birds all up in your face.

Speaker 3 (01:06:26):
You got to deal with what You've got to suit
it on with.

Speaker 1 (01:06:30):
The suit.

Speaker 3 (01:06:31):
What if you teleport into somebody?

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
Like, no, what do you mean teleports into somebody?

Speaker 3 (01:06:37):
I'm getting into scientists? Okay, you know, but if you're
setting your mind location, but like how you know somebody's
not at the location.

Speaker 1 (01:06:45):
Okay, then if they're dead and they get bounced in
the face, it's gonna be in his shoulder.

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
You got to think about marriage you think about.

Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
This is superpowers you're talking about. Yeah, you guys like,
where are I supposed to go with this?

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
This? This is how guys think about question.

Speaker 1 (01:07:03):
So you'd rather be flying than than teleporting? So you
would fly from America to.

Speaker 3 (01:07:09):
Antarctica because I can fly fast?

Speaker 1 (01:07:12):
You know what, I'd rather be flash than if you're
talking about you know, wait, let me get this straight now. Now,
you thinking.

Speaker 2 (01:07:27):
Question for fly just comes in your eye like you.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
Know, when I'm running, when I'm flying, what happened both?

Speaker 2 (01:07:34):
What do you mean? Okay?

Speaker 4 (01:07:37):
So for me, my super I would definitely go with
being able to control time, so I don't have to
worry about getting somewhere late. I don't have to worry
about rushing myself to get there. I could take my
time and uh yeah, I feel like that was so good.

(01:07:59):
I could go back in time if I mess LF
or anything too.

Speaker 1 (01:08:02):
Yeah, I like all right. Final question, where do you
see yourself in the next five years?

Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
What years is.

Speaker 4 (01:08:14):
In the next five years will be Oh my gosh, right,
I'll be on my first or second year of law school.

Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
Nice mine's I guess mine's born. Ray to that. I
was gonna say, I should be married by then, with
a kid, at least in a nice house. I want
to be a stay at home mom. That's my job. Yeah,
I just yeah, yeah, you know, I would have already
traveled by then, my funds are up, but I would

(01:08:51):
be in a real provided relationship, so I would even
have to touch the funds. Gotcha. Yeah, that's that's where
I see myself.

Speaker 2 (01:09:03):
I'm okay, priorities.

Speaker 3 (01:09:07):
I see myself working at least for my second engineering job.
It is my second engineering job, and then back in
the DMV area, cause my first will probably take me
to like wiscontent or something like that.

Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
That's where I'm going.

Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
What like my job?

Speaker 1 (01:09:25):
Yeah, they said I wouldn't you. I would only be
there like a week out of the month. I'm traveling
every other Yeah. Okay, Well, I have been allowing my
guests to each ask me a question, cause you guys
don't get to ask anything. So you guys can each
ask me something and I will answer. I want to

(01:09:47):
go first. Money. I'm nervous, Jesus.

Speaker 4 (01:09:56):
So our host today, let's talk with right, So take
you serious, give us a a good foot forward, give
us some information and guidance as you were. What's a
time that you felt that you were going through it

(01:10:18):
and how did you overcome it?

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
I feel like she's on an interview, I know, right, hmmm.
I would just say in general, like overcoming anything, I
think a lot of it comes from my belief and self,
which in turn comes from my immediate family. I've been
very blessed to have an immediate family that I can call,

(01:10:43):
like for anything, at any time, to run ideas by
when I'm not sure of something. And I think having
that and growing up with that, the older you get,
the more you appreciate that. Because your self talk is different.
It doesn't mean that I don't go through things or
I don't feel sad or I don't feel hurt by
things that I experience. But having that backbone and having

(01:11:07):
persons to go to to like run ideas off or
even if it's just to cry or to complain, I
think that's really helpful. And that's how I've gotten through
most things in life, to be honest, you know, And
I just realized that in general, nothing is really that serious.
Like you learn as you get older that what you
thought was so serious ten years ago, you're looking back

(01:11:29):
like why was I like carrying on like that? You know,
but you had to go through that to learn even
about yourself. So you learn about other people, but you
also learn about yourself. So hopefully that answered you know

(01:11:51):
something I can't manage. Okay, My question is as a Caribbean,
what would you say is the hardest thing? I forgot
where I was going as a Caribbean woman. You got
that part. What would you say is like the hardest

(01:12:12):
thing of like, gosh darn, being a Caribbean woman in America?
That I would say a lot of what we spoke
about today, and I would generalize that by saying managing expectations.
I think at first, A lots of stuff used to
really bother me, particularly persons that don't have manners. I'm

(01:12:35):
the type of person when I say I don't do
well with people that aren't respectful, I don't even mean
just to me. Like quick story time. I remember going
to a restaurant with one of my friends in New
York and I was so excited to see her, you know,
I was in a good mood, like really excited to
see her. And we went to this popular Jamaica and restaurant.
So these two ladies walked up and one of the
ladies was like, Hi, good night, I'm here for and

(01:12:58):
she's like can you like can you wait? And I
literally like I felt my arm like shaking. I'm like
I can't, Like did she really just talk to that
lady like that? And my friends like ash con just
don't say anything. I'm like, did you see what just happened?
She's like, yeah, I know, but just don't. By the
time she said the second just don't, I was already
up there. I'm like are you okay? And the ladies,

(01:13:21):
that's always my first question to ask, because I want
to know if you're well right and she's like, and
I'm also really proper. So I find that like people
don't know what's really happening because I'm not like cursing
or boistouss. So it's like they don't know if they're
getting cussed out or like what's happening. So I think
that's always pretty funny after the fact, not in the moment.

(01:13:42):
So the manager came and, like I told her, everything
ran down. Everything. The girl had to go home because
I literally told the manager, I'm like, I'm not eating here.
I'm not eating here. I will literally pay these ladies
to go somewhere else, because there's no way you could
think that that's okay for her to talk to them
like that when they're coming here to patronize your business exactly,
I needless to say, I'm pretty sure she didn't do that. Again,

(01:14:05):
I won't know. I don't know those ladies from a
can of paignt But I grew up a certain way,
and so to your question, it was really hard for
me at first, but I think that I've just and
Malik said it earlier, I've just come to the realization
everybody's different, so it doesn't upset me per se. But
I definitely address that disrespect. And I will also say

(01:14:30):
being a Caribbean woman, but also being a Caribbean woman
with women in my life, particularly my mom, that's very
much a woman that showed me self respect. I think
that's a little difficult, difficult in this generation because I've
had guys tell me like, oh, man, like you like

(01:14:53):
you really respect yourself? Like shocked. I'm like this, shocking, heart,
are we shocked?

Speaker 3 (01:15:00):
There's a lot of women out here that sad.

Speaker 1 (01:15:02):
It's so sad. But the fact that a guy and
that should teach you women something that are listening to
this young women like guys know who to do certain
things with. I've literally someone literally said that to me.
They just know that I couldn't try that type of
stuff with you. Why are we trying this with anybody?

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:15:20):
And another thing I'll tell you, and that's this is
the other good point. Growing up, I always thought it
was weird that, like, especially in college, like a lots
of guys would like certain girls and not me. And
I'm like watching and I said, I'm me, like what's
wrong with me? But a lot of times, like my
brother who I'm also close to, or like my older
girl cousins would be like, gosh, because they know they

(01:15:42):
can't do certain stuff, like it's a waste of time.
Like they know how you are, they know you're respectable,
so they know they can't just do certain things with you.
And it never really don't. Like I just thought, Oh,
they're just telling me that to be nice. But when
I got older and I started to have these real
conversations with guys, I'm like, oh, shoot, it's true because
they know they can't try certain things, you know, So

(01:16:03):
I would say just remember that, like as you're going
through life, Like sometimes when you miss out on any opportunity,
not even just in relation to relationships, but like any
opportunity doesn't work out, it's always for your good. Always.
It never fails. My God never failed me yet. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:16:26):
My two part question, oh, lod My first is if
you had to because you're already famous, your family's famous
all that, but that includes you. So if it had
to be like a celebrity outside your family that's not
like has any Caribbean descent? Who would you feature on
your podcast?

Speaker 1 (01:16:46):
Oh, Beyonce, Yeah, I didn't expect that, Like, yeah, but
let me tell let me tell you why I loved
Beyonce when I saw her Destiny's Child singing No, No No,
and I was like eight or something like that, like
ninety ninety something, their first signal single. And the reason
that I always have admired Beyonce is because of who

(01:17:09):
she always presented herself to be. And I have to
use that verbiage because obviously I don't know her. I mean,
I know her in my mind, but you know, I'm
trying to be professional and realistic here, But I just
always liked the way that she presented herself and I
always phoned that I could relate to a lot of
her childhood stories. So like one that sticks out in
my mind that her mom always tells is that she

(01:17:31):
went to pick Beyonce up from school one day and
she was just on the swing by herself, and Beyonce's
mom went up to like one of the other little
girls that were like playing amongst the other children, was like,
why aren't you playing with Beyonce And they were just like,
we don't like her, and then she like they flipped
to another section and she talks about like, yeah, nobody
would play with me, that would just sit there. And

(01:17:53):
that's how my experience was when I came here from Jamaica,
so yeah, I would just say Beyonce just for the
sake of just finding out more who she is as
a person. I honestly wouldn't want to know anything about
like the Beyonce now and like what's your next move?
And da da da. If I couldn't get Beyonce, or
maybe I should say a tie would be Rihanna. And

(01:18:17):
the reason for Rihanna, big up, Debetians. The reason for
Rihanna is what I love about Rihanna is that she's
always been herself, Like, no matter what she's gone through,
and we all know we've unfortunately witnessed all of her
ups and downs, she's always been herself. And to see

(01:18:38):
her get such an honor as a national hero, I
think that sent such a great message to all women,
but particularly Caribbean women, like you don't have to be
this astute person. And you know a lot of our parents,
grandparents came here and like you said, Malik, even you
like came and they had to code switch and they
had to you don't speak patois. You don't speak this

(01:19:00):
dialect you speak. And she's her normal self. She might
say a bad word or two, she might you know,
do all little dance here and there, and they still
gave that to her because of who she is as
a person, her philanthropy, you know, just the way that
she carries herself. She's always talking about Barbados. She'll correct
you quick that she's Beaijan and remind you, yes, she
can speak American slang. Yeah, she she's blacker than black,

(01:19:24):
and she'll be proud of that. But she'll tell you
that's where she's from and she needs and she's also Guyanese. Yeah,
a lot of people don't know that. Yeah, her mother
is from I said that earlier. Yeah, I told you,
you know, because her brother used to hang out with

(01:19:45):
my dad's side of the family all the time. So
there's which one, which brother, the older one, the older
one okay. And then her mom, my grandmother and her
mom grew up together in Guyana. I remember when I
get my mom, my grandmother said to me. I looked
at her like what she was like, yeah, I literally
got pictures of us when we were in high school together.
I was like, what, her mom is a twin, right,

(01:20:06):
I don't know, I feel like her mom is a twin,
but yeah, I'm like, I'm like he was like, my
dad was like, yeah, she went to the same school
that I went to. A lot of people don't know
she's Guyanese. Yeah, I'll be like, yeah, Basian's love Guyanese women.
I will say that through and through everybody. That's such
a common mix. You really don't know that, but it's
such a common mix. Barbadoes and Guyanna go together, real bad,

(01:20:30):
our Prime Minister go together, real bad like Comba Manshine
to the Max love each other like it's beautiful. Well, guys,
thank you for coming to talk to things with me,
talking with you guys. Hopefully we can do this again

(01:20:52):
another time and maybe we can record it like video record.
I'm like Jesus, I hope it's recording. That would be crazy. No,
But for real, thank you guys for coming and for
the conversation. It was really fun and I love to
see like all the good stuff that you guys are doing.
And I'm really proud of all of you for where

(01:21:13):
you are in you know, your space, and how you're
even thinking at this age because when I was in school,
I was not this far along because, like I said,
different times, right, it wasn't like it's one hundred years ago,
but still different times. Things we have access to know
and I just think if you're on that trajectory now,
then you can only go up and upos Amut. That

(01:21:40):
was so good ya. I hope you enjoyed this episode
as much as I did. It was full of laughter
and just sharing a lot of our commonalities, which I
think is always a great thing. And I just want
to remind you that your journey, whether you're in university

(01:22:03):
or out in the world, is yours to own. Being
a Caribbean student, if you are a student, isn't just
about overcoming the challenges of being a person of Caribbean
descent in a foreign school system. It's about celebrating the strength, resilience,
and vibrancy of your culture. You don't have to sacrifice

(01:22:27):
your roots to succeed. In fact, your heritage can be
the key to unlocking your full potential. When you honor
your culture, when you stay grounded in who you are,
and when you embrace the power of community, you have
everything you need to not only survive, but thrive. So

(01:22:52):
wherever you are on your journey, remember this. Your story matters,
your culture matters, and no matter how hard the road
gets and it will get hard. You have everything within
you to continue pushing forward, and that is the most

(01:23:13):
important thing to remember.

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The Caribbean Student Experience | Ft. Malique, Areana, & Osbourne

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Caribbean Student Experience | Ft. Malique, Areana, & Osbourne