Why Japanese?

Konnichiwa minasan!

This is the beginning of my third week at Columbia University and, in turn, my third week of learning Japanese. So far this has been a challenging, but very fun experience. Not only have I never studied the language before, but I took four years of Latin in high school, so Japanese is completely foreign to me(pun intended). Although it may appear as if I am only taking First Year Japanese to fulfill a requirement, that is not the case. I have always wanted to learn the language. When I was in 11, I even bought myself a Japanese for Dummies book, but I was never able to commit myself to it. I'm very interested in Japanese culture and I am an even bigger fan of Japanese food. I hope that by the end of the semester, I will be able to hold a good conversation with my sensei, classmates and my waiters. :-)

-John