Veronika and Abdullah are Back with Season 2

 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. 

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Creators & Guests

Host

Abdullah Najjar

Host

Veronika Becher

What is Connecting the Pack?

"Connecting the Pack" is a podcast from WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 that allows international students to share their unique stories and how they have ended up studying at NC State.

Abdullah Najjar 0:02
All right, everybody, welcome back to Season Two of connecting the pack. This is your host, Abdul and ajar, and in season two of connecting the pack, I'm trying something different. In this season, I will be co hosting the podcast with a former guest of mine, who goes by Veronica Becker,

Veronika Becher 0:23
I cannot take this series.

Abdullah Najjar 0:26
Okay, cut it. Pause it. No, cut it. Just raw audio, raw and unfiltered, exactly. We're just changing the name to unfiltered. Thank you so much for having me. So how was your summer? Gosh,

it's, you know, a lot of people ask me this question, sometimes I find it very hard to give just a concise and solid answer and do that sort of captures the whole experience of my summer experience. That sound a little bit too redundant, but essentially, I remember one of my friends asking me when I came back, how was your summer? And I think I started with my first surreal experience of the internship, which is being part of the conference where they've officially announced the launch of the J lots mission, which was essentially the humanitarian corridor that was established to bring him to bring assistance to Palestinians from from Cyprus. And it was a mission that, I think, that was presided over by the Pentagon, in addition to a variety of other entities like USAID. And so when, when that that mission was officially launched the Pentagon, alongside USAID, they decided to reach out to a select few of journalists to be part of his conference at a early in the morning of I think, Gosh, I don't remember which day it was, but it was early in the morning they had this conference. And it was such a surreal experience to be witnessing history unfold before my eyes. It was, it was a crazy experience, and I still remember, actually, the the time when my boss texted me the night before, around 10:30pm and as you already know, I'm a I'm an early riser, and so I'm the

Veronika Becher 2:24
opposite of me when a jar, oh my gosh, now I'm like talking to like last

Abdullah Najjar 2:33
name. So that happened to me one of the episodes. The guy told me to call him by his first name, and I started calling him by his last name.

Veronika Becher 2:41
So basically,

Abdullah Najjar 2:47
I gotta work on back here, but not bad, not bad. Okay, accept it.

Veronika Becher 2:56
Well, I'm a night owl. I just like recording episodes at midnight, working on it at midnight, and then waking up at 10. Well, he noticed that, yeah, the opposite, yeah,

Abdullah Najjar 3:09
no, that's the thing. I remember my boss texting me at 1030 but I was asleep. I swear to God, I was asleep. She told me that this was this thing was happening. You know, the the I think the Pentagon sent the email later at night. I mean, I think they sent it at 10, and she sent me the I wasn't on the list of recipients because I wasn't a high ranking journalist in our organization, but my boss really trusted me, and she really she decided to include me in that meeting. So she sent me the invitation when she received it, I think, around 1030 and I was asleep, but I remember, I still remember that that night, I woke up, I think, around 12, and I needed to use a restroom, and I just I saw her text and I saw the email. I was like, whoa. She was like, Don't come to the office. This is what you got to do, and just be sure that you relay the information that you hear and share it with us so that we can share it with our offices in Dubai. And that was such a surreal experience for me to be waking up in the middle of the night to that text message, and so I was really nervous. I go back to sleep, I wake up the next day, I have my coffee, and I set up my laptop, and I, you know, tune into the meeting. And it's just just the mere fact that I was present with some of the most interlific journalists, yeah, and being part of that conference and that brief, it's just it sort of set the tone of what I was going to be experiencing throughout that summer with that organization. And sure enough, that wasn't the first. That was not the only surreal experience of my internship there, but it was probably the first where I was like. Oh, my god. I can't believe that just happened. So to go back to your question, I mean, I find it very difficult sometimes to answer how my summer was, because it was just a roller coaster ride of different experiences and different engagements with people in different conversations and just forming a lot of connections and establishing good relations with many individuals, and having get togethers. You know,

Veronika Becher 5:28
I went twice to DC over the summer just to visit him, and the amount of questions I got from my friends asking me if we're dating or not, or something else is happening. It's just crazy accumulating at this point, and every single time I had to explain to them, no, I'm visiting a friend in DC, and it was one of the best deep talks that we could have, randomly in the kitchen at like midnight with a food in front of us, not touching a doll, and then talking for like hours about different things.

Abdullah Najjar 5:59
I remember that night. I swear to God, I remember when you left the like two days afterward, I was telling will our wonderful host who had me in his house throughout the entire summer. I was telling him this table and this lantern right here witnessed the deepest conversation

that you guys have probably ever you know, experienced in your house, but I still remember that, yeah, you know, the funniest thing is that I was so you were, I think during that day, you were out in DC, I was still in Fairfax, crazy, yeah, I was, I was, you texted me, and you were like, I'm coming, and I got out at a restaurant, because I already had, already, you know, had, like, dinner plans, you know, the the I already had a plan of which place I wanted to go to to grab food. So when you text me, you're like, I'm I'm showing up in, like, what, 10 minutes, and I just bolted. I was running in the street holding that, that bag of food I was trying to make it to the house. Yeah, I didn't tell you that so bad. I was running late.

Veronika Becher 7:03
And while he was doing that, I was walking around calling a friend, and this random guy turns around and is like, did you hear the Trump got shot in that's really how my conversation started with a stranger somewhere in Washington, DC, out of nowhere, and in the end of the day, he gave me ride home.

Abdullah Najjar 7:26
Oh yeah, oh yeah, I remember though

Veronika Becher 7:29
I'm just calling, you know, calling you up. And I'm like, by the way, I hope I'm gonna be alive after this trip. But this guy was so nice. He actually reached out to me a couple of days ago. He was in Raleigh, but I couldn't make it because I was like, completely. I was like, busy with orientation week and everything that's just happening on campus, and I couldn't make it to dinner. So I apologize, but it was so funny. And we entered his car, and he was like, that was just the most green flag I've ever seen. He was like, here's a pepper spray if you ever feel threatened by me, it works. He they tested it. He's like, you can use it on me at any time if you feel threatened by me,

Abdullah Najjar 8:21
he made you feel comfortable, so that you feel comfortable with him.

Veronika Becher 8:27
The analysis goes crazy. And the crazy thing is, the ride was just something I never expected. We were sitting in a really nice car. It was a nice car.

Abdullah Najjar 8:36
Oh, wow. What type of car? We're not gonna start

Veronika Becher 8:40
this car conversation today. We'll avoid that for now, but it was a nice car, but he knew so many things about the area since he, like, worked in the, you know, worked in DC for a long time, and we were listening to classic music,

Abdullah Najjar 8:57
that's so cool. No, that's really because

Veronika Becher 9:00
we realized we have the same same songs that we're listening to, classic wise, and I showed him what's friends lists, like playlists. That's called playlists of classic music and dies drummer. I think it's like love dreams or something like that. It's like one of my favorite songs. If I'm completely off, I'm sorry, but check it out. We will, like, listen to that full blast on and then some point, we switch to Studio Ghibli song. So this kind of anime music was really funny.

Abdullah Najjar 9:34
It's an interesting transition.

Veronika Becher 9:37
But they are also like, classic music, like just classic music, and it was just so funny. I don't know. I just had a good time with the stranger, and he did

Abdullah Najjar 9:47
pictures of you too, right? Yeah, tell us about the pictures.

Veronika Becher 9:56
The pictures were okay. Basically the pictures were in front of one of the Capitol grounds, like buildings, and he decided to take pictures of me. And he was like, I can take a picture. And he actually took one of the best pictures I own on my phone, honestly, yeah, till a random guy passed by it, he was like, Oh, you want to be in the photo too, with your girlfriend. And I was like, this is going getting out of it. So this guy just answers, oh, no, we know each other barely two hours, but that's okay. This is how you start dating someone, but

Abdullah Najjar 10:37
they just shipped you on the spot, but

Veronika Becher 10:41
it's okay. It's okay. I'm, I'm still saying, you know, for everyone who's listening is super upset right now,

Abdullah Najjar 10:49
yeah, no. It's, I think, I think you had a I think you had a great time.

Veronika Becher 10:54
I had a great time. I feel like, yeah, my summer was really eventful for Yeah, I just, I just didn't expect that. Let's be honest. Yeah,

Abdullah Najjar 11:04
here we go. Let's be honest. I just

Veronika Becher 11:10
didn't expect that. Well, first of all, I'm starting in my own podcast identity library. Someone convinced me to start my own and second of all, well, I was a camp counselor at satellite. I got into fellowship program. I really wanted to get into. My grandma died. I should not love about these things, but I don't know. And I also worked the whole summer and went twice to DC. So like, my travel experience, I just onboarded a couple of days ago some of the New International Business School degree students, and they were like, so what did you travel? And I'm like, DC twice my whole summer was like, it sounds so boring, but it was actually eventful. It was funny. I you want to, you want to joke like a fun fact. Sorry. So I have a, I have a friend, a mutual friend, who was seeing the whole summer, and we were just hanging out. And another mutual friend thought we're actually dating. So yesterday, when I met up with just a my friend, you know, and we had this conversation. They were like, sharing how a mutual friend was like, trying to share this tea about me dating someone, and it was super funny, because all we did was just hang out on the campus grounds. And people were like, assuming we're dating. So it's okay, assumptions being made about I know that was probably the most confusing conversation, now, probably had with someone about like my friend, another friend and my third friend, a lot

Abdullah Najjar 12:48
of friends, and a lot of so many friends, exactly, wow, yeah, Summer, yeah. It was a hard it was overwhelming. I think, I think for me, it was just very overwhelming.

Veronika Becher 13:01
Well, at least he could enjoy his scones. Oh, God,

Abdullah Najjar 13:04
don't start. Oh, my goodness. Okay. So first off, let me just credit will Okay, William, my, my the guy who hosted me and his wonderful wife, Dr Theresa Rowe, he introduced me to scones, and I also learned that you can pronounce them as scones as well. So scones or scones, it works. So he told me about scones, and I had no idea what a scone is. And he was like, if you go to that one cafe, you can order a scone and just tell me what you think. And sure enough, I did go to that one cafe and I had my mocha latte and I had my scone, and I swear to God, it was heaven on earth for me.

Veronika Becher 13:44
So you discovered a new tradition you would like every single Sunday. Is it Sunday

Abdullah Najjar 13:48
or Sunday? Saturday or Sunday, to go in

Veronika Becher 13:51
to grab his scone and then drink his mocha

Abdullah Najjar 13:55
coffee latte, yeah, with the hearts and the like the leaf. And it's just I felt so in love with my coffee and my scone. And I still, you know, I still reminisce those those days. Oh, my goodness, don't get me started. But the the most fun part is that I've will imparted that knowledge to me, and then I imparted that knowledge to you, and I introduced you to the scones.

Veronika Becher 14:23
Yes, usually I don't like sweet things a more savory person, but I feel like I enjoyed the scones a lot. They were so good. They were really good. But in comparison to you, I went to Jubal so many times. I was joking with my best friend, lodata, and I was like, I think people think I'm like, dating than 10 different guys at the same time, because the amount of times I went to jubala with strangers or people that I wanted to meet, and it was such a convenient spot to meet up with friends that they always would see me with someone new next to me standing and I'm like, I. Yeah, I'm sorry. It's not just I, I don't bring everyone here. It just happens sometimes, because it's close to my apartment, right? It's out

Abdullah Najjar 15:07
of convenience. But sometimes, yeah, you do feel, well, you know there's, there's, there are sometimes people, there are signals that people interpret or misinterpret when they see you with someone else, and that is, we want to connect dots. Humans want to make sense of certain situations. Yeah,

Veronika Becher 15:28
but maybe, you know, getting the conversation away from relationships, because that's not the topic of connecting the pack. Usually, um, instance, I'm the one sitting in the chair of the interviewer. What's so strange to you?

Abdullah Najjar 15:43
Probably I now feel like a guest. Actually, I

Veronika Becher 15:45
think I am a guest. You are a guest now. So how would you describe to everyone who's listening to your podcast? What am I doing here? Why am I now a co host? What happened?

Abdullah Najjar 15:59
Oh, gosh. What happened? So a lot of things happen. Let's try to break it down here. So your your host, your official host of connecting to pack, or today would probably be your co host, Abdul and ajar, whom you're listening to right now, has launched, or will be launching tomorrow, a new podcast that will be called in the east wing. And yeah,

Veronika Becher 16:29
sorry, clap.

I can hear the applause in the background.

New podcast, yeah, no. Essentially,

Abdullah Najjar 16:36
in the east wing will be a raw depiction of the Middle East, an unfiltered depiction through the eyes of those who experienced it in different capacities, through those who experienced the region in different capacities. So I'll be having conversations with people who have either served with the US military, or who have been part of the intelligence community, or who may have had experience in war reporting. I might be including other individuals as well, but essentially, this is the category that will be targeted, and this is, this is the type of personality that I'll be including on my podcast. But at the same time, I didn't really want to let go of connecting a pack, because I feel like it's, it's, it's my first project with W Kane. See, it's my baby. I would be remiss if I were to let that one go. So you know, I

Veronika Becher 17:29
You shame on you. Otherwise, I will not let it go. And so

Abdullah Najjar 17:35
going back to your question, why are you at the interviewer seat? Well, Veronica, who's also been a guest on my podcast, um,

Veronika Becher 17:47
listen to the last two episodes. Yeah, three hours of life, and you just need some wide noise, like my friend would say in the laboratory.

Abdullah Najjar 17:56
Oh my gosh, yeah. Listen to our latest conversations, our last conversations on a podcast of season one. So Veronica will be my co host. She's been really interested in joining wknc, and she has, obviously her own podcast too, identity library. But we both have, we've both enjoyed we've we've admired the theme of Connect. We admired a theme of connecting to pack, and we'd love the this, this, this idea of engaging with international students. So we both didn't want to see it go to, you know, we didn't want to see it end or experience an abrupt cancelation. So we have informally agreed to co host this podcast together. And so

Veronika Becher 18:39
just to give you the view of Veronica sitting on her bed and randomly getting this message out of nowhere, who's stressing out already over her own podcast. I was initially co host idea and being Veronica dude by yourself, identity library can be by can be podcast only with yourself, and I'm just sitting there. I don't even know if I can do it by myself, like, can I even be a good podcast host? And then I'm getting a second podcast also on my shoulders. And now I need we're gonna change the name. It's gonna be connecting, connecting the pack with the stalker, because initially I was apparently the stalker listening to all the episodes. Now I'm co hosting it. So this is how far you know, come in life. If you're a stalker first and then you're part of it,

Abdullah Najjar 19:29
you have entered the world of connecting the pack.

Veronika Becher 19:33
I'm the one steering it. But no, I feel like, you know, identity library is going to be more an expansion of connecting the pack. And I felt like I want to interview people that are outside of just the, you know, International, an international student from a different country coming to NC State. I want to interview people that are Americans, or, I don't know, it doesn't really matter where you're from, anything that just connected with. Identity itself, whatever topic you want to, you know, talk about,

Abdullah Najjar 20:08
yeah, and that's a again. I mean, this is a great idea, phenomenal idea, that I'm very excited to see come into fruition. I mean, you've already recorded a few episodes, and that are pending the

Veronika Becher 20:18
four episodes we're getting there. No,

Abdullah Najjar 20:22
you, you're starting off on the right foot. I mean, I don't, gosh, I remember my first episode, and I was just very, just, you know, new project, feeling very nervous. And you, you went in face, first four episodes already. And that was a for me. It was just like trying to, just scouting for people, trying to figure out who to talk to. But it was such a very, um, I love the process. Thank

Veronika Becher 20:53
you. The issue is only editing everything. We don't

Abdullah Najjar 20:57
want to disclose that, but the cat's already added it back. So yeah, it's

Veronika Becher 21:01
like, when you record so many of them, and yeah, I feel like I wanted to record most people, because I feel like once school starts, it gets so complicated to match each other's schedules. Yeah. So I'm like, I might just as well, you know, record it. And I also recorded with my best friend, who just left, she just arrived in Spain, so shout out if she's listening to that. Yeah, she was stressing over the first episode that we recorded, and I was stressing too. So we both were stressing and nervous, and it was literally such a short time frame, she arrived for two days to Raleigh just to say goodbye, and I managed to record a whole episode.

Abdullah Najjar 21:46
Wow, you guys did it. I'm just so surprised at how, how you guys, because it was your last week at the internship. I think it was hers too, right? Not even,

Veronika Becher 21:55
yeah, last week, last week. We worked at the same company on the whole summer. What was really nice. But then you were texting me, like, stop being in the studio. Get out of the studio. Yes, you did you like, enjoy your time. Why it lasts for her. And then lodan, on the other hand, was like, I want to record more. This is fun.

Abdullah Najjar 22:17
I love talking. Did I say that? Well, wasn't it? We may have had, like, a phone call or something. I don't remember you

Veronika Becher 22:23
texted me like, Veronica, stop, enjoy your time. And Lois, like I would record another one. I'm like, Okay, let's record another one. Let's record another just it was fantastic. I love having her as my first, you know, first guest on the podcast, and then, literally, two days later, we just decided to post it on the story. Another person approached me was like, I want to start tell my story, you know. And this is how it just continued. Um, also shout out to uh, international tea time that was Lucci featuring us. Connecting the pack was, yes, they are really fantastic people. I love the idea. It's basically, you come in, it's each week on Friday. I don't remember if it's a Thursday or Friday, what day of the week, but it's on Centennial Campus, and they just serve your tea with some candy, and you can just introduce yourself and talk to people from different countries. Different countries. What's a fantastic idea? Something they were running for quite a while, and I decided to join for once, and they just loved the idea of connecting the pack. And the amount of people that approached me like in regard of connecting the pack was just enormous. Like so many people didn't even know connecting the pack existed, right? And they were like, this is such a fantastic idea. We never had a podcast about international students. So thank you so much for you know your idea, and me being a soccer and

Abdullah Najjar 23:53
now part of your podcast and advertising it on my behalf, yes. And I was like, Have you heard

Veronika Becher 23:59
of connecting the packet, yeah, and I'm also starting my own one. So, yeah, no, I'll

Abdullah Najjar 24:04
be taking the lead in advertising yours every now and again. Social identity library,

Veronika Becher 24:09
yeah, exactly. And I just hope it's gonna be good podcast. No,

Abdullah Najjar 24:13
I'm really, I'm sure it's gonna I think it's just the way it started. I think it's just people are interested, you know, and when you have that sort of a claim, that interest that you've been able to amass just early on in a process, I think that just speaks to how valuable the message, or the, yeah, the message, that you're trying to get across. And so I never knew that my podcast would be I just didn't I just did it because I loved having these conversations with these international students. But now you're telling me that you know, lot of people actually love the idea, and I think that further reinforces my belief that I shouldn't let it go. Oh, because so many people out there seem to be very interested in it, and at the same time, not so many people out there know of its existence. Because I think my aim initially was to really enjoy these conversations and have these conversations without necessarily having to advertise it or publicize, because at the end of the day, you know, having this, this sort of deep connection with someone, or having this, this engagement, I think it's, for me, it's more valuable than wanting to reach 1000 people. Yeah, that is more valuable to me, the idea of the conversation in and of itself, than the actual exposure that that conversation is going to get. But

Veronika Becher 25:49
I always think reaching just one person is enough. Yeah? Like, you know how you talked about how you had two listeners the whole time you didn't know there's a third listener.

Abdullah Najjar 25:58
I didn't know you were the third listener, yeah, my, my, yeah, yeah, that's the

Veronika Becher 26:02
same. And I just feel like I just want to reach at least one person that might enjoy it or like it, or just whatever, like wherever you are. Like, I have so many friends that live in other countries, and I feel like connecting with them is something so difficult because of the time difference, because of the work we do. Some people are working, others are studying. Others have already families and kids, and I'm married. My cousin just got married, literally today, I know, right, yeah, it's fantastic. And I'm just just realized that sometimes sharing certain conversations is maybe really nice with the world, and whoever wants to listen to it can listen to it, and maybe they can connect like that to me without actually talking to me every single day.

Abdullah Najjar 26:49
Yeah, you know, I was thinking actually of something a few days ago. It was, it was an experience that got me thinking of something. And so I'll share the experience, and then I will talk about what it got me thinking. So the experience is as follows, I was, I was in a coffee shop Few days back. It was, I don't know, I think it was early in the morning. Maybe it was 11:11am, and so I was just, you know, enjoying my coffee, enjoying my banana bread, and just reading, you know, I really, I needed, yeah, I wanted to read, and I really wanted to spend some time on my own. And then this, this one guy approaches me, and he was like, just randomly, and he's like, I knew that there would be someone here who would be reading. And then I replied. And I was like, Well, yeah, and if you want to join me, you're more than welcome to do that. And he was like, yeah, no, thank you. I mean, I'll be, I'll be right here. I'll be beside you. But I just wanted to say that. Just wanted to say hi and just, I guess, showcase some sort of appreciation. And there was someone in that coffee shop that was reading, but then, you know, so we start having a conversation together, and, you know, it was a really good conversation. And then at some point, I told him two things. I was like, hey, look, I really, even though I'm really enjoying this conversation, I want to go back to reading my book, but at the same time, I want to have another conversation with you. And I host a podcast that is about Middle Eastern Affairs, again, this podcast that I alluded to earlier, and since you have some sort of military background, maybe we can talk some more about that. And he told me that he wouldn't want his ideas or his opinions to become public. He would be more than willing to have a conversation, just, you know, off the record with me, but he would prefer not to have his ideas or opinions being publicized. And I, and I totally told him that, you know, I respect that, and we don't have to do it. And so I go back to reading my book, but then again, we go back to talking. So we really enjoyed each other's company. You're

Veronika Becher 28:58
not getting your break with your book. Yeah,

Abdullah Najjar 29:01
no, I feel like I've betrayed my book for a short while, but essentially, what what happened after, you know, he laughed and, you know, after I finished reading. So when he left, I kept on reading, and then I left. But it got me thinking that there are times when even though you really enjoyed the conversation with that person and you had that deep engagement, it's not necessary to have another conversation or another engagement with that person. Maybe there's purpose served. Maybe they served a purpose of having that one moment with you and then just suddenly, you know, they left. And that was the purpose of the whole engagement, which is to be part present in the moment, having that conversation and just, you know, finishing that engagement. And that's it. You know, you might not see each other afterward. You might not even come across each other's paths. But the value is not necessary. Really derived from, again, exposing the public to that conversation, but it was derived from that deep engagement that you guys had, and you shouldn't have to. I think it got me thinking about something else, which is I shouldn't even have to share with people that I host a podcast, right, or that I do these things. If I really want to ensure that I've experienced that engagement to the fullest, I should just maybe end it then and there. You know, it doesn't have to continue. It should just be. It was whole. It was whole, you know, W, H, O, L, E, that's it, you know, we I don't have to have another engagement with that person, because it was their purpose. It

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