When Tiffany-Latoya Smith flew to University in Puerto Rico, her goal was to become a Spanish teacher.

She just didn't realise that her course was intended for students who already speak Spanish.

"I was told during my registration that the entire course would be taught only in Spanish," she said. "I thought it was a bilingual course."

While her adviser told her to drop out or take a different course, she made the difficult decision to push ahead, not only becoming fluent, but also wound up teaching Spanish speaking students.

Miss Smith, 22, from Southampton, said she was first introduced to Spanish at the Bermuda Institute, but fell in love with the language during a mission trip to the Dominican Republic in 2003.

"At that point I only knew a little bit, but I was better than most of the other young people," she said. "A lot of the other people stuck around together, but I liked to hang around at the hotel and talk to different people in Spanish."

Enjoying the experience, she decided that if she was going to study Spanish, she wanted to do it in a Spanish speaking country.

After much debate, she narrowed her selection to the Antillean Adventist University in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

It was on her first day on campus that her advisor told her that the course was taught in Spanish, and that she would be the only English speaking student to take up teaching Spanish as a primary language.

"My advisor said I could change my major and become an English teacher, or I would probably give up and leave the university. I said I would go for it."

With the support of her parents, Bob and Patrice Smith, she said she completely threw herself into the Hispanic culture in order to adapt.

"There were a lot of English speaking students from America taking nursing courses, so I could have hung out with them. Some people were there for six years and didn't speak any Spanish.

"I decided to stick with people who spoke Spanish. That's what I felt I had to do. I had a Puerto Rican roommate. Every night I read books in Spanish and listened to Spanish language music. It was kind of slow going, but I adapted."

After about two years, she said she even started to dream in Spanish.

"After the first year, I was able to survive, but after two years I was well off."

As part of her training, Miss Smith had to teach Spanish as a mentee teacher at the Presbyterian High School of Pablo Casasús. Her students, who ranged in age from eight to 12.

"In the same way that we have English classes in Bermuda, they have Spanish classes down there," she said.

"For me to teach Spanish to Puerto Ricans, it was very strange. I was really shy at first, but it was something I had to get over."

As her language skills improved, she was able to help her fellow students, tutoring students in both English and Spanish.

This year, Miss Smith graduated from the programme earning a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education, with Spanish as a primary language, becoming the first exclusively English speaking student to graduate to do so in the school's history.

Now, Miss Smith is looking to continue her education, with the end goal of bringing her skills back to the classroom as a teacher. While her path was not the easiest, she said she has no regrets about the programme, and encourages others to dive into other cultures.

"It's introduced me to a whole different world," she said.