Daniel Noel has come a long way from the C-minus he earned in his first high-school Spanish class.

He said it wasn’t until his senior year of high school that he began taking the language seriously, and after that, it really clicked.

The freshman in Spanish education is putting his passion for Latin culture to work every day as the only white American at Los Cazadores Mexican restaurant off of Avent Ferry Road.

“It’s really become my home, my second home,” he said. “My godmother works here; the other waiters and waitresses are like my brothers and sisters.”

But, getting the job wasn’t easy — at first.

“They didn’t take me seriously, because obviously, I’m an American,” he said. ” But after the second or third time I came back, they realized I was serious.”

At that point, the manager handed him an apron, and he began waiting tables.

Initially, there were language barriers between Noel and the other restaurant workers, but he said the barriers stemmed from his own timidity.

Once he got over the initial apprehension, the bonds between him and the other waiters, waitresses and managers became strong.

Now, he accompanies his Hispanic co-workers on trips to the doctor’s office or to re-negotiate rent with a landlord.

“We help each other out,” he said. “They consider me their teacher in English, and I consider all of them my teachers in Spanish. We definitely correct each other all the time — it’s a lot of fun actually.”

Conversations in Spanish with his co-workers and customers, as well as trips to Mexico, helped Noel learn the language in a way he never could in a classroom.

“The Spanish you typically learn in the classroom is the higher Spanish than what people usually speak on the street,” he said.

He said his hometown church is associated with a home for children in Mexico. When he travels with groups from the church, they do a variety of service tasks.

“It’s mainly translating,” he said. “Also building stuff, fixing stuff, or just hanging out with the kids.”

During his first trip, Noel learned slang terms the hard way — by accidentally misusing them in the back of a pick-up truck.

“In Mexico, there is a word for a cute girl, which is ‘chula,’ and there is a word for a gangster and that’s ‘cholo’. There were these guys walking down the street, and they were clearly gangsters. I said, ‘Look at those chulos!’ So I actually said ‘Look at those cute guys’ instead of ‘Look at those gangsters.'”

But despite the occasional mistake and “funny looks,” he said he is often received as an American speaking Spanish — not quite fluently, but close. Noel’s love for Mexican “ladies, culture and food” will keep him on track to mastery of the language.

He said he hopes to study abroad in Mexico his junior year and ultimately plans to teach Spanish or English in high schools.

“What I learn is definitely going to be very applicable to what I’m doing,” he said.

While Noel said he would prefer teaching high school, he said he wouldn’t mind teaching primary grades. But regardless of the grade level, Noel teaches. He said Spanish should be implemented early in each American student’s education.

“They should definitely start younger and more intensely,” he said.

For Noel, Spanish was not something he learned in school, but something he experienced at a young age.

“My best friend growing up – his family was Hispanic,” he said. “For six years of my life I was at his house every afternoon. I didn’t really know any Spanish then, but [it was] just being around that atmosphere.”

The Hispanic population is growing in America, and according to Noel, it is best to adjust rather than resist.

“Our culture is changing — it’s not something we can fight,” he said. “We just have to accept it.”

Learning Spanish, according to Noel, can provide a unique point of view and new insight.

“I see it as a key to opening up the door of another culture,” he said.

Part of that culture is something Noel will have to continue to develop tolerance to — spicy food. “Sometimes they make fun of me in the kitchen,” he said. “They try to get me to eat peppers. I’ll eat them, but my face will turn red afterwards.”

For now, Noel can be found serving Mexican dishes at Los Cazadores from a menu which he says he never grows tired of — salsa included.