It was a challenge that might appear daunting to most, but not to the former resident of Carrington's Village, St Michael.
The 25-year-old made history earlier this year when she became the first Barbadian to obtain a master's degree from one of Latin America's oldest and most prestigious universities, the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, in Bogota, Colombia.
Michelle first visited the South American nation several years ago while a student at the University of the West Indies (UWI). It was love at first sight.
"Colombia is such a beautiful country," she said. "The people and culture are amazing. I think a lot of Barbadians have this negative image of the country because of the drug trade and the guerrillas, which is very unfortunate. There is fighting but it is mostly in the south and doesn't affect the coast and centre of the country. I always felt very safe there," she added.
Two years earlier, Michelle had obtained a scholarship to pursue her Master's in international relations at the Universidad Javeriana, a challenging task given that the university only offered courses taught in Spanish.
"I had to prove to them that I could speak Spanish well enough that it would not be a problem," said Michelle, who received the highest grade in her class in her Spanish "A" Level and minored in the language at UWI.
"She was always gifted at languages," Michelle's father Michael said. "I remember a few years ago we had some people from Martinique staying with us and she just started speaking to them in French."
Despite her linguistic gifts Michelle admitted she found the transition to another language challenging at times.
"It was difficult at first," said, "especially in terms of having to write essays and attend two hour-long classes all in Spanish. My thesis was really hard because all my data was in English and I had to translate it into Spanish before I could even start writing."
The former Erdiston Primary School student rose magnificently to the challenge, however, and graduated with full honours. Her completed thesis, a 115-page treatise on the Barbados-Trinidad Maritime dispute, beat out hundreds of native