Love That's Not Like the Rest

At the tender age of four, I discovered the joy of being in love for the first time. For me, it wasn't just about the good times and the bad; it was a love so profound that few could comprehend. Love for language, not a person, was the driving force. Love for Spanish was the driving force.

Because I was reared in a place with little Western influence and where Romanian was the only language spoken, I was on my own. Everyone around me, including my family, couldn't figure out why I was interested in such an unappealing language. But, as the saying goes, love is blind, and I must admit, I had no idea what it was about Spanish that captivated me in the first place. Just hearing its well stated lines and attempting to make sense of the lovely and delicate words: serenades to my naive ears.

June 16, 1994 was the day a cable company employee arrived at my home and connected us to the rest of the world. When I learned about "Acasa" the following day, I was intrigued. This Romanian cable network specializes in showing Spanish-language telenovelas to the Romanian public. As I began to learn to read, I began to associate the romanian subtitles with the Spanish conversation, and gradually, I began to comprehend it. This was a big deal for a small girl who was still learning the nuances of her own tongue, but no one else seemed to think so. A furious father reprimanded me mercilessly for his apparent "obsession" with the language.

Not to Mexico! We will be arriving in the United States, not in Mexico!" Instead of watching that nonsense, you should be learning English!"

Sadly, my family's opposition was only the beginning of a long list of difficulties I would face. When I was nine, my family moved to the United States, and I had to say goodbye to everything that had grown to be so important to me. Despite the fact that Los Angeles is a Spanish-speaking hotspot, my mostly Romanian neighborhood made it difficult for me to communicate with the language. Destiny kept us apart for six years, and my emotions for Spanish withered away.

I fell in love with Spanish all over again in high school, and it became a huge part of my life. Every day, for an hour, I put my responsibilities on wait so that I could improve my Spanish language skills. As a result of two years of Advanced Placement Spanish, I was able to not only comprehend the language but also speak it fluently.

No words can adequately express the sense of pride and accomplishment I'm experiencing now that I can communicate fluently in Spanish. Mexicans often mistook my accent and appearance for that of their own people during a recent vacation there. He inquired whether I was married to someone with the same name as my husband, since, he thought I was Mexican because of my romanian last name. This was the finest accolade of all offered to a romanian girl who had mastered the language on her own against her family's disapproval. The ability to communicate fluently in Spanish is very valuable in the United States, where it ranks just after English as the second most widely spoken language. When my father said it was "nonsense," I was even more pleased of my love for Spanish since I was able to show him that it was not.

Much of who I am now stems from my lifelong fascination with Spanish. A spirit of tenacity and aggression in the face of adversity was fostered by my struggle to immigrate against opposition from my family. As a result, I've grown as a person and learned the importance of never giving up on anything that's important to me. My goal in life is to make a difference in the world by sharing my knowledge of Spanish with as many people as I can. Spanish is one of the United Nations' six official languages and the principal language of 21 countries throughout the world. I want to serve as a bridge between these countries and the 40 million Spanish-speaking residents of the United States. Using my fluency in Spanish, I want to learn more about these countries and their people, both professionally and personally. Spanish will always remain a part of my life no matter where it leads me.

Over the years, mastering Spanish has become one of my proudest achievements. Now more than ever, I'm pleased to be a Spaniard-to have a language that sets me apart from the others. Romanian American girls in Los Angeles seldom show such enthusiasm for a language that is both strange to their birth nations and their adopted country. However, my current and future selves will be much enriched by my ability to speak and write in Spanish.