“The focus of your education should be on trying to open your doors to a more international understanding of the world, and I think the Spanish major does an amazing job in preparing us for that,” said Nick Nissen ’16, a Spanish major in the College of Arts and Letters.
Studying Spanish at Notre Dame provides students with the skills needed to fully experience the Spanish-speaking world. Students learn the language while also studying literature and culture to better understand the historical and social contexts of the 400 million native Spanish speakers around the world.
For Nissen, Spanish allowed him to take advantage of unique educational opportunities. After his sophomore year, he researched differing cesarean rates across Spain with a grant from the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program. During his junior year, Nissen studied abroad in Puebla, Mexico, where he interned at a local hospital and lived with a Mexican family.
Combined with a supplementary major in Arts and Letters pre-health, these experiences provided a solid foundation for medical school and an eventual career as a physician.
“I wouldn’t trade my experience at Notre Dame for the world,” he said.
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Originally published by Todd Boruff at al.nd.edu on June 30, 2016.