Ever since I started studying English, I knew\ndoors were opening up to me, though I never thought this day would come\u2014not to\nmention how significant it would be for my growth as a teacher and, especially,\nas a person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanks to Fulbright I was able to reach one\nof my goals: to immerse myself in a culture that differs from mine, in which I\ncould apply the knowledge I had been working on for so many years. Who would\nhave thought that I would end up teaching Spanish at an American university? I\ncould never have imagined that. The challenge grew bigger as I learned what I was\nmeant to do at Amherst College. Not only would I teach Spanish but also\nrepresent and share my culture. The mate<\/em>, the accent, the slang, the\nmusic, and the milanesas<\/em> were all welcomed in Massachusetts. I cannot\ndescribe how glad I felt to see students from different cultural backgrounds\ndance to Uruguayan music or cook milanesas<\/em> with excitement after I told\nthem how to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having the opportunity to know people from\ndifferent cultures who were also working as teachers in the U.S., getting to\nplan trips together, and sharing hotel rooms with them so that we could save\nand travel even more were also key experiences. Fulbright allowed me to make friends\nand come up with plans together, and now we are already thinking about our\nfuture reunion in our respective countries. I was not able to say goodbye to all\nof them, because the pandemic impeded us from having our reunion in the U.S.\nand completing our adventures together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Apart from being a Spanish teaching\nassistant, at Amherst College I also got to study. I learned a lot and I also\nmet amazing people. I had always been aware of the fact that studying in the\nU.S. might be harder, so I was ready for that. Besides, we had an orientation\nmeeting in Montevideo and another one in Arkansas before the program, where we\nwere told what we had to do and how to navigate this new culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of the pandemic and its\nconsequences, I had to return to Uruguay a few weeks before expected and finish\nthe courses I was taking remotely, from Uruguay. The Fulbright Commission in\nUruguay offered me unwavering support. They always responded promptly and provided\nme solutions to any obstacle that arose. I feel really thankful for having gone\nthrough this experience, especially with such a professional and responsible\nteam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I recommend this program to everyone\u2014to make\nfriends, to become better teachers, and to learn, learn a lot. Everything I\nlearned during this experience will be passed on as best as I can to my\nstudents and my colleagues as well. I will share everything I have lived as a Spanish\nteaching assistant and, undoubtedly, I will keep in touch with those friends\nwho, thanks to Fulbright, are now part of one of the best things I have ever\ndone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ever since I started studying English, I knew doors were opening up to me, though I never thought this day would come\u2014not to mention how significant it would be for my growth as a teacher and, especially, as a person. Thanks to Fulbright I was able to reach one of my goals: to immerse myself…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-from-our-uruguayan-grantees","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"\n