In high school, I was very involved in different clubs. Coming to college, I wanted to continue being active in organizations that interested me. One club I was apart of in high school was Spanish Club. I thoroughly enjoyed it because I was interested in both the language and Hispanic culture. After our Spanish program got cut my sophomore year, I wasn’t able to take any more language classes or be in the club. While I was devastated, I knew that when I got to college, I would have the opportunity to get back into Spanish.
Arriving at the University of Oklahoma, I was overjoyed to find out they had a Spanish Club that met bi-weekly. I hoped it would help me get back into my love for the language and culture. There events from previous years looked quite interesting, so I started to get excited for the meetings.
The first meeting I attended had a showing of the Netflix movie 7 Años. I had no clue what to expect going into it, but it was a great experience. We viewed the movie with Spanish audio and English subtitles. Now I, being a little hearing-impaired, am used to having subtitles on when watching television shows or movies. This made this experience of watching a movie unlike my precious ones, yet it was a little difficult to stay up with what was happening when it was listened to it in a different language.
I think the organizers did a great job with the meeting idea because it helped me put the little bit of Spanish I know into a conversational perspective better. While I had no clue what the movie was going to be about, I liked the aspect of going into it blind. This forced me to be more aware of what the actors and actresses were saying and doing.
Along with the movie, they provided snacks and drinks. This is honestly the best way for any organization or club to get college students to their meetings, and it works. We all love free food, trust me. The entire night was a blast because we were all at different levels of Spanish, but we all still learned something new from watching the movie.
