Lesa MacLeod pursues her love of languages at university

Q: Why did you decide to study modern languages?

A: I approached university with the idea that I wanted to do things that interested me, rather than having a clear career path in mind. I have always been interested in languages and after my exchange year in Italy it was a natural progression for me to study modern languages.

Q: Are you majoring in any other subjects?

A: No, I studied art history as my second major but dropped that after my first year.

Q: Why did you drop art history?

A: I soon realised that art history was not really what I thought it was going to be. When I went to school in Rome, art history was a compulsory subject and I liked reading something in a book and being able to check it out in person. You don't quite get that in New Zealand.

Q: How do you support your study?

A: I am quite lucky that my parents support me financially, but I also work part time in a restaurant to pay for my rent and other things.

Q: Can you describe typical student life?

A: You meet a lot of people and try different things. You also complain a lot about not having enough money!

Q: What are your future plans?

A: At the moment, I'm not sure what I want to do. I would like to travel and learn to speak Spanish. I think the best way would be to work and live in a Spanish-speaking country, and be free to go somewhere else when I wanted to.