Norkplim Mattah, a student from Ghana, takes us through her life journey that is fraught with so many incredible experiences. Mattah, a trilingual who speaks English, French, and Spanish, spent a year in Spain and worked British and Brazilian diplomatic missions in Ghana before embarking on a journey to pursue Grad school in the US.

In this episode, Abdullah and Veronika talk about their vision for season 2 of Connecting the pack and have a deep conversation about a variety of subjects. some of the subjects are sensitive, some are amusing, and others are unconventional. This is a raw, humorous, and authentic conversation - but, most importantly, unfiltered.

In this episode, Veronika and I talk about a variety of topics pertaining to male and female qualities that are desirable in addition to relationships and sexual selection. we also go over beauty standards, male and female gaze, fashion, and much more. We were very open about these topics in this round 2 of our conversation that started at 10 pm and finished at 12 am.

Here's a timestamp that roughly estimates each subject's duration:

General differences between men and women: 00:01:00 – 00:10:00
Relationships and expectations 00:11:00–00:16:00
Attachment through intercourse 00:17:00-00:23:00
Feminine energy 00:24:00–00:27:00
Attraction and Female/male energy 00:28:00–00:33:00
Female and male gaze 00:33:01–00:39:00
Attractiveness and beauty standards 00:40:00–00:44:00
Signaling through clothing 00:45:00–00:54:00
Attractive wear 00:55:00–00:59:00
How much to reveal? 00:60:00 – 1:05:00
Misconstruing signals 1:05:00 – 1:11:00
Female-female fashion competition 1:12:00 – 1:16:00
Clothing choices 1:16:00 – 1:26:00
What is attractive? 1:27:00 – 2:00:00

Veronika with a “K” takes us through some of her interesting stories and encounters as an international student with a mixed background. She is currently doing a 2-year exchange program at NC State University and had many travel experiences prior to her transition to the US. Her stories are funny, intriguing, and quite insightful. Fun fact: She encountered the first episode of “Connecting the pack” when it was released and loved the idea of highlighting international students’ stories. As faith would have it, Veronika and I find ourselves meeting at the end of the spring semester and recording the final episode for the academic year.

This episode explores the art and design world of Ava Haddad. She is a graduate from NC state University’s design program and is currently engaged in art design and pottery, in addition to working as a nurse assistant. Throughout our conversation, we touch on Ava’s design work, sewing, quilting, and her experience in painting in Florence, Italy. In addition to that, a fair bit of our conversation goes over her identity as someone with Lebanese roots and as a person that is constantly engaged in creative endeavors.

In this episode with Diego Reno, I explore industrial design, which is the field of study that he is currently pursuing at NC state. In this conversation, we tackle the idea of providing solutions to problems, where Diego shares with us some of the projects that he is currently working on. In addition to studying in the US, Diego spent most of his life in Spain and pursued a study abroad program in Prague, where one of his designs was showcased in a major exhibition.

This episode explores the story of Juan Lopez, who is an American citizen that spent most of his life in Honduras. The conversation revolves around the idea of identity and how it shaped by the environment one grows up in, cultural attachments, and what it truly means to be an “American”.

Uzma Miraj, a student from Pakistan, talks about her life in Pakistan and her first trip outside of her hometown to pursue climate change at NC State University. Uzma shares with us stories from her life in Pakistan, lifestyle in in her village and broader society, and her work in clean water and environmental sustainability.