I made it my goal freshman year of high school to speak French fluently and I’m proud that I never let that go. Part of the reason was because my mom used to tell me about her semester abroad in Cannes and I couldn’t wait to have my own experience in France. I had planned… Read More

As someone who had studied German all through high school and absolutely loved it, the decision to major in German Studies seemed logical. I didn’t know it then, but that was the best worst-informed decision I have yet made. Studying modern languages gave me the opportunity to go overseas, study in Germany, and now possibly… Read More

Chinese culture and history courses have been my favorite classes throughout my college career and I can’t imagine what my William & Mary experience would be like without them. The Chinese major led me to live in the Chinese House, become involved with the Confucius Institute, dance for Chinese foreign dignitaries, learn Chinese painting, and… Read More

After graduating high school from the American School of Paris, Michaela entered William & Mary with a love for the French language and planned to pursue a minor in the field. Once here, her experiences in the Modern Languages department not only convinced her to pursue a major in French and Francophone Studies, but they… Read More

I originally chose to major in this discipline to broaden my understandings of communities and experiences in the US, Latin American and Spain while improving my language skills. Memorable experiences I have had in the program include my work and time as a Sharpe scholar my freshman year through a course on Ethical Fashion, engaging… Read More

I was especially excited to give a presentation at the departmental research festival this year, remembering how impressed I had been when I first attended the event as a sophomore. This personal and intellectual growth would not have been possible, were it not for the challenging and supportive community of the French department. Living in… Read More

Brittany originally chose to study Hispanic Studies because of a love for the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. This love was reinforced during her semester abroad in Sevilla, Spain where she lived with the best host family ever and fell in love with Spanish culture from the beautiful cathedrals and Catholic traditions to the azulejos… Read More

Brooke Carr is a French and Psychology double major.  After taking her first French courses at William and Mary, she decided to pursue a major because of the faculty that was so invested in the students and she found that she was passionate about the French language and culture.  Her first semester senior year, she… Read More

For the past nine years, French has been a major part of my life (no pun intended). A Francophile at heart, the language and culture appeal to me in such a way that I often wish they were my own. Being a French major has helped me refine my lingual skills and made me even… Read More

“I will be graduating with a double major in public policy and Hispanic studies. I’ve always loved learning about and experiencing new languages and cultures, which made majoring in Hispanic the perfect fit. Being a Hispanic studies major has also meant a great deal to me personally; as someone with Hispanic ancestry, I feel that… Read More

I took my very first Japanese language class all the way back in 2004, as an eighth grade elective, simply because it was different from anything else I’d studied. It was indeed different, and that proved to be one of the hardest things about it. But it was also one of the most tremendously rewarding… Read More

My name is Antonio Douglas, a Chinese Major, Process Management and Consulting Minor, and Senior at The College of William and Mary. As graduation looms ever closer, it is funny to think how my Chinese experience started simply as s bid for more credits Freshman year. Nonetheless, four years later I find myself with strong… Read More

I have always loved languages, but never had a chance to study German until college. I started taking German Fall of freshman year, partly because my dad speaks it, but also on a whim just to see what it was all about. Somehow I ended up being an accidental major. Definitely the best experience I’ve… Read More

I am an accounting and French double major, and I’ll be at William & Mary next year to complete my Master’s of Accounting. I studied abroad in Paris in Spring 2013 through IFE, an experience that greatly improved my conversational skills and confidence in the language. With my knowledge of both business and a foreign… Read More

Sarah chose to major in French & Francophone studies because the culture has had a profound effect on her life and has become one of her greatest passions. As a child she was lucky to have lived in Geneva, Switzerland for a few years where she developed a love for the language as well as… Read More

Upon entering W&M four years ago as a shy New Englander with an intense love for books and learning, I had my mind set on majoring in history and government. It took only one class with Professor Cate-Arries however, that freshman fall semester, for me to completely change my plans and commit myself whole-heartedly to… Read More

“It’s been my dream to speak French since I was about 10 years old, so I was relatively sure I wanted to pursue further studies when I came to college. What I’ve learned in the French program has been a great deal more than just the language however; it’s really changed who I am and… Read More

Before I’d even gotten to William and Mary, I knew that I wanted to study Russian and Chinese. Luckily, I was able to get into classes for both languages in my first semester, and found myself in true linguistic love. After almost four years of memorizing characters, reciting Pushkin, forgetting characters, staging absurd Russian skits,… Read More

Hayley Fallon is a French and Sociology double major. She grew up in Meredith, New Hampshire, and from a young age, it was clear she had no idea what she wanted to do. The summer after her freshman year in college, she spent a magical summer in Montpellier, France through a William & Mary study… Read More

1. After seven years of putting little effort into Spanish, I decided I wanted to make a concerted effort to learning a new language. Hoping to one day communicate with my Baba in Serbian, I decided to learn Russian since it was the closest to Serbian. After my first year of Russian, I fell in… Read More

Hi, my name is Fallon Fitzgerald and part of the Class of William and Mary 2014. I am a double major in Hispanic Studies and Latin American Studies. I chose to major in Hispanic Studies mainly to learn how to write and speak effectively in the Spanish language in order to connect with my native… Read More

I chose Hispanic Studies as my secondary major after taking Literary Criticism my freshman year. I enjoyed and wanted to continue analyzing literary texts to discover how they contribute to the discourse on relevant socio-political and cultural issues. As a Hispanic Studies major, one of the most important lessons I have learned is that there… Read More

I wish I had a better story for what drew me to Hispanic Studies or how I ended up in this major, but ultimately I was one of the many students who studied Spanish in high school and just wanted to keep the language up. I never guessed that I would spend hours talking with… Read More

Libby started studying French eleven years ago, inspired by her trip to Paris and the Loire Valley.  This kicked off her love of learning languages.  Her favorite part of the William and Mary French program was the summer she spent studying in Montpellier.  After graduation, Libby is marrying her boyfriend of six years and they… Read More

“Prior to matriculating at the College of William & Mary, I could have never guessed that I would be graduating four years later with a Hispanic Studies major.  Born and raised in Miami, I lived immersed in Latino and Latin American culture and did not recognize the importance of these early influences until I moved… Read More

I will be graduating with a double major in Hispanic Studies and Accounting with a concentration in Entrepreneurship. I knew I was a Hispanic Studies major at heart since high school, when I became fascinated with the Spanish language and culture. Upon entering William & Mary, I was deeply involved with the Latin American Student… Read More

My decision to study Hispanic Studies here at the college was a gradual one. Originally a History major, over the course of my first year and a half here included a few Hispanic Studies courses I took with the intent of simply maintaining and improving my Spanish language skills, however I slowly found myself falling… Read More

I’ve had an affinity for studying Spanish since high school, so I was already planning to major in Hispanic Studies when I arrived at William and Mary. However, as I navigated the William and Mary curriculum, my passion grew to encompass not only language, but also Hispanic history, literature, and culture. I felt my horizons… Read More

I chose to major in Hispanic Studies because proficiency in Spanish allows me to serve and form more meaningful relationships with Spanish-speakers both in the United States and abroad. I love the Hispanic Studies department at William and Mary because of the small class sizes, the relationships formed with faculty, and the variety of perspectives… Read More

I am a twenty-one year old senior and am a transfer student from Tidewater Community College, having only been at “the College” for the past two years. I am double majoring in Linguistics and French, which I began studying just a few years ago. What was once a simple hobby has blossomed into a deep-seated… Read More

At the beginning of my freshman year I never thought I would be a Hispanic Studies major, but today I do not know what I would be doing after graduation without it. I remember even that after I declared my double major in Psychology and Hispanic Studies, I still considered Hispanic Studies to be my… Read More

Hispanic studies has helped me to enhance my language capabilities, familiarize myself with incredible Spanish and Latin American literature and learn about social and political issues faced by Latinos both within and outside U.S. borders. Furthermore, the program has opened an array of opportunities to me. I had the chance to study abroad for a… Read More

Sure! I got into Japanese because I heard a Japanese song when I was younger and became interested in learning the language. Studying Japanese has allowed me to not only learn another language, but learn about another culture that is so vastly different from American / European culture, and allowed me to study abroad in… Read More

After living in Germany for three years when my father was stationed in the small town of Giebelstadt, learning German seemed like the best option for me. Though I was young, it was a way for me to immerse myself in the culture and language of the land I was living in. When I returned… Read More

When I first started studying at the College of William and Mary, I knew right away that I wanted to continue taking Russian, as I did in high school. Little did I know then that one language class would transform into a major and a lifestyle. Originally, I was dead set on majoring in chemistry,… Read More

I took my first French class at William and Mary out of habit, I had taken a French class every year for 5 years but it wasn’t something I loved. That changed thanks to the French department’s fantastic professors and interesting classes and it is now a subject I thoroughly enjoy immersing myself in. Studying… Read More

I stumbled into my Russian and Post-Soviet Studies major. It was a slow-motion stumble that began when I took Russian 101 the first semester of my freshman year. At the time, the decision to study Russian emerged from the fact that, while I’ve studied a variety of languages, I’ve never studied a Slavic one. So,… Read More

I originally chose Hispanic Studies because of my urge to travel abroad to Spanish-speaking countries. My time spent in Argentina and Spain increased my language abilities and fueled my passion for further travels, working in issues of environmental justice. Hispanic Studies has provided me with a means to interpret a wide spectrum of Spanish voices… Read More

I chose to major in French and Francophone Studies because French has been an important part of most of my life. I was always fascinated by French culture, and my interest in other Francophone countries grew when I began taking classes at William and Mary. The French department at William and Mary offered me the… Read More

I chose to major in Hispanic Studies because I enjoyed learning Spanish and wanted to make a career out of it. Throughout my time at W&M as a Hispanic Studies major I’ve learned how to look at the world from the perspective of a variety of different groups spanning from that of nobles in Medieval… Read More

I developed a love of French culture in high school during a trip to France and Italy, and it is an interest that has followed me ever since. From the very beginning of my time at William & Mary, I knew that I wanted to continue to pursue my learning of the French language, and… Read More

Chelsea is a French and Education major who is using her degree to help the non-English speakers in her local community. She lives in Williamsburg with her husband and looks forward to new opportunities and challenges that will enrich the lives of those around her.

I associate my love for the French language with Satine’s tragic death at the conclusion of Moulin Rouge. We watched the film in my first year of French class in high school – much to the dismay of the administration – and something about its story spoke to me. Was it the snippets of French… Read More

Before I arrived on campus at William and Mary, I knew I wanted to study the Italian language. My interest in pursuing the study of the Italian language stemmed from a personal desire to be able to speak and comprehend the language of my ancestors. Given that practically no one in my family has spoken… Read More

When I entered W&M, I enrolled in Russian 101 just for fun, after a bit of exposure to the language in high school. No language exists in a vacuum, however, so as I progressed in my language study my fascination with Russian culture, politics, and literature increased. I took more classes and eventually declared a… Read More

Steven Pau is a graduate of the Class of 2014, receiving Bachelor’s degrees in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) and a unique, self-designed major titled “Japanese Culture and Language Studies (JCLS).” During the 2013-14 year, Steven has worked on a number of projects across campus to better his own and others’ understanding of the… Read More

I did not come around to majoring in Hispanic Studies until my second-to-last year in college. After working at Claytor Lake State Park (in Southwestern Virginia) for a summer and encountering many Latinos with whom I conversed using Spanish learned in high school, I decided that it would be well worth my time to pick… Read More

In high school, Spanish was always my favorite subject. The language seemed to come easily to me and I loved learning about foreign culture while creating a connection through language. I knew I wanted to continue studying Spanish in college so I took a few introductory classes and eventually decided I might as well major!… Read More

Majoring in French & Francophone Studies was perhaps the easiest decision of my four years at the College. When I entered as a freshman, I didn’t yet have much direction, so I let my passion for the French language and culture guide me. I took class after class in the discipline through sophomore year, at… Read More

Sara is a senior with a double major in International Relations and Chinese at the College of William & Mary. She is a Research Fellow at the Center for Geospatial Analysis and spent the past summer as an AidData Summer Fellow working at Kathmandu University in Nepal. She taught AidData methodology and geographic information software… Read More

I came to the Italian department to repent for years of abusing grammar. I grew up speaking “Italian”, or a barely-passing, linguistic approximation assembled from the tumbling Roman phrasing and syncopated Sardinian dialect that I absorbed from my family abroad. More often than not, I’d make the stuff up: irreverently yoking together American stems and… Read More

I came the College of William & Mary already knowing I wanted to pursue French as an area of study, but it wasn’t until I experienced the incredible classes from the unparalleled professors of our department that I decided to choose it as my major. Subsequently, I was able to participate in 2 French study… Read More

I first decided to take an Italian class my freshman year to gain a better understanding of a language I had grown up with, as both of my parents immigrated from Italy. The following years, as more and more classes focused on aspects of Italian literature and culture piqued my interest, I decided I wanted… Read More

I remember being drawn to major in French from a love of French art, especially French film and music from the 20th century, such as Jean-Luc Godard and Serge Gainsbourg. Being in Paris my junior year was the highlight of my time as a French major, I enjoyed each and every day. For me, studying… Read More

I majored in Hispanic Studies by chance; it was never my original intention. Although I knew that English would be my first major, I took a college Spanish class because the language was useful and enjoyed the intro course so much that I took more classes. Eventually I decided that I wanted to go abroad… Read More

Ever since I enrolled at W&M, I wanted to teach language in a secondary education setting, and I’m happy to be realizing that goal soon. I originally chose to study German because I wanted to improve my proficiency in the language, though I’ve come to love language study in general through my classes in Spanish… Read More

I love Hispanic Studies because I value speaking a second language and learning about foreign cultures. I put my major to the test when I studied abroad in Central America, and was supremely pleased to find I was able to successfully communicate with the locals. And since no one else in my group spoke Spanish,… Read More

“Emily started college with the intention to major in history, but the lure of the French Revolution and presidential scandals proved too seductive — as did her desire to gain enough fluency to have an effective career in Francophone Africa. During the course of her time at the College, she had the great pleasure to… Read More