It was four years ago sitting in a classroom with thirty other students when I first got introduced to the Spanish language. Today I am preparing to pursue a career involving Spanish. The language has opened many doors for me in my four years of practicing it and it will only bring more possibilities.

When I was a starting at my job at McKendree Elementary I met an eight-year-old Colombian boy. This little boy just started school in America after leaving a small town outside of Bogota just twelve hours before his first day of school. He spoke minimal English and back then my Spanish was at least comprehensible.

I started to work even harder in Spanish class, watched the news every day on El Nacional a news network based in Venezuela, read small passages on the news site El Mundo, and listened to music. Along with all of these new found ways to learn practice my skills I also downloaded my good friend Duolingo. This new found motivation started a love affair between me and Spanish.

Being able to now talk with my new friend David I began to help him speak more English and he taught me more and more about Spanish. This new friend allowed me to practice my Spanish and it also lit the spark that fueled my desire to see the world. Not only seeing the Spanish speaking world with Spain being on the top of my list.

Talking with this David also allowed me to pick up some Colombian specific Spanish which I now practice at Trigos a local Colombian café. Spending time there I have been able to listen to people, talk with the staff, and drink the best coffee I have ever been given.

Another way Spanish has helped me is through journaling. I have always loved to write. Having the ability to write in another language that about 437 million people speak just amazes me. Being able to communicate with people all over the world just makes me happy.

As someone who is figuring out what career path she wants to go down the light at the tunnel is defiantly shining Spanish. I have the ability to further study this language while hopefully living abroad. My dream job is to volunteer with the Peace Corps in a Spanish speaking nation. All of these dreams are because I decided to sit in a class and began to journey of learning Spanish.