Page 9 - POR320Summer2018

Simeon

Olá! Me chamo Simeon. Sou de Minneapolis, EE.UU.

I've spent the last five years teaching English in the Middle
East. Now I'm working on combining my knowledge of
linguistics with the field of machine learning. I'm enrolled in the
B.A. Spanish program as a way to get back into university
studies after several years of working.

Currently I'm based in Croatia for the summer, and I plan to live and work here for the next

couple years. My hobbies include rock climbing, reading, beaches, and pub trivia. Obviously I
travel a lot as well so I guess that.

Portuguese is the third language I'm studying at the moment (Spanish and Croatian already
take a lot of my attention). However, I hope that once our class finishes I can continue to

maintain a rudimentary familiarity with the language through conversation partners and
DuoLingo.
Tchau!

Alfonso A.

Oi companheiros, me chamo Alfonso Alvarez. I am from
Los Angeles, California, and my family is originally from
Jalisco, Mexico. I am working on my BA in Spanish. I first
became interested in Portuguese back in 2011. This was
the year that, while researching my direct paternal

lineage, I learned that my first paternal ancestor in the
Americas was actually Portuguese, and not Spanish. His
name was Lourenço Alvares, and he was born around
the area of Póvoa de Varzim, on the northern coast of
Portugal. When he was a young man (late 1500's),
Portugal became part of the Spanish Empire, and that is
when he settled in New Spain (Old name for Mexico
before 1821). I began trying to learn Portuguese off and

on using a program called Mondly. I make my children
learn words with me so that they will eventually speak
three languages (they are equally as fluent in Spanish
and English)
I love to travel, keep physically fit, and learn about history and culture. I also love all different
types music and food. I just came back from having a great time in Andalucia (southern
Spain). This was the first time my children had been there, so they were blown away by all of
the history and culture there is to see.
It is a pleasure to be here with you all. Obrigado.

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