Staying in a new country for a long period of time can be a daunting experience for anybody. In my case, I was more excited than nervous when I first arrived. After about a week, however, I started to feel a little homesick, but I found that being as adventurous as I possibly could and seeking out other people was the best way to make myself more comfortable. 

For example, when I first arrived, one of my professors told our class about an “intercambio” option at our university. This is an arrangement where she would put us in touch with a Spanish student from our university so that we could practice our Spanish and these native students could practice their English. I ended up being paired with an adult student who had gone back to school after working for a little while. She took me under her wing and became like a second mom to me while I was there. She was an English major, and when I told her I was from Massachusetts, she was so excited to talk to me about native american and colonial literature. She showed me around the city and gave me information about all of the holidays and festivals that took place in Sevilla while I shared what living near Boston was like. 

One of the biggest differences to which I had a hard time adjusting while I was in Spain was my living environment. I was living in a “residencia,” so my host parents didn’t live in our apartment, but they came over everyday to cook lunch and dinner for us, clean our rooms, and do our laundry. During meal times, they never ate with us; they would cook by themselves, set the food down for all 16 of us, and clean up by themselves. I offered to help them clean several times, but they always turned me down. I had a hard time adjusting to this type of environment because I felt like a constant inconvenience to them. They were always doing so much for us, and I felt like I wasn’t doing anything in return. Even the people in my program that stayed in a dorm had a cleaning service that came to their room every two weeks. Obviously, this is not true in the United States. I wouldn’t even expect my own parents to cook and clean up after me. Having other Americans in my apartment that were feeling the same way made this adjustment a little easier. We all knew that we felt the same way, and although there was little that they would let us help with, knowing that there were other people there who were experiencing and feeling the same things that I was made me feel better. 

These little details can make all the difference in a new country. They may seem like obvious and insignificant pieces of information, but for me, they were elements that helped me to create a home away from home.

When we talk about language, we have a tendency to view it as an art form that belongs in the Humanities & Fine Arts category. Language studies are always considered to be completely unrelated to the sciences, but why? 

When I first arrived at UMass, I had not yet declared my major, and people would always ask me what type of track I was thinking about pursuing. Almost every new person that I met asked, “do you think you want to major in something in the humanities or in STEM?” I didn’t think that there was anything abnormal about this statement at the time, but now I have to wonder why these two fields are mutually exclusive. 

After I declared Spanish as my major, I was searching for a minor or another major to complement it. I was unsure what I wanted to do after I graduated, but I felt like an IT minor would be beneficial no matter what kind of career I ended up choosing. I thought that I would have to take a bunch of computer science classes that had nothing to do with Spanish, but I was wrong. One of the first courses that I took was a linguistics class where we analyzed language patterns with coding software. Learning about new languages in this way completely changed the way that I approached my Spanish classes. It gave me a more finite understanding of the major and it helped me to identify the patterns and attributes that exist in all languages, not just Spanish. We often assume that because languages are based on free communication, they must lack logic, but this is simply not true. Every language started from a basic set of rules, and as time has gone on, we have molded these systems to fit our specific needs, just like the evolution of technology and other scientific innovations. So, why is it that people assume that if you’re good at math, you must be terrible at writing? The best answer that I have come up with is: there is no basis for this theory. It is completely false. 

I also took an English class this semester that focused on Adobe InDesign. We spent the semester learning about different publishing techniques/practices and for our final project, we were assigned with creating a book from scratch. Again, it had never occurred to me to consider that language and technology could complement each other so well. When someone says that they work in publishing, most people would automatically assume that they read all day long. The reality behind this career is that yes, it does involve a great deal of reading, but it also requires technical skills. A book can’t be printed unless someone types, organizes, designs, and edits it first, and more often than not, you have to know how to troubleshoot in case you encounter any problems with the software. 

I think part of the reason why I still enjoy studying languages so much is because they can be both a free form of communication and an applied science. I am so glad that I decided to take classes outside of my major and the humanities and fine arts “hub”  because I have been able to form connections between different disciplines and find a wide range of career options that I am interested in. The best advice that I can give to current humanities majors is this: don’t listen to people that say that language and math/science are two different fields. They are just wrong.