When I was five years old, my family and I packed up our lives in Puerto Rico and moved to small-town Texas. Switching from one culture and language to another is a fairly radical change for anyone, but, to make the transition more difficult, I was placed in a school with no “English as a Second Language” course option. This meant that I couldn’t communicate with anyone, including my teachers. I took some comfort in the fact that my family and I were all in the same position, but the experience was, nonetheless, an isolating one. I was an outgoing, exuberant child so I wanted to learn English desperately, the way other kids wanted recess or snack time. Slowly I came to grasp the language, but it was not until I learned to read that I felt confident. With the next school year came required reading time. I started hesitantly, my English halting and full of mistakes, but I persisted. By the end of the school year, I was one of the best readers in my grade.
Thus began my love of reading. I speak fluent English because of the books I read growing up; in a very literal sense, reading opened up a whole new world for me. My love of reading inspired me to declare an English Language and Literature major at university and allowed me to explore and analyze books in a way I hadn’t before. When graduation came around, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my degree. I worked in customer service at a zoo for about a year and a half, during which I had time to reflect on what I really wanted my future to look like. The decision to work in the publishing industry seemed an obvious one. However, I knew I didn’t yet have the skills I needed, so I made the decision to return to the academic world. My search for a master’s program in publishing led me to the University of Stirling, where I’m discovering more about the industry every day. I know firsthand the difference that good books can make in people’s every day lives. It is my goal to be part of the industry that changed my life so profoundly. After graduation, I’d like to move somewhere warm and work in translations or editorial.