When it comes to growing as a student, I feel this section is what shows that growth best.

All my life I feel I had a very narrow understanding of the world. When I thought of the past, I was
pretty sure all the important things were happening in Europe, and that pretty much just meant
Britain. Looking back, it is easy to see how nave I was, but that is just the way I had been taught to
view the world. After taking these classes, I have been able to see how complex the world is,
especially the Latin American portion of it. The two essays I am submitting for the capstone project
showcase how I have grown in my recognition of other languages and cultures. I cant say that I
usually enjoy writing research papers, but I can say that I am grateful for the things I learned while
researching and writing them.
The first paper was for SPAN 325, Survey of Hispanic Linguistics. This was actually one of
the later classes I took as a BYU student: apparently it was originally 329, but they never changed it
in MyMap, so it took me forever to sign up for it. Anyways, the final project was to research
anything that could be tied to linguistics. I decided to research code-switching, the fascinating
phenomena that occurs when someone, usually unintentionally, switches between two languages.
My first experience with code-switching occurred while I was learning Spanish myself. In this
instance, I would revert back to English when I couldnt think of how to express myself in Spanish.
On my mission in Texas, I encountered people who grew up learning both English and Spanish.
Most of these people became bilingual, but there was one man who truly was a code-switcher. He
would switch back and forth between the two languages, often combining English and Spanish in
the same sentence, without even noticing it. These experiences motivated me to consider this
phenomenon and I discovered that this happens all the time when children grow up in bilingual
homes. As I researched more, it made a lot of sense because only as we gain separate experiences
with the two languages are we able to distinguish them. A child doesnt have this experience, thus
making them more likely switch back and forth according to whichever word comes into their mind
first.
Perhaps my favorite paper came from SPAN 459R, Spanish American Roman Noir. In this
class, we studied film noir and the theories that accompany it. The topics that we covered were
difficult to understand even when we slipped into English, so taking the class in Spanish really
deepened my ability to critically analyze texts in Spanish. In the final paper, I wrote on the book,
Adis, Hemingway by Leonardo Padura Fuentes. In the essay, I argued that Conde, Paduras version
of himself within the novel, struggled to accept his relationship with Ernest Hemingway.
Hemingway continues to this day to be a Cuban icon, even though he is widely recognized as a man
with a colored past and questionable morals. Conde, like Padura, sought at first to condemn
Hemingway for his actions, but as the story went on, he found himself accepting Hemingway even
with his faults. The argument I made was that in order to maintain his Cuban heritage, Conde had
to accept the loss of the picturesque Hemingway and come to terms with his true nature. However,
the only way to do this was lie to himself and further his deception. I proposed the question, when
we say that we have finished mourning, are we really over it or are we lying to ourselves?
As for the future, I plan to continue my Spanish education. My first goal is to get a Masters
degree in education so I can become a principal, but once that is out of the way I plan to get a
Masters degree in Spanish, most likely literature. I feel like there is so much more I can learn from
these great authors and I cant wait to get started. As you can see, this is the biggest reflection I have
written for the capstone. I hope it is apparent how much I enjoyed making myself stretch by
engaging with texts critically and trying to see what they are really saying.