When I went to college, I was certain that I wanted to be a doctor. I had taken Spanish classes from 7th-12th grade, and I planned to continue to take them, mostly per the suggestion of my parents. I completed three semesters at the University of New Hampshire studying Biomedical Sciences, on the pre-med track, and planning to minor in Spanish. During my time there, I toyed with the idea of changing my major a few times, and went through the typical add-drop period taking some natural resource conservation classes, or some sustainable agriculture classes, but ultimately ended up sticking with my original plan. I spent my time at UNH generally unhappy, mostly because I refused to put myself out there upon arrival in college. I was shy and was uninterested in having what I thought to be forced conversations with people, so I isolated myself and ended up often being pretty lonely. I applied to transfer, but then doubted my gut feelings and tried to push them away, convincing myself that I simply had to give UNH more of a chance. Finally, right around the approach of finals during my sophomore year fall, I woke up one morning and something just snapped. I was done being in this cycle of misery that I was caught in. I opened my laptop and submitted an application to transfer to UMass for the following spring semester. I called my mom after the fact, and told her what I’d done, and she was supportive.

When I arrived at home for winter break, my mom suggested that I take a semester off and travel with a gap year program. I went along with it, because I did feel like maybe being a transfer student wouldn’t allow me the opportunity to study abroad. One thing led to another, and somehow I found myself getting on a plane to Guatemala City in mid February. I was excited to meet new people, work on an organic farm, and work on sea turtle conservation. I was nervous about speaking Spanish. However, my favorite parts of my experience traveling were actually those that involved Spanish, and had nothing to do with the activities that made the whole trip appealing to me. I didn’t enjoy working on an organic farm, because although it is interesting work, I didn’t realize that it’s also HARD work. I give way more credit to farmers now!! Working with sea turtles was really cool when we saw them lay eggs, but this was rare and the hours were often into the early hours of the morning. My favorite memories are those that include sitting at a table with my homestay mother or father, asking them questions about their lives, or answering their questions about my life. It was so cool to be able to connect with people that lived in such a different way than I did, and I have language to thank for those connections. I grew so much as a person during that trip, and I realized that conversation is always imperfect. The things that I was most afraid of (misunderstanding a question, not understanding a question at ALL, not knowing a word, etc) became things that I recognized to just be normal parts of conversation. All the time in English, my native language, I will be conversing with friends and we’ll say, “What?” or “What do you mean by that?” Miscommunications happen all the time, and they in no way indicate that you’re less proficient in a language. I am so grateful that I ended up at UMass, and I am equally grateful that I took this semester off to travel the world and experience new cultures and ideas. It was this trip that I have to thank for my genuine appreciation for language and my passion for connecting with people through language.