| It all started in Mrs. Garcia’s Spanish class in the 9th grade in high school. She would pick up an object, look me right in the eye and ask, “Que es eso?” After a year of discovering the Spanish translation of every object in the room, I became familiar with a new language. In university, my fascination with the foreign language brought me to enroll in more Spanish classes. During this time, I also registered for linguistics courses. Don Quixote, Hernan Cortes, and Pablo Neruda were just some of the many authors that we read in Spanish Class.
One summer, I stayed with an spanish speaking friend of mine and her family, in Jalisco, Mexico. I was introduced to Mexican food and culture. We walked through the pueblos and bought scarves and jewelry from the street vendors. For dinner we ate ceviche (marinated fish) and Huachinango Veracruzano (Red-Snapper Veracruz Style). While we were driving together to the warm beaches of Puerto Vallarta, we would crunch on Cacahuete Calientes (Spicy Peanuts). After spending a lot of time in Mexico with this generous family I became fluent in Spanish.
When I returned from Mexico, I finished with Spanish six in my university and completed my 16th linguistics course. I began to tutor Spanish to those in need of my help. I then decided to live abroad and I went to Spain. I studied in a small university one hour away from Madrid called, Alcala de Henares.
In the quaint university, I read the whole book, entero, of Don Quijote de la Mancha in old Castillian Spanish, perfected my grammar with intensive grammar classes, studied the poetry and literature of Spain all the way from the edad media to lo moderno, learned about the architecture and history of Spain as a unified country, and took a geography class of all the 19 provinces of Spain.
After my studies in Spain, I decided to travel many provinces of Spain including: Andalusia (Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada), the Basque country (San Sebastian), Estremadura (Trujillo, Bazajoz), Catalonia (Barcelona), Galicia, Madrid (Toledo, Madrid, Segovia), Gibraltar, Castilla de la Mancha, Castilla y Leon (Salamanca, Burgos, Segovia, Valladolid) and Valencia. I have seen most of Spain, I have been exposed all the different dialects, and I have tasted the different foods of each province.
After my time abroad, I returned to my university in California and continued to tutor Spanish privately to many students. I then registered for Italian classes and studied the language for six months. During this phase in my life, I worked as a Girl Scout leader for Mexican girls in Castroville, California. I did art projects con las chicas, and taught them about health and nutrition. When I graduated university my father and I went to Peru and saw Macchu Pichu, Cusco, and Lima. What an amazing experience to explore a third world country and to be able to speak to all the natives there! I invite you to explore your own amazing journey to discover the beauty of Spanish!
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