When I first got to UMass, I was very shy about advocating for myself. When I had any type of issue, I would usually avoid it instead of talking to my advisor (Luis Marentes). I have since come to realize the importance of meeting with advisors and appreciate all Luis has done for me over the past 4 years I’ve been here. As I’ve gone through many ups and downs during my time at UMass, I think the most important thing that I’ve learned is to not be afraid to advocate for myself. If I don’t do it, no one else will do it for me.

This semester is my last semester at UMass. This past September, I was enrolled in an intensive intermediate Italian course. It turns out that I hated it and needed to find a new class to switch into fast before the end of the add-drop period. With no luck finding anything on my own, I decided to reach out to Patricia Gubitosi, who I’ve had the pleasure of having as a professor and advisor. I told her about my dilemma, and she put me in contact with Danielle Thomas of the Spanish and Portuguese department. Professor Thomas does a lot of community work with Spanish speaking communities in and around Amherst. When I met with Professor Thomas, she told me that I could do an independent study with her. I had no idea what an independent study was before our meeting. I honestly thought it was something that graduate students do. During our meeting, she told me she was working on a research study, looking at the linguistic backgrounds of native and non-native Spanish speakers. She proposed that I could help with the study by doing data collection. Basically, my job would be interviewing Spanish speaking participants and doing several speaking activities with them. At first, I was a little bit nervous because I’m naturally a timid person, and feel like I’m not the best at talking with people. But I wanted to give it a chance because I knew it would get me out of my comfort zone. Continue reading →