Raychel is currently a PhD student studying second language acquisition (at the University of Iowa) and a North American language and culture assistant living in Santander, Spain. She is working on her dissertation investigating students’ willingness to communicate during short-term study abroad programs and teaching English to Spanish high school students. Her interest in second language acquisition research started in a class that Dr. Jorge Cubillos allowed her to audit during her MA at UD. Raychel’s reports, “my dissertation topic comes directly from my experiences studying Spanish (both as an undergrad and MA student) and participating in several FANTASTIC study abroad experiences (both during winter sessions and for a semester). The programs that I participated in were amazing experiences led by FLLT faculty and gave me the confidence to speak Spanish and the desire to keep traveling, studying, and learning!”