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James K.
Boston, MA
Student: 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009

"I came to Conversa for the first time in 2006, hoping to spend two weeks brushing up my rusty high school Spanish. I'm a practical guy and I figured this would be a very practical thing to do. There's lots of occasions where Spanish can come in handy and I wanted that tool in my tool belt!

What I didn't expect was that at Conversa, Spanish would change from being an academic subject to being a second language. While I was there we studied lots of grammar and vocabulary, to be sure. But it was also where I learned for the first time to really communicate in a language that wasn't my own. Somehow, with no English involved, I had real exchanges with people in their native language and I ended up leaving with close friendships that will last a lifetime.

Now Spanish is a core part of my everyday life and it's a rare day that I don't speak it. It's almost hard to remember what things were like before. It's the language I use to communicate with a number of my friends, it's let me learn surprising things from unexpected people, and it's also given me an appreciation for other cultures. I had no interest in this before, but now I realize that once you speak another language you can live in its culture and begin to understand it.

It's no exaggeration to say that studying Spanish at Conversa has changed my life, and I often say that it's one of the best decisions I've made. I feel lucky to have found them!"