Hi, my name is Raquel! I grew up in a town outside of Boston called Wellesley, MA. My mom also grew up outside of Boston, and my dad grew up in New York, so I am convinced that the east coast is the best coast. I have a younger sister, Alana, a younger brother, Michael, and a two-year-old puppy named Cody with whom we are all obsessed.
When I was in first grade, there was a Spanish program at my elementary school. We had 15-minute lessons every day and I instantly fell in love with the language. I kept studying Spanish in school and on my own. I figured out ways to travel to Madrid, Spain on a language exchange with a friend, and to Costa Rica on a service trip. I loved traveling, meeting new people, and immersing myself in new cultures.
When I went to college at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., I thought I wanted to focus on Spanish. But, I soon realized that I loved learning different languages and switched to linguistics. Linguistics is the scientific study of language, and I took classes about phonology, how languages are learned, how language relates to society, etc.
My mom and my grandma speak French and I started studying it in my last year of high school. The summer after my first year of college, I wanted to immerse myself in French culture, so I did a six-week program through Georgetown by living and studying in Tours, France.
