by Carly Hanley

1) Where are you from?

“I am from Banger, which is Northern Ireland.”

2) How many languages do you speak?

“I speak English, Spanish and some Arabic.”

3) What attracted you to teach at CMU?

“My husband and I have moved around a lot in our adult life. We had to put our roots down somewhere so we decided Palisade, where we have a small vineyard of Malbec grapes.”

4) How many years did you live in a Spanish-speaking country?

“I lived in Ecuador for over three years. I frequently spend time in Mexico, usually for a month at a time. I have traveled to many other places in the Spanish-speaking world and still would like to visit more.”

5) Where is your favorite place to live?

“I lived in the Middle East for 17 years. Muscat, Oman was my favorite. The friendly and hospitable people are the number one reason why, but it is a beautiful country as well.”

6) What inspired you to travel?

“I became addicted once I started, I keep wanting to see more. I moved from Ireland to London for work and then the Middle East because it was just another adventure while I was still young. It’s a big world, once you’ve seen part of it it’s hard not to want more.”

7) If you could have dinner with anyone, from any period of time, who would it be?

“Winston Churchill. Even though I admire him and he is brilliant I would want to ask, ‘Why are you so grumpy?’”

8) What do you like to do in your free time?

“I love running and I have three Labrador dogs. I love cooking food from all over the world as well, last week was Spanish soup.”

9) What did you study in college?

“I studied Spanish, and my masters is in translation studies.”

10) What is something you value about yourself?

“I think I connect well easily with people from different cultures.”