The language requirement at Columbia was not something I was looking forward to. I had taken Spanish throughout high school, which was taught to me by a native french speaker, and left little for me to desire. I purposefully scoured SSOL late in the registration period to conveniently discover no sections of Spanish open. While Spanish is a very important language in our society, I felt that I could easily continue learning it without necessarily studying it at Columbia.
The alternative of studying Japanese came to me after a series of events which started by observing my roommate as he studied the language rigorously. I could clearly see that it was a lot of work, but I was intrigued by the culture, and it was obvious that he was excited about opening this other world. Shortly thereafter, I met my girlfriend, who happens to be a native Japanese speaker from Kansai. I've made a commitment to understanding her culture, and it seemed logical to take advantage of Columbia's exceptional Japanese Department to learn the language.
After only a few lessons, it's amazing how much I've learned. I've even shown off my new talents to my girlfriend's mom in Japan via Skype. I'm excited to keep on learning and hope to have enough ability to communicate when I go to Japan next year.
じゃ、また
