I discovered my passion for modern languages in my first Spanish class, taught by Señora Cota in Temecula, California. The eldest daughter of a Tijuana barber, Mrs. Cota was a tough teacher who didn’t suffer fools. She saw that I was adept at Spanish and encouraged me to continue. Following her advice, I studied Spanish throughout high school, and chose it as my major in college, spending my semesters in both Spain and Mexico as a result. I’m forever grateful to Mrs. Cota for her tutelage and the guidance she provided when I first began to navigate this new love.
From my travels, I’ve learned that humans all over the world are similar in so many ways. Before traveling to far-off locations, it can be easy to assume that a new place will be daunting because of the ways one culture can differ from another. However, we often find that we fit right in and feel at home with these ostensibly “different” people; every human being, no matter how far across the world they live, shares in the human experience, which bonds us all together.