Why I'm studying Japanese

To be honest, Japanese is a little out of the way for me. At Columbia Engineering, there is no language requirement, and the general assumption is that there's too many science and math classes to take, so most people end up skipping language altogether just to graduate on time. But, this is the first semester in a while that I've had some extra time, so I figured why not do something a little different. Sort of on a whim, I dropped a class and decided to pick up a language. I had been deciding between Japanese and a few other languages, but I was convinced by a friend of mine from high school (who is, granted, Japanese) to choose Japanese, and I'm really glad I did.

Thus far, it's been very rewarding to learn about a language so vastly removed from my own. I'm not particularly familiar with Japan outside of the things which come over to the US (e.g. a limited selection of games, music, technology, etc.), but I've already begun to appreciate the varied culture that comes with the language. A culture which acts as a nice contrast to the one I'm familiar with. I can't wait to see what else is in store for this class and beyond.