Spanish: a key to secret doors

Posted on August 12, 2021

 

 

I never thought I'd be living the life that I am today, but thanks to Spanish and the powerful impact my Spanish lecturers had on me, here I am, in Ecuador. 

I started studying Spanish in my first year of university in 2015. Before that, I barely knew how to say hello. I actually took French in school, so I was planning on focussing on English and French for my degree, but my brother convinced me to take Spanish. I'm so glad he did because my life would have turned out very differently had he not.

I remember listening to some of my classmates in first year talking about how they wanted to travel to Spain or Latin America and thought that that would never be me. But by the time I was finished with my third year of Spanish, I was quite sure that I wanted to move to somewhere in South America. The work, especially the literature, that we did in our final year was so meaningful and really allowed us to learn about different cultures. These stories have such a special place in my heart, and although tragic, they made me realise that I wanted to experience the sense of community that seemed to be a common theme in these stories.

Originally, I looked at moving to Costa Rica or Uruguay. So, I planned a trip to both countries. Although they are both stunning countries with amazing people, there were a few problems (e.g. job opportunities and expensiveness), but I ended up meeting other South Africans in Uruguay that were moving to Ecuador. They told us they'd let us know what it was like when they got to Cuenca (a beautiful city in Ecuador).They moved two months later and only had good things to say. So, without having been to Ecuador, my partner and I sold our things, saved some money, and brought our four dogs with us to Cuenca. 

Now, two and a half years later, we have 7 dogs, 2 cats and a one year old daughter. My job as an English teacher with CEDEI has also allowed me to meet some of the most amazing people. I have had a student that is a fashion designer and designed outfits for a music group called CNCO, a student that comes from a family of Olympic swimmers, and multiple students who have been more than generous when we were in some kind of bad situation. The generousity of the Ecuadorian people that we have met is beyond words and I am so grateful to have met each and every person on this journey.

This is a move that I would not have even considered making before taking Spanish. I was pretty happy with the idea of staying in South Africa for the rest of my life. So whether you're struggling to get through your final year of studies or whether you are just finishing school and don't know what you want to do with your life, I can tell you that studying a foreign language opens so many doors, doors that you may not have ever expected. So go for it and do it with all of your heart and soul because it will take you to the most amazing places.

 

- Author Shannon du Plooy

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