Growing up in a small town in upstate New York, which lacks diversity, I realized I needed to experience new people and cultures. For this reason, I decided to attend Farmingdale State College. Since it’s located on Long Island, there are so many diverse people from all over. As a senior, I don’t regret my decision one bit. In fact, I am grateful for my decision and the experiences I have had for my four years here.

Something I’ll never forget from Farmingdale is the friendships made with the International Dominican Students. Fortunately to me, there is a large International Students program at Farmingdale, and as a campus resident, I was able to meet so many students from the Dominican Republic- something I did not expect. Like I mentioned, a main reason for coming to Farmingdale was to get out of upstate and live in a more urban area which contains more diversity, and fulfill my want for interactions and knowledge of different cultures, and Long Island definitely has that. But, to have the surprise of living with so many International Dominican students filled me with joy and satisfied my desire to learn about new cultures on a whole different level.

I learned some Spanish, learned about their culture, food, lifestyle, and heard about stories from their home, which interested me so much. I was finally able to first-handedly learn about a new culture. Some of my Dominican friends would even bring me gifts from the Dominican Republic, which I appreciated so much. This newly-gained knowledge of a different culture widened my perspective about life. Because of my heightened interest, I decided to study abroad in a Latin American country to intensively study and learn Spanish.

Last semester of Fall 2015, I studied abroad in Costa Rica for four months. I was nervous yet excited at the same time to travel to a different country for the first time in my life. It didn’t seem real until it was actually happening. I ended up living with a Costa Rican woman, which was organized through the Costa Rican University’s program. She happened to only speak Spanish. How crazy! She knew that I was there to learn Spanish, so she didn’t mind slowing down her sentences for me. I learned so much Spanish, taught English as volunteer, and learned so much about Costa Rican Culture. Costa Rica became my new home.

After returning from Costa Rica, I became extremely interested in the idea of teaching English abroad after graduating from Farmingdale. The experience of teaching English in Costa Rica really expanded my interests and ideas about the future. I wanted to continue exploring new cultures and especially give back to the world from what I gained in Costa Rica- knowledge of a new language and culture.

After doing extensive research on teaching English as foreign language abroad, I found a program that really stuck out to me.  The program is in Chile and is called “English Opens Doors” and is funded by the Chilean Ministry of Education. It allows for living with a host family as well, which is a main aspect I enjoyed in Costa Rica. After filling out a long application and doing a Skype interview with the program, I fortunately was notified of being accepted a week later!

I am so excited to teach English in public schools in Chile in August for four months! It is something that I feel that my life has led up to, and that I am destined for this opportunity. Through this program, I will teach English and be involved in extracurricular activities with the Chilean students. I’ll also work 35 hours a week which is a commitment that I am excited for, because I will be helping Chilean students learn a new language which will change their life.

Without a doubt, if I hadn’t come to Farmingdale State College, I wouldn’t be where I am today. The friends I’ve made here influenced my interest in traveling and exploring a new culture. After being in Costa Rica, that experience influenced my decision to teach English to foreigners. I am so grateful for being at Farmingdale and wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. I didn’t have much of a path before Farmingdale, but I’ve learned so much about myself here, and know what I want to do after graduating. And of course, my Professional Communications major will help me with teaching as well as future jobs if I don’t want to continue teaching.  Thank you, Farmingdale!