My Journey through the Spanish Language

I started learning Spanish when I was in 8th grade. Back home in Avon, OH, there weren't many opportunities to engage and experience the language beyond classes in high school. When I got to high school, I had a teacher who truly sparked my love and curiosity for the language. She helped us to engage in the language beyond just learning the grammar. My favorite example of this was "Culture Fridays" where we would learn about a new area of culture for a specific Spanish speaking country.

When I got here to the University of Florida, I started off taking a Spanish class each semester since I wasn't sure if I was going to do a Spanish minor or not. The following summer, a group of my friends all wanted to study abroad in Madrid, Spain, and so my language immersion began. While in Madrid, I lived with an abuelita in her apartment for the entirety of the 10 weeks. She didn't speak any Spanish, which forced me to only speak in Spanish when in the home. She made me two meals a day and would sit at the table and discuss aspects of her life in Spain. She told me about her son and grandchildren who live in southern Spain and about her personal political beliefs. It was not only a remarkable experience to practice my Spanish but also such an interesting chance to hear about her upbringing in the Spanish culture.

When I came back from Spain, I added a Spanish minor into my curriculum. The biggest struggle I have noticed in my language development in Spanish is the inconsistency in practice. In my final semester, I am taking a course on bilingual language and thought and it makes me wish I had started learning Spanish from a younger age. I have definitely lost some of my speaking and comprehension skills. But from my experience with the Spanish language, I have gained a different understanding of cultural norms. In my bilingual course, we discuss a lot how language affects our ways of thinking and our perception of the world. One example of this is the social dynamics built into the Spanish language that don't necessarily apply in English. "Usted" vs. "tú" is a huge difference compared to the English "you". After graduating, I hope to immerse myself in the language further through my travels and potentially moving back to a Spanish speaking country for an extended period of time.

Recently I got to travel to Mexico City with my best friends from childhood. It was such a fulfilling experience to be able to utilize my Spanish again in an immersed manner similar to the time I spent in Madrid.