My love for language, learning and adventure began early in life. I can remember falling asleep in a pile of books when I was in lower elementary. I would flip through books searching for a new adventure in a make-believe land with fictional characters that inspired and intrigued me. I longed for experiences that would deliver me from ordinary life. As I grew older I became fascinated with foreign languages; the exotic sound of words spoken by other cultures lured me in to a world unknown, but a world that was begging to be discovered. I began studying Spanish in high school and my teacher was the one who inspired me to study education. As I continued my studies, the desire to experience the language in context grew and grew until one day I decided to visit Spain, then Mexico, then Costa Rica, each place offering a unique flavor of the Spanish language. Although the countries may share a language, each place is influenced heavily by the ancient societies which originally populated the land and yet simultaneously by pop-culture and globalization.