I grew up in a constantly changing environment; my family moved from place to place and I was always surrounded by different cultures. My best childhood friends were Chinese, German, South African, Lebanese etc. so I was always engaged and learning about different places. I began taking Spanish because I was bored. I was tired of the monotony of the French and Latin classes I dreaded all throughout middle school, tired of learning about just a language with disregard to the culture that it stood upon because in my eyes language was about culture and personality and traditions, not just solely conjugating verbs.When I began taking Spanish, I was lucky enough to have a teacher who taught more than just what the syllabus entailed. She encouraged us to go beyond the language itself, and immerse ourselves in learning about the Spanish culture. Just like that, Spanish became more than just a subject I was good at, it was a class I looked forward to every day and a subject I actually cared about. However, moving forward, as much as I loved Spanish in high school I never envisioned myself majoring in it in college.

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a doctor. I’ve been volunteering in hospitals and shadowing doctors since I was a freshman in high school, and there has never been any other profession I saw myself in. I came into UMass as undeclared on the Pre-Medicine track. I struggled with finding a major that not only interested me but also set me apart in my applications to medical schools. I toyed with the idea of majoring in psychology, chemistry, biology and public health, and while all those majors were interesting enough and would help me get into medical schools none of them excited me because I see a future for myself that goes beyond the four walls of a hospital. Having witnessed poverty in its worst forms when I was younger and living in Pakistan with my family, helping those who cannot help themselves has always been something that has driven me and my ambitions. I want to travel and work in underprivileged areas where the healthcare is subpar or nonexistent even. I want to help set up medical camps in villages were there usually are no doctors, or where people are unable to achieve a basic education let alone get medical degrees or proper training. I have always wanted to help people, and as many of them as I possibly can and being bilingual growing up made me really aware of the power of languages and how they bring people together. I realized I wanted to incorporate this idea somehow into my future aspirations and from there I came to my conclusion of double majoring in Biology and Spanish.

In retrospect, I decided to major in Spanish because I don’t just want to study and learn the language. I want to be able to travel abroad and be fully educated about the culture instead of solely being linguistically diverse in my abilities. I want to be able to practice medicine in Spanish speaking areas, specifically third world countries that don’t always have proper healthcare, or even communities in the US that a majorly Hispanic where I have witnessed there to be a significant culture and linguistic barrier between doctors and their solely Spanish-speaking patients. I expect this Spanish major to give me the tools to be able to live the life I want to in the future and be as culturally knowledgeable as possible in an effort to help people in ways that often get lost in translation. I don’t take this major as a way to learn another language or a marketable point on my resume for being trilingual; I’m truly passionate about this culture and its history, and I believe that we all go to college to in some shape or form make the world a better place through the skills we learn from getting a higher education. In my case I’d like to think I’m here studying Spanish so I can maybe apply the knowledge of the language and culture in an attempt to help people that I may not be able to help if I had no understanding of them.