The only other language that I have a relationship with and can understand to a limited degree is Spanish. I studied Spanish a little bit in high school, but decided I wanted to study it much more when I came to college. My mother was an exchange student in high school for a semester in Buenos Aires and is fluent in the language herself. I thus wanted to pursue learning the language more rigorously at Dartmouth and was excited when I learned about the Language Study Abroad program to Buenos Aires. I applied and was fortunate enough to get the chance to study there.
My time in Buenos Aires taught me a lot about the Spanish language and Latin American culture. Buenos Aires is unique in South America as it can feel like you are in Europe in certain parts of the city. Having arrived with little to no speaking ability, as the ten week program ended, I wasn't fluent but I was certainly conversational and could carry on lengthy discussions with many Argentinians. Upon returning to Dartmouth, I decided to not take further Spanish classes as I feel that my ultimate goal is to speak the language and that if I want to achieve that I will need to return and live in a Spanish speaking country for an extended period of time again.
In this class, I certainly intend to incorporate the Spanish language into some of my work and final project. I miss speaking it and it will be fun to at least write in it again and perhaps participate in some discussion in Spanish with some of my fellow Spanish-speaking peers. I hope to travel extensively in Spanish speaking countries later in life and look forward to deepening my relationship with the language through this class.