Join me on this journey using the Spanish language to travel down a road taking me back to my youth. A time where I spent a good deal of my time with my bilingual paternal grandmother. Spanish music, food, and culture were always a part of my life with her but I was always enthralled by the language spoken between her and her friends and family. At times, they used Spanish to evade my prying ears so I tuned in acutely and began to understand Spanish before I could ever speak it.

When Spanish became an option for me to take in high school, I jumped at the chance. I quickly learned the venacular I had absorbed was not traditional Spanish but a dialect native to Puerto Rico, where my father’s family is from. My father never learned the language and my mother never spoke it so developing my Spanish was saved for when I was with my grandmother. As I was learning, she would encourage me to try to speak it in public with servers in restaurants and stores. Despite my trepidation, I would manage to string together a broken sentence or request, much to her delight and affirmation.

Taking Spanish here again 25 years later has opened up a flood of memories including some verb conjugation and vocabulary I lost along the way. My grandmother has advanced dementia now and so we can no longer share the joy of this shared interest. However, the imagery, music, and language visited in this class have renewed my appreciation for my culture. I hope this page helps to create an appreciation for Spanish language and culture within you.