Bonjour-hi!

Experimenting with learning by osmosis

My earliest experimentation with learning by osmosis

I was born in Germany in a Thai-American household. My life has been blessed with opportunity to travel and live in different parts of the world which undoubtedly is responsible for my fascination (read, obsession) with all things language.

My education in the Newport News Public School System gave me an early chance to explore world languages and, eventually, motivated my pursuit of degrees in French and Spanish at George Mason University. I started college as a pre-med Foreign Languages student, but we definitely don’t need to talk about that.

Embracing my Southern heritage, I became a third-generation student at the University of Alabama in 2016 where I earned a Master’s Degree in Romance Languages with a focus in Applied French Linguistics.

I got my black belt, eventually—2 of them!

Since 2018, I have been exploring the cornfields of the Midwest while working towards a PhD at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In addition to the French Lingusitics program and concentration in Romance Linguistics, my research and teaching inspired me to complete graduate minor programs in Gender and Women’s Studies, Queer Studies, European Union Studies, and Linguistic Anthropology.

Life(?) beyond my degree revolves around my love for reading and sports. Generally, you can find me with my nose in a whodunit murder mystery or diving for a volleyball on the court. I also box and practice yoga and pilates. More recently, I have been getting back into swimming and I’m learning how to play tennis and rock climb. After I finish my degree, I want to explore Muay Thai and maybe take up gymnastics!

I have been able to travel the world, but my home is always with my people. I am grateful to have such an incredibly generous and supportive network of family, friends, and collaborators around the world who make my everyday such a bright space.