I enjoy speaking and learning languages, particularly Latin-based or Romance languages (Spanish, French and Italian). My formal Spanish language training began in 1985 at Woodrow Wilson High School where I completed Spanish 1 and 2 courses. In 1998, I traveled for the first time to Mexico, specifically Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, to learn more of Latin-American culture and to practice my Spanish. I quickly learn to love this city and re-visit it often from 1998 to 2009. Also, prior to 2001, I took a beginner/intermediate non-credit evening course at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.
One of the highlights of my Spanish language experience occurred in January 2000 when I visited Madrid for one night after vacationing in Paris and London in December 1999 in anticipation of the new millennium. Now, some 20+ years later, and with a list of Hispanic friends from Mexico and other Latin America countries, I have gained a certain mastery of the Spanish language. I consider myself an advanced Spanish speaker and I am to speak, read, write in Spanish, as well as translate from Spanish to English and vice-versa with ease.
I have completed coursework as a former Music Education major at Southwestern University, 1986-1989 (tuba) and, later, at Southern Methodist University (voice), 2007-2009. In October 2009, I switched degree plans at SMU from music education to anthropology as a means of obtaining a bachelor degree more quickly, while I continue to work third shift as medical lab tech at a diagnostic laboratory in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I hope to graduate from SMU by 2012.
Meanwhile, I can often be found at my favorite Starbucks on Saturdays and/or Sundays studying my Spanish languages books, as well as taking private German language lessons with a German friend from Hamburg, Germany.
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