Like joining a gym on on the first day of January, wanting to learn a new language begins with good intentions. It’s almost a romantic idea—hours spent huddled over vocabulary cards and rolling your r's! But who has time? I sure don’t. And the reality was that I'd either have to learn Spanish in a gloomy classroom in New York or uproot my life and move to a Spanish-speaking country for full immersion.
Or so I thought. There's a compromise: I could “move” to Mexico for a week and dedicate what would have been work- and taco-filled days with enough lessons to go from zero to conversational in Spanish.
I planned my trip with Fluenz, a digital language learning platform, which launched an IRL immersion course in Mexico City last October. Fluenz doesn’t just handle classes: It includes meals, airport transfers, and accommodation at Pug Seal’s super-charming bed and breakfasts just a few blocks away in Mexico City’s ritzy Polanco neighborhood. Over seven days, students gather for one-on-one tutorials in the morning and afternoon (and breakfast and lunch) inside the Pug Seal buildings, where every nook is used as a learning space. One morning you may have class out on the patio; another afternoon, you may be upstairs in a lounge. Days are spent with skilled teachers (co-founder of Fluenz, Sonia Gil, calls them ‘language geeks’) and evenings are spent learning outside the classroom, discovering the history of Mexico from a poet over dinner or eating at the chef’s table at Pujol (reason alone to book the course). The idea is to create an efficient way of learning conversational Spanish—sentences you can actually use, like how to ask for directions or order a glass of wine—while enjoying the fruits of a new city.
“You’ll be amazed at how much you’ll be able to say by the end of the week,” Gil assured me while I was preparing for my trip. (Gil gives all students a call prior to the trip to assess their language level and goals.) With my Spanish vocabulary running the gamut from hola to adios (with a whole lot of nothing in between), I had my doubts. But she wasn’t promising I’d be fluent—just that I’d be surprised at my progress in a week.
On day one, I was reminded of what a terrible student I am. Having not set foot in a classroom in more than a decade, my brain felt as though it had been put in a blender. Coupled with my terrible attention span, I was a teacher’s worst nightmare. But sitting in a one-on-one class meant I couldn’t hide behind other students and I had to force myself to focus—even when I mixed up pero (“but”) with quiero (“I want") or used the masculine pronoun for “salad” instead of the feminine for the 100th time. Gil, who sometimes sits in on classes, reminded me gently that frustration was to be expected. When you’re learning something unfamiliar for five hours a days, you’re going to make mistakes.
On day five, I finally felt confident enough to spew out a few sentences—so confident that I ordered my afternoon coffee entirely in Spanish. Granted, I didn’t know how to answer when the waiter responded, so I ignored her and ordered the bill. I was certainly not fluent but I was—exactly as Gil had predicted—surprised at my progress.
By the end of the week, the experience had evolved from fear and frustration to reward. I got that coffee, con leche, thank you very much, and I finally knew how to pronounce Pujol without sounding like a complete gringo. I’d experienced one my favorite cities in an entirely new way—a city that I now confidently refer to as Ciudad de Mexico without pronouncing the “x.”
Fluenz program fees ($5,220 each for double occupancy or $5,620 for single occupancy) include all instruction, seven night’s accommodation, all daytime meals, one dinner, private art visits, speakers, airport transfers and luxury concierge service.