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For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by foreign languages and cultures. I attribute this interest to my mother, who speaks French. I remember begging for French lessons and to look through her old photobooks of pictures of Paris and the south of France.

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I went on a three-month long trip to Europe where I visited: Iceland, England, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania. This is what confirmed my desire to live and work abroad.

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I decided to major in political science with and international relations concentration. I had always had a great love for school and learning. I chose my degree because I wanted to work abroad for a while and then continue my education, attain a PhD, and become a professor.

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I began my bachelors in the snowy Erie, Pennsylvania at the University of Edinboro. Halfway through I decided I needed a change of scenery. I moved to Wilmington in 2019.

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I graduated from UNCW in 2019. In my job search, I found that few international opportunities were available. I also realized that if I went on to a political science master’s program, I would be no closer to teaching.

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While I loved my bachelor’s degree and learned many valuable lessons regarding the government, policy, advocacy, I began considering a pivot to something that suited my true passions: language, culture, and education. I searched for linguistics master’s degrees only to find they were few and far between. Then I stumbled upon the ESL MAT at UNCW and realized it was exactly what I had been looking for.  I could not be happier with my decision to begin this program. So far, I have studied theories of second language acquisition, and this semester I am taking a linguistics course. My grad school experience has proven to be the most fascinating program of study I have ever been part of.