Category Archives: Our Class

How Spanish became more than a skill on my resume

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When I applied to UMass Amherst I was solely interested in Isenberg School of Management. I have always had a strong interest in majoring in business, however, when I was rejected by Isenberg my interests needed to shift. I chose to major in Spanish because I had always wanted to minor in it and I thought to myself, “why not?”. My parents encouraged me that being bilingual appealed to employers regardless of the job.

I enrolled in multiple Spanish classes and seminars, following the major core list provided to my on my spire, not with much interest, but because I had to. I participated in group activities in class, occasionally raised my hands to answer questions, and dreaded those oral exams. I basically was going through the motions in each class until Spanish 394. Spanish 394 actually caught my interest, Continue reading →

Enjoying and Taking Advantage of Span-394

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When I enrolled in Spanish 394, I really had no idea what would go on in the almost two hour long lecture class. It was the first part of the integrative experience courses that are now required for the Spanish major. The class is small enough that talking and sharing my opinions didn’t make me anxious as I might’ve been in a huge lecture, and made me feel more of a part of the class. The class meets only once a week and only requires some papers and weekly forum posts about events happening in the Latinx world. My professor, Luis Marentes, brought in different people every other week or so which was so, so helpful to me. One week he brought in a woman who knew all about Study Abroad Programs, and since I plan on studying abroad my junior year spring semester, having and hearing her in the class gave me more insight. Luis also brought in someone from career services who gave the class advice on what to do during the rest of our time here at UMass, and even after, when we’re out in the real world. She made me realize I should make an appointment with her so I can figure out/ get a better idea on what career choices I can have after graduation.
Overall, this class was way more helpful than I thought it was going to be. I especially think having guest speakers come in and advise us was super beneficial while maybe not to the seniors in my class, but to the sophomores like me. I’m glad that this class was added to the requirements because of speakers who came in and hearing about study abroad experiences from upper class men Spanish majors as well.

The Other

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Every day on my way out of the house, no matter what time of day it was, I passed either a man or a woman in a grey uniform shirt outside my host mother’s building. They stood by the cars parked along the side of the street, hands folded in front or behind them, monitoring everyone driving by with an almost inordinately vigilant gaze, like they might only have moments to react—to whatever it was that was coming for them down the street. My roommates and I never interacted with them. When we first started leaving the apartment at the beginning of the semester we would all smile in their direction, still a little too nervous with our levels of Spanish to say something—lest we accidentally start a conversation that we couldn’t handle—but we never even received a nod in return, so after a while, the smiles and nods stopped and all four of us simply integrated them into our daily walk as something to pass on the way to school or the rest of the city. It wasn’t that we were trying to be rude, or even thought that they were trying to be rude to us. We were in a foreign country and nearly everything had subtle differences to it. Assuming that the “street monitors” were upset with us—the American exchange students that would really only be there for a couple of months—was silly, and to be honest we were all too overwhelmed with the rest of Spain to even care if they were upset with us, for whatever reason that may be. Continue reading →

WestCoast Connection (a different integrative experience)

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Since I heard about this wonderful experience that I had in Luis’s 394 class when the Seniors came to visit, I feel that it is my responsibility to share it with everyone else so that they can to do what I did. I wasn’t able to study abroad while I was at UMass and when I signed up to do the Holyoke tutorial it just didn’t fit in my schedule. Lucky for me, I had found an alternative that my advisor deemed valid to count for my IE.

It all started when I was sitting in 394 and one of the Seniors, who came to visit and tell us about their IEs, mentioned that he got to travel for free to Spanish speaking countries over the summer. He went on to say that “Teen Tour” companies would take college students who spoke Spanish and pay for them to be a sort of counselor on these teen tours. I was immediately intrigued by the possibility of being able to travel and use Spanish for free over the summer so I went home and googled “Teen Tours”. Continue reading →

The Truth About Service Learning Abroad

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Reading “Power and Privilege”, an anthropological research paper by Michelle Camacho, has allowed me the opportunity to analyze and reflect upon my own service learning experience as a tour guide in Costa Rica this past summer. In her paper, Camacho explores power relations between mainly white, middle-upper class students, to those of Mexican migrant workers in various service-learning contexts that are meant to accompany her class on U.S.-Mexico border relations.

This paper, although much more academic in its format than other I’ve read previously, centers on some topics that I researched rather extensively before accepting my job position with Rustic Pathways; those of privilege and travel volunteerism, also known as voluntourism. Rustic Pathways is a multinational teen tour company with operations in over 19 different countries on 5 different continents. Over 75% of their travel programs are advertised as largely “community serviced based”, while many other action adventure and language-immersion based programs also include a certain amount of community service hours as well. Continue reading →

There’s more to the Spanish major than studying abroad

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Ever since I began my journey of the Spanish major at the start of my junior year in college, fellow students and faculty alike have been insisting that spending a semester abroad is the be-all-and-end-all of the major and will essentially make or break one’s experience in the program. I have inwardly challenged this idea from the start, not only because I am inherently adverse to rules and what may be considered “the norm”, but also because I had a strong desire to learn Spanish and had heard from too many people that their respective study abroad programs were essentially a college in the US replicated artificially in a Spanish-speaking country.  Of course, I am aware that many decisions made during time spent abroad greatly influence people’s experience with the language (housing choice, language spoken by friends, the amount of conversations started for practice, etc.) and am intent on spending at least a year in a Spanish-speaking country after I graduate.  Because I was lucky enough to attend the summer language school at Middlebury College in Vermont, I had all the Spanish immersion I could ask for without the stress of travel and being in a foreign country alone, which is significant for me because I’m a naturally anxious person. Continue reading →

Study Abroad didn’t change my life, but it saved me

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When I left for Spain, I was so overwhelmed and excited to travel to a new country.  I had always imagined myself traveling in Europe.  But when the day finally came, leaving became much more important.

You see, I was in this relationship.  As every relationship, it began like a dream.  He was perfect.  Everything was perfect.  And everyone thought we were perfect together.  Nineteen year old me thought he was the one. Continue reading →

Thoughts from a Spanish major

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Out of all the majors one could choose at a university such as UMass Amherst, Spanish is definitely on of the more open ended choices possible.  In other majors, you are often tailoring your skills towards one type of job that you may pursue after graduating.  For a long time I was unsure of what I wanted to major in, let alone pursue as a career.  Last Spring, I started to think seriously about what it was that I wanted to focus my studies on and after much thought Spanish was it for me.  Ever since I began learning Spanish back in seventh grade it has always resonated with me compared to the maths and the sciences.  Even still though, I was completely unsure of what I wanted to do with a Spanish degree.

            When I decided to study Spanish as my major I really only thought of two options in terms of jobs and they were teacher and translator.  I used to think that I might like to be a translator because both of my parents are but now I’m beginning to realize that I would rather get into education of some form.  After taking this class and holding weekly discussions about Spanish and the various career paths that it unlocks, I have been able to form a better idea of what it is I want to achieve with a Spanish degree.

I want to study abroad although I have found it hard to find a period of time where I can go.  I would definitely prefer to spend a whole semester abroad although if it is not possible I would definitely be interested in a summer or winter period.  Obviously, spending a long period of time in a Spanish speaking country is the best way to learn the language and I think living in Spain after graduating would be extremely beneficial.  If it were possible I would like to try and do some English teaching while abroad but if that’s not possible just getting any old job and improving my Spanish skills would be an excellent opportunity.  After becoming completely comfortable with my Spanish I could then return to the US to teach Spanish.  The plan is still vague but has taken some shape!

Two Paths: My experiences and future as a Spanish Major

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I originally majored in Spanish because while I was good at a number of subjects, languages were what interested me most in high school. English, Latin, and Spanish were my favorite classes. I spent hours reading whatever I could get my hands on, at times even begging teachers to give me extra books from the closet where they kept the textbooks. My brother thinks in numbers and circuits, but I live in a world of words. I chose the Spanish major solely because of my passion for words and languages.

Now that I’m a junior and expecting to embark on a study abroad trip in the near future, I’m trying to decide what to do after I graduate.  In addition to the gen-ed requirements and the Spanish major requirements, I’m studying Italian for the fun of it, and I’ve recently decided to pursue a minor in Education. If time permits, I also want to start learning German in my senior year. Also, I’d like to look into courses about translation. And this summer I intend to go study abroad in Salamanca, Spain. The program will allow me to finally visit the country I’ve been fascinated by for years while enriching my understanding of its language and culture. I think my courses this semester in particular (specifically Spanish Phonetics and Luis Marentes’ study abroad prep course) have prepared me well for the trip. Continue reading →