March 2009 Journal #2    Page 1

What do you get when you combine three Americans, a couple of Europeans, five or six Mexicans, a soccer ball, and a lot of sand? A really great game of beach soccer and a lesson in linguistics. When Bethany Pratt '10, Rosie McAuley '10 and I were asked to play, we didn't really know what to expect, but that hour or two of playing was one of the most remarkable experiences I've had on this trip.

There were at least three languages being spoken out there; in fact, I'm pretty sure I had a conversation about where I was from in a mixture of Italian, English, and Spanish. When the ball was at my feet, I was bombarded by a cacophony of shouts, some familiar, some not; yet, by the end of the game, I had become accustomed to the mishmash of directions and was able to follow them fairly well. I guess you could say the group had found a universal dialect—fútbol.

Interestingly enough, a week later in Ecology, Rosie and I found ourselves presenting on the origins of human language. Communication really is a remarkable thing, especially the spontaneous creation of new languages, such as Pidgins, Creoles, or in our case, "Spanglish," when unfamiliar cultures are combined. It was interesting to be able to apply our experiences directly to something we were learning in the classroom.

It's not always as easy as screaming for a pass while running up the sidelines; however, I often find myself at a loss for the right words—literally—just in daily conversation with my home stay family, in activities with our awesome student helpers, Maria Luisa and Omar, or while participating in cultural events

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