When I enrolled at UMass, a big part of my decision was based upon the fact that the university offered courses in Catalan. I had almost no knowledge of the language prior to enrolling in the university, but was very interested in taking some courses. What I did not know was that my experience with Catalan at UMass would change my social life completely, as well as set me up with multiple career options after college. Continue reading
When I entered UMass as a freshman, I knew already that I wanted to study abroad in Barcelona. I had loved the city for years and knew that it was where I wanted to be. However, during my sophomore year in Spanish 394RI, I was still unsure of how I wanted to go about planning my time abroad. I originally had a mental plan of spending a semester in Spain – that was the standard, and a year was just such a long time – but that then changed through talking to my uncle and other students that came and visited our integrative experience class. The fact of the matter is, spending a full academic year versus spending a few months abroad is an entirely different experience, and I have absolutely no regrets spending both semesters in Spain.
Muy a menudo oigo la pregunta “¿que quieres hacer con un título en lengua española?” o, “Si ya puedes hablar [básicamente] con fluidez, ¿cómo te ayudaría un título en español?” Esta consulta típicamente viene de mis amigos que estudian varios tipos de ciencias, o de mi abuela. Otros suponen que me convertiré automáticamente en un profesor, en lo que no tengo ningún interés. La noción que es una pérdida de tiempo y dinero a dedicarse a una carrera en un idioma extranjero es completamente falso. Yo sé exactamente lo que quiero hacer con mi vida, y eso requiere un conocimiento profundo de idiomas y culturas diferentes. Continue reading