When I first came to CSUMB I wanted to major in Japanese Language and Culture, couple of semesters in, I did not feel like I belonged there. I only knew a few people, that I could not really call my friends and I no longer saw myself being a Japanese Major. While taking the WLC Pro-Seminar, I found myself talking with Spanish Majors and hanging out with them too. I ultimately decided to switch over to becoming a Spanish major. Even though I know Spanish, I still faced a lot of challenges since I was unfamiliar with grammar, and the linguistics part of the language. My parents only had an elementary school education and I only learned what they knew. Coming to a university has been a challenge of sorts for my family, my mom’s side in specific. None my cousins have managed to graduate from a university or hold any kind of degree of sorts. Even my older sister, who I looked up to for this sort of thing, came up short after studying in UC Santa Barbara several years ago. So, in a way coming here and getting my degree I hope to break the “curse” that we seem to have.
The classes I took here dealt with grammar, linguistics, parts of speech, culture and history. I enjoyed taking the language-based classes because I learned everything my parents could not teach me. I was always amazed when I learned a new concept or word that I did not know before. Same went with the history class I took. History classes I had taken in the past revolved around the United States and how important the United Sates was in history, so many of the concepts what I would learn that dealt with Mexico really felt like a new discovery for me. The cultural classes I took, like Chicano Literature were probably the most important to me. There were a lot of ideas that we discussed, but the most important to me was looking at identity. Since most of the characters had trouble adjusting with living in the United States, struggling to know who they really are was something that spoke to me. This is one of the reasons on why I ultimately choose to do my capstone project on themes of identity.
Moving forward I do not know what I will do with my degree. Like mentioned before, this is something that is pretty much uncharted territory for most of my family, so I do not know what I will do. Throughout my time at CSUMB I worked in for D’Arrigo Brothers, an agriculture company, I worked in the human resources department and I enjoyed the work I do there. Since most people that work out in the field do not know Spanish, everything that I’ve learned has come in really handy. I really want to pursue my masters, or even a doctorate so I can teach at a university and help students that are struggling with their identity and are unsure with what they want to do.