Noisy Parades and Dancing in the Church – Celebrating a Traditional Spanish Christmas! Watch out! You duck down, just in time, as a group of kids, sitting on a parade float, throw a handful of sweets at you, really hard! The noise is deafening – five different kinds of Christmas music is blasting out from huge speakers, children are shouting, the youngest ones being held up by their parents to see, the older ones busily darting and diving in the crowd, collecting sweets that have fallen on the pavement. Yippee, …CONTINUE READING

The moment has arrived and the decision has been taken. It was an extremely difficult to sift through the profiles of our Top 12 Candidates. But somehow we were able to narrow down our choice to just two. Congratulations to our two UniSpain Summer Scholarship 2014 award recipients: ¡¡¡ Brandon Soto and Dila Sürmeli !!! We look forward to having you both in Spain this summer, and we know that you will make the most out of this opportunity. See you soon! We would like to acknowledge the other top 10 candidates Your …CONTINUE READING

 Pham Anh Thu “Higher level of Spanish will help me build up a firmer career, furthermore I desire to share my knowledge to everyone and do meaningful activities for a better society.” Foreseeing the necessity for Spanish speakers in the near future, Thu has been steadily studying Spanish for the last two years. She is no stranger to hard work as she has succeeded in learning English. But where she falls short with Spanish is the lack of speakers to practice with Vietnam. That is where Spain comes in. She would love …CONTINUE READING

Christopher Vasquez “To some extent, I feel a bit a shame for not learning to speak my mother’s native language fluently, but at the same time, this is my motivation to learn.”   Growing up in San Antonio, Texas, Christopher often felt at odds with his Latino culture. On mentoring a young boy from Honduras who had violently lost his father, he renewed his determination to reclaim his Hispanic heritage. He has since then been inspired to play his part in helping to integrate and guide the Hispanic children from …CONTINUE READING

Isis Trammell “I am passionate about becoming fluent in Spanish. By fluent, I do not simply mean being able to give directions….I mean being able to articulate to my clients which haircut and hair color will look best with their head shape….” Ever dedicated to her goal of being completely  fluent in Spanish, Isis has won art competitions with creations based on Spanish Moor influences and even moved to Mexico city where she hoped she would bump into more Spanish speakers to improve her skills. She wants to be able …CONTINUE READING

Daniela Matheus-Holland “I believe that it is important to develop my ability to effectively understand, communicate, and interact with people from different cultural backgrounds.” An environmental science student who loves to discover other cultures, learn how to adapt to new situations  and expand her worldview.  Her grandfather is Spanish which inspires a deep curiosity within her to discover the country she has heard so much about. Being that her mother is Brazilian, she speaks Portuguese and believes her knack for learning languages would make taking on Spanish a pleasurable experience. …CONTINUE READING

Cleo Ha “I wish to bring Spanish culture back to Sydney through dance and music in hope that it is appreciated, recognised and loved in a way it should be.” An undergraduate student of Music from Australia, her specialty is playing the violin and bandoneon within the Tango genre. She is also extremely passionate about Flamenco which she has been practicing for 19 years. In order to truly immerse herself in this craft, she would like to master the Spanish language and discover the culture from where it comes from. …CONTINUE READING

Rashmi “My goal has been to work for an international aid organization that is committed to social justice causes, such as environmental conservation through higher education attainment for underprivileged people.” Her goal is to work at an international organisation and consequently contribute to bettering the quality of life in developing countries. She is ready to work hard to acquire Spanish to add on to her already acquired German in order to bring herself one step closer to her goal. Her intense workload at her University often leaves her with little …CONTINUE READING

Kendall Da Costa “I have gone through a tough time, but I will never let that define my passion for the Food industry and I will not let it keep me from traveling to Spain.” He is a student of Jamaican descent at the Culinary Institute of America. He has faced some challenges in his life but never let any of them deter him from his dream of succeeding in the Food industry. Despite living 1000 miles from his family, he works hard to attend his classes and studies his …CONTINUE READING

Lynette Goh Hui Min “I learnt to persevere and not give up as I seek excellence in whatever I do and set very high standards for myself.”   Coming from a modest family in Singapore, Lynette yearned to explore the world and got the opportunity to go to Taiwan through an international organisation where she discovered more about the world and herself as she lived outside of her comfort zone. She understands the importance of being multi-lingual and is willing to dedicate time and effort through the diligence and commitment …CONTINUE READING