Study Abroad

Studying abroad is one of the most enriching opportunities offered at UMass Amherst. It gives one the chance to travel and change their perspective on the world around them. Before going into the life changing experiences that happen as a result of studying abroad, it is important to acknowledge the technicalities that must be completed before and after. The best place to start when even considering studying abroad is the International Programs Office (Office of Global Affairs). At this office, student workers who have been abroad themselves are readily available to answer questions and even help you to search for programs. Starting this process can be extremely overwhelming as there are many companies and locations to choose from. My saving grace at this stage of the process was filtering programs based on location and classes. I knew I wanted to study abroad in Spain, and I knew there were certain Spanish classes I had to take to satisfy my requirements. With these filters in place, the options narrowed down and became easier to choose from. From there it was choosing the program that spoke to me the most. At the end of the day you are choosing a city that you will live in for four months, so it’s important to take other factors into consideration. One should make sure to do their appropriate research on what is included in the chosen program. Some programs offer scholarships to decrease the price of the experience. Others have included trips to locations that are paid for as a part of the program. After choosing a program, the next steps are to apply and do all of the necessary paperwork, which can cause some halts in the process. Examples of such are the ICAF and visa. The ICAF is a form that approves classes for certain credits, so it is an integral part of the process. Applying for a visa is a lengthy process that takes patience, so it is important to start early and be on top of it. Depending on the circumstance, you may even need to take a trip to the nearest consulate. A final note on technical items is the class credits and grading process. All grades received abroad do not factor into your GPA; however, they do take a place at the top of your transcript. All credits appear on the transcript a period of time after your return. There are certain special circumstances to be aware of that vary based on the situation. One that I had to navigate was getting credit for a general education course I took abroad. Since gen-eds at UMass are worth 4 credits, and the class I took abroad was worth 3 credits, I had to switch to transfer requirements to be able to count this course. After making this change, I had to ensure I then met the transfer requirements. Little things like these can throw you for a loop, but they are all solvable and completely worth it for the experience of studying abroad. 

With all the nitty and gritty logistical details over with, the actual time spent abroad is eye-opening and completely worth mentioning. Stepping off that plane is one of the most nerve racking experiences I have ever had, but it is one I often go back to. At that moment, I had no idea what the next four months would hold, whether I would make friends or even enjoy my time there. Safe to say, my fears were for nothing. Listed are the certain principles I tried to live by while abroad that helped me navigate my experience:

1. Simply living in a new country is enough. I often felt pressured to be constantly on the move and traveling somewhere every weekend, but when I realized living in a foreign country was the experience, I felt this pressure lift. 
2. Take advantage of the opportunities that the program and school provides. My university had initiatives that paired abroad students with students that attend university there full time. This was a great opportunity to make a new friend and further integrate oneself. 
3. Walk. Walking becomes one of the best modes of transport when living abroad. The amount of things you can see by walking around is amazing. Walking is one of the fastest ways I found myself integrating into the city.
4. Try new things, even if they scare you. My experience abroad was enriching, I tried things I never once thought I would. However, I still sometimes look back on my experience and wished I would have stepped out of my comfort zone just a little bit more.
5. Give yourself grace. Being abroad, away from one’s home and comfort is extremely difficult. Everyone says going abroad is the best thing they have ever done, and to an extent I agree with that. However, it is important to know that there will be ups and downs. If you are struggling and worrying that this experience isn’t shaping out to be as amazing as everyone says, give yourself grace. It is okay to struggle in this experience. 

Class Recommendations

As students, we all know taking classes is an essential part of the college experience. However, it can be overwhelming for incoming Spanish Majors to decide which classes to take. In this portion of the blog, I will be giving you some class recommendations as well explaining the significance of taking Spanish classes at UMass. Before getting into the classes, I want to first address the academic requirements of the Spanish Major. The Spanish Major requires three 400-level classes, five 320 and above classes, and Junior Year Writing. At first, these requirements can seem overwhelming, but believe me, if you divide at least two classes per semester, you should be having a smooth transition to the Spanish Major. 

Let’s get down to some of the Spanish courses offered here at UMass. First, I want to address conversational Spanish classes. Conversational Spanish classes are essential for communication and Spanish-speaking skills. Taking these classes will allow you to practice your Spanish-speaking skills with your professors and classmates. Although these classes can feel scary in the beginning, it truly does improve your Spanish proficiency. Remember, as a college student we are here to learn. It is okay to make mistakes. A common misconception college students have is that they have to be perfect in everything they do, but that is impossible. Also, do not be afraid to ask questions to your professors. Your professors are there to help you, and truly want you to succeed. Secondly, I would like to address some of the literature and culture classes. UMass offers a wide variety of these classes, allowing students to choose what field of cultural/ literature studies they would like to learn about. Some classes I would personally recommend are Spanish 324 (Introduction to Latino/a Culture), 322 (Introduction to Spanish-American Literature), 351 (Hispanic New York), 415 (Culture and Civilization in Spain), and 382 (Spanish in the US). We all know learning how to speak the Spanish language is important, but learning about the culture and history of Spanish/ Latino culture is just as important when it comes to the Spanish Major.

 I’d like to offer a few helpful tips. My first tip would be to have a good balance of both conversational and culture/literature classes. Having these two together will provide you with a well rounded foundation and education. Taking too much of one topic can be too much, so I would highly recommend taking at least two courses per semester: one conversational and one culture/ literature class. 

Lastly, I want to address some ways you can prepare yourself for success after graduation. Taking classes will help you decide whether you want to go into teaching, translation, work internationally, or even work first hand with Spanish-speaking communities. It’s important to put into consideration that it is okay to not know exactly what you want to do, but having an idea of what field you want to work in will allow for an easier and smoother transition after graduation. 

Outside of Class Activities

There are plenty of opportunities to continue your Spanish-language learning outside of the classroom. One advantage of the Spanish major is that it is a relatively small department, which allows for community building and making lasting connections. My first recommendation is not to be shy with your peers in your class, especially in the first year. Students who chose to study Spanish come from many different backgrounds and have a wide range of interests, but we all share a common bond. A great way to start a conversation is to ask how they became interested in Spanish, or whether they study any other languages or academic areas. There is a lot of value to be taken from learning about others’ interests and goals. Speaking from experience, these connections that you build in class will open up opportunities outside of the classroom as well. I have made a good friend with whom I have had a class every semester since freshman year, and it’s been interesting to hear his perspective on his Spanish education and his other unique academic interests. 

I also encourage all Spanish students to take advantage of the events facilitated by the department. The Sobremesa events (check the UMass SpanPort Instagram) are a wonderful way to practice Spanish outside of class and get to know other students who aren’t in your classes but are in the major. The Rivas tutoring center is a resource on campus to receive individual help with your class content, and serves as another opportunity to practice. All of the TAs are very friendly and willing to help you learn. 

Finally, there are many opportunities to participate in community engagement and volunteering as a Spanish major. For example, you could volunteer with English language learners at the Center for New Americans or in a hands-on way with Nuestras Raices, an agricultural and economic development program working on behalf of New England’s Latino community. 

As a Spanish major, your learning opportunities are not limited to the classroom. There are many ways to get involved within the program and the larger community. If you are looking for more engagement opportunities, do not hesitate to ask your professor or reach out to the faculty listed on the SpanPort website. 

Importance of being a Spanish major

When I first came to UMass, I declared a Spanish major without hesitation. It felt like a natural next step, and it felt like me. But during sophomore year, I started doubting myself because of the reactions I was getting from my non-Spanish-major peers. I switched my major to Public Health and turned Spanish into a minor. I tried to convince myself that my new major sounded more “acceptable” to everyone else, meanwhile I was absolutely miserable in all of my new required classes. At a school where it feels like half of the campus is in STEM, telling people you’re a humanities major (and specifically a Spanish major) comes with an instant response:

 “What are you going to do with that?”

For years, that question really got to me. Everyone else seemed so sure of their four-year plan, and I spent too long defending my major like it was a flaw. I stayed in Public Health longer than I should have because it felt like having that major made me appear more “serious about school” and employable. But the deeper I got into the major, the more I realized I hated it. I didn’t enjoy the content, I couldn’t see myself in the field, and honestly it felt completely performative.

A year later, I dropped Public Health entirely and went back to being “just” a Spanish major. But what I realized soon after this change is that I don’t owe anyone an answer about what I want to do with my life. I don’t need to map out my next ten years just to justify studying something I genuinely love and care about. And no, I do not want to be a teacher or a translator (the two options people assume are the only ones). Maybe Spanish will be at the center of my future, or maybe it’ll be a smaller piece of a bigger picture. Either way, it’s amazing to already know pre-graduation what you want to do, it’s amazing to not know at all what your future holds, and it’s also amazing to change your mind at any point. None of these options automatically mean that you’ll have things easier or harder or better or worse. 

So if you’re a future Spanish major reading this, here’s what I would have wished to hear before my first day at UMass:

Your major does not define the limits of your future.

People will ask questions with weird tones. Some might make assumptions. Others might make you feel like you need to “balance” Spanish with something more “useful.” But their opinions are not your problem. Choosing Spanish means choosing something that expands how you see the world, the way you connect with people, and your understanding of culture, communication, and identity. These are invaluable skills that matter everywhere, and to me personally, they matter much more than knowing how to code or solve a formula. Everyone has their own priorities; just because some things don’t matter to you, doesn’t mean they don’t matter to others, and vice versa.

If you know Spanish is the path that makes sense for you, trust that and lean into it. Don’t let other people’s discomfort with something a little bit different push you into something you don’t want. It’s incredible that you’re majoring in something because you love it. It’s more than healthy to not have your whole life planned out. And you should be super proud of choosing a major that makes you grow not just academically, but personally.

Further Professional and Academic Opportunities

One of the many advantages of being a Spanish major at UMass is the amount of flexibility and versatility that your language education has given you to ensure that you can be successful in any and all of your future endeavors post-graduation. There are many paths that you can follow with the skills that you have gained in Spanish. For example, if you are looking to continue your education in Spanish, the Spanish program at UMass has been home to numerous graduate students, with our current graduate cohort studying everything from intercultural linguistic prosody to film and gender in Iberian cinema (see SpanPort PhD alumni list for past dissertations). If you are interested in teaching, UMass also offers a Master’s in Teaching (MAT) for students looking to obtain a license to teach Spanish to K-12 students (see Graduate Programs page for more information).

Outside of UMass, there are many opportunities for students to continue with their Spanish studies and their engagement with the global Spanish-speaking community. The U.S. Fulbright Program is one option that many students look to for opportunities to further their academic and professional interests through the lens of promoting intercultural connections through graduate studies, research, or teaching English abroad. Moreover, another option that is open to those wanting to engage in Spanish-speaking communities abroad is the Peace Corps, a governmental program that connects volunteers to projects in other countries that aim to tackle issues affecting local communities, such as youth development, health and wellbeing, environment and sustainability, agriculture, and more.

For those that are drawn to entering the workforce immediately upon graduation, your knowledge of Spanish and your ability to navigate within Spanish-speaking communities will be a factor that recruiters look for in the job application process. With Spanish being your second or third language, hiring managers will look at this skill favorably because you will be able to provide services and communicate with potential clients from many cultures and backgrounds, which, in turn, makes the company look good. Spanish is also helpful in the realm of networking, where you will have the opportunity to build connections with people in both English and Spanish—this, in particular, may make you stand out to potential recruiters, who will keep you in mind for future recommendations or hiring opportunities. Overall, as a Spanish major, you will have many opportunities to utilize and perfect the skills that you developed as an undergraduate in fields such as healthcare, international relations, finance, education, corporate business, translation and interpreting, and much more. As a final note, the HFA Career Services Center is open to UMass students looking to prepare for employment upon graduation—they help with resume-writing, job searching, networking, and more.

The Portuguese Learner’s Experience 

The Importance of Portuguese- Despite the relative underconsideration that Portuguese receives within public education and as a global language, learning Portuguese presents a great opportunity to engage with many diverse communities on every continent. Portuguese is the romance language with the second highest number of L1 speakers globally, surpassed only by Spanish in native speakers and having nearly three times the number of native speakers as French (though French has more total when considering L2 speakers). As Brazil and other BRICS nations continue to emerge as dominant actors in the regional and global economies, Brazilian cultural influence will continue to spread across the world. Therefore, Portuguese is a language which will only become more important with time if current global trends hold. In Massachusetts in particular, Portuguese is the third most spoken language in the Commonwealth, and many of the state’s residents maintain a proud lusophone heritage, particularly in southern Massachusetts in areas like Fall River and New Bedford, where just less than half of the population can trace their roots to Portuguese or Brazilian ancestry. In my experience visiting and working within these communities, Portuguese has proven a vital skill in ensuring that work gets done according to specifications and in a timely manner, as many of the workers whom I have personally encountered have been a mix of Brazilians, Portuguese, and African people who utilize the many varied forms of the Portuguese language to bridge intercontinental gaps in communication. In my experience, those with knowledge of Portuguese, either as a first or second language, are more often than not glad to talk in Portuguese, as it is a piece of cultural expression which is both global and particular to the region of southern Massachusetts where I have found many of these speakers. The history and heritage of the cities of Fall River, New Bedford, and in large part the entire state of Rhode Island, are intrinsically linked to the Portuguese language due to the high number of Azorean immigrants, who have shaped the culture of the region so much as to have it be unofficially referred to as ‘The Tenth Island’ of the Azorean archipelago. Portuguese is a language which is intrinsically linked to the region which I call home, and it is also a language which is finding increasing global recognition as a major means of communication across cultural divides. 

Study Abroad- though the opportunities to study abroad in Portuguese speaking countries at Umass are admittedly more limited than studying in Spanish speaking countries, this does not mean that the benefits of studying abroad are limited. The Study Abroad In Portugal Network (SIPN) offers courses of study in Lisbon at four different universities for the spring, summer and fall semesters in Portuguese as well as STEM, Liberal Arts, Social Sciences, Business, and many other disciplines. The USAC also once offered similar programs in Florianopolis, Brazil, though these are currently not available due to apparent health and safety concerns. 

Class Recommendations- As a dual Portuguese and History major, my perspective on the utility of certain classes may vary, but the following describes classes which I found to greatly benefit my understanding of both of the majors which I have been pursuing and furthered my understanding of how the two are connected. Portuguese 316, ‘Brazil’ is a Portuguese language immersion course which covers many topics related to the history, culture and social development of Brazil throughout time and into the modern day, The class has been really enlightening as to explaining many of the social problems which have plagued Brazil and Latin America as a region generally throughout time and has given me an understanding of the region which I was entirely lacking before this past semester. On top of this course, Capitalism and Alternatives in Latin America and The U.S. in Latin America are two courses which helped me understand Portuguese 316 better. Though those courses do not cover Brazil itself in extensive depth, they shed light onto the ways in which Latin American societies were created primarily as business ventures for the Spanish and Portuguese elites rather than being colonized with the mission to establish an alternative and potentially better society than the one which existed in the colonial heartland, as ended up developing in places like the United States. All of these courses in combination have greatly deepened my understanding of the material conditions present in the regions in which Portuguese and Spanish are most commonly spoken and have explained why certain social issues and cultural developments have maintained themselves throughout the region’s history. 

Outside activities- Despite the relatively small number of students in this major compared to Spanish and other languages, the Portuguese learning community at UMass is highly dedicated to ensuring opportunities for members of the community to meet one another and socialize in various engaging ways. In my time learning Portuguese at UMass, I have not only studied a language, but helped groups make music, learned how to dance to samba music, and made a few friends along the way. Brazil Beyond Borders (BBB) is a student organization which, in conjunction with the Portuguese department, has facilitated many activities for Portuguese learners as well as those simply wishing to engage with Brazilian culture in some way. In the past they have facilitated community soccer games, dance lessons, music nights and discussion panels with acclaimed Brazilian artists such as Mauro Correa and João Camarero. More events will certainly be happening as time goes on and interest builds, so keep your eyes peeled on Instagram and around the walls of Herter Hall to see posts and posters about upcoming events.

Professional and academic opportunities- The nuts and bolts of the processes and opportunities available between Spanish and Portuguese are largely the same, but the places one might be able to visit and have an impact on through their work are different. The Peace Corps has missions to Angola, Mozambique, Timor-Leste, and Guinea-Bisseau. 

By: Maya Evans, Natalia Caballero, Meghan Neville, Risa Cove, Emily Truong, and Aiden Gallagher