Learning a second language is very important in today's world. In the United States, not many people are bilingual. The the ones that are were often raised in households that are or are not from the United States. The U.S. is very bordered by its oceans. What I mean by that is, when you travel in the U.S. no matter how far you go the language stays the same, maybe an accent and different sayings here and there. However, this does not apply to Europe. If you drive nine hours in Europe the language changes and this is why most people from Europe can speak different languages. I have a good friend that lives in Europe and he can speak Hungarian, German, Slovak, English and Spanish. Being able to speak multiple languages is common everywhere but America. Here is my little story about how I found Spanish.

In the U.S. popular languages to learn in school are Italian, Spanish, and French. The top languages in the U.S. are English and Spanish (http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-most-spoken...). When I was younger I could care less about learning another language. It was stressful and I didn't understand anything. I just memorized what I needed to and moved on...barely. Once I was in 8th grade I had Spanish with a teacher by the name of Miss. Laurino. She explained how she found her love of Spanish in college and that inspired me. I tried very hard in her class and would often stay after to talk to her. She cared about my learning and was a great person to talk to. She taught the language better than any teacher I had ever had. Everything I know now I learned in that class.

I continued with Spanish into high school but none of the teachers were like her so it became more of a class to pass. My loss of interest could be due to all of the new struggles that I faced that year. I didn't really learn too much. I just memorized the material for a specific unit and moved onto the next one. Once I could decide to stop taking it, I did. I went two weeks into Spanish my junior year then dropped it.

I am now in my sophomore year of college and had to take Spanish to fill part one of two of the requirement. I was very scared and was thinking of pushing it off until a later semester. Fortunately, I did not drop it and decided to try and work with the 17 credits I am taking. Currently I am enrolled in a Spanish 1 class and I have been taking Spanish for 7 years. Right now I am learning things I already knew and putting the concepts together. I am excited, and kinda scared, every time I go to class. My professor is very loud and passionate about the language and it inspires me. The only reason I say I am also scared is because he will ask a question in Spanish and then point at a student and say, " You! Board!". That makes my anxiety go through the roof but hey, I'm learning on the spot. I have a different professor for my Spanish Practicum and she is very helpful. When I go to her class we review what we learned with the other professor and also practice dictation. I am learning so much and really enjoying the process. At my job there are workers that speak Spanish so I often try to talk with them. Practice makes perfect.