As a junior at Umass, my perception of the Spanish major has changed immensely over my time here. Even just in the past year I have had so many changes in my views. I first thought I would graduate a year late, which later changed to just a semester late. Then I decided at the very last possible second to study abroad, which further changed my academic plan. I thought I would graduate a year early, which later became a semester. I thought I was on track to become an actuary, which then turned into me dropping the math major entirely. My perception towards both my majors have changed plenty since coming to Umass.         Continue reading →

What led me to choose to be a Spanish major was how much I was excelling in it and understanding it in both middle school and high school. I loved all my teachers thus far because they have shown such a passion for teaching the language and it inspired me. One of my middle school Spanish teachers placed me among with only a few others in a higher level class my freshman year of high school because she knew we wouldn’t be challenged in the other levels. I thought to myself that this was a good thing and that I knew I could do it. In high school I was not particularly interested in any other subjects, because I always loved going to my Spanish classes so I decided to stick with it and I concluded that I would do well if I pursued the major in college. I liked Spanish because it was something new that was introduced to me and that caught my attention. I think I also liked it because some words are very similar to Greek. I know basic Greek phrases and can understand the language because it is what I grew up with. Learning a third language was something I thought would be a great skill to have, and at the time I was doing really well in my Spanish classes so why would I stop learning the language I was just starting to get to know and was connecting with? Continue reading →

Over the course of studying as a Spanish major, my perception of the major has greatly changed. I first decided to become a Spanish major as a means to an end: I wanted to complete a bachelor’s degree program and improve my Spanish skills to make myself more competitive in the fire department hiring process. I also wanted to improve my Spanish language skills because I have been able to travel to Spain many times and improving my language skills would allow me to better communicate with my friends in Spain. I had a passing interest in Spanish culture, but my main reason for choosing Spanish as my major was to improve my language skills and my career prospects. Continue reading →