¡Hola! Hello! My name is Natalie Burke, and I'm so excited to be your Reach the World traveler this year! I'm 23 years old, though "where I'm from" has always been a bit of a complicated question for me — I grew up moving around internationally and have lived in Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, England, and El Salvador. Moving around so much when I was younger gave me an early love of new places and different ways of seeing the world. That constant movement eventually settled down when I went to high school in Northern Virginia, which then led me to Charlottesville for college.
I studied Youth and Social Innovation and Psychology at the University of Virginia's School of Education and Human Development, graduating in 2025. While there, I was a facilitator for the Connection Project, a peer support program pairing students for guided conversations about wellbeing and interpersonal relationships. Outside of class, you could usually find me running, swimming, biking, reading, or drawing — I'm slowly building up to my first half-Ironman triathlon!
This year, I received a U.S. Fulbright English Teaching Assistant grant, and I'm currently living in Lugo, in the Galicia region of northwestern Spain. I have been fully immersing myself in Spanish and Galician culture — they also speak Galician (Gallego) here, a language similar to Portuguese since we're so close to the border — so my new students and city are teaching me just as much as I'm teaching them. Next year, I'll be headed to the University of Chicago to begin a Master's in Social Work, but for now, I'm soaking up every bit of my year in Spain — the food, the scenery, and of course, the travel.
I can't wait to share what life in Lugo is like with all of you, and I'm even more excited to hear about your adventures back home throughout the school year. ¡Hasta pronto!
Want to learn how you could be a Fulbright Scholar like me? The Fulbright Program is the United States government's flagship international exchange program. Fulbrighters foster mutual understanding between the United States and partner nations, share knowledge across communities, and improve lives around the world. Learn more by clicking here!
