I truly did not expect to fall in love with the Spanish department when I selected my major. I even waited a semester before taking any Spanish classes because my advisor suggested that I get a head start on completing prerequisites in science courses before they were overenrolled. My second semester freshman year, though, I took Spanish 311 with Prof. Danielle Thomas, and began to really get involved.
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I think it’s safe to say that it is hard enough for certain people to create connections with others in their first language, let alone a second. I had a lot of anxiety surrounding making friends in Santiago, Chile, the destination I chose to spend my spring 2019 semester. Not only was I anxious about making friends within my USAC group, also known as “the other U.S. Americans,” but before departing, I was already putting pressure on myself to make friends with the local Chilean students. I remember being told by someone during my study abroad orientation that it was almost impossible to make local friends when studying abroad. Upon hearing that, I made it one of my top goals to create connections with Chileans, specifically Chileans my age. I purposely chose to live with a host family in part because I wanted to be opened up more to communities of Spanish-speakers and local students alike; I knew it would already be a challenge living with people that didn’t speak my first language, but I wanted to push myself further in my attempt to be “fluent” in Spanish after studying abroad. Continue reading
¡Hola a todxs!
I am sharing a “radio” news story/podcast from the Internet, that can also serve as a resource for practicing reading Spanish as well as listening to podcasts in Spanish! It’s called Radio Ambulante, and is kind of like a Latin American version of This American Life (if you know what that is, if not here is the website, you should totally check it out), and I hope that it is something you find interesting/resourceful during your developing relationship with the Spanish language, the different cultures and people, as well as current events within the Hispanic world and Latinx in the United States. Continue reading
I have just received this post about paid internships with Associated Press for the summer of 2014. They are in several cities, including Mexico. This sounds like a great opportunity, but you also have to be a journalism major. I’m not certain whether we have any double majors in this group, but thought that it would be good to share anyway.
Today I received this link from the State Department about something I didn’t know existed: eInternships as part of what is called Virtual Student Foreign Service! As you can imagine, I immediately became interested in this peculiar opportunity as it combines foreign service and electronic communications. Looking at the project listing link I realize that there are a whole series of opportunities – in sectors ranging from education to economic development and public health – that certainly fit the interests and skills of many of you. The application period ends July 20, so you should move soon if you are interested in this. You can also follow this initiative on Twitter @vsfsAtState.
Yesterday I ran into this very interesting article in Sinopsis México introducing us to a new communal cell phone network developed by the Zapotec community of Telea de Castro in the Oaxaca highlands. The article immediately reminded my of a documentary aired last year by Al Jazeera called “The Internet Indians” about the Ashaninka, who in the middle of the Amazonian rainforest use the internet to protect their lands. It also reminded me of the work of Cineminga engaging in communal video production in many parts of the world. Continue reading
At several times during the semester I mentioned that social media are becoming more and more valid sources of news. I talked about my personal experience discovering Twitter as an important source and encouraged you to pursue this channel as you tried to learn about your future host countries. What happened last night in Texas not only showed the new relevance of social media, it also presented the way in which in many important instances it has even overtaken the traditional role of cable news networks.