おはいおごさいます。きょうはにちよび。：）

Since someone else talked about the reason why they are studying Japanese right now, I thought that I should too. I have always, ever since I was little, liked art. Drawing it, or watching it, didn't matter to me, but the first time I watched あにめ, I was hooked on the style of art. あにめ is probably Japan's second biggest export with the exception of automobiles (じどしゃ!）, or at least, it seems this way to my generation, which has grown up on Sailormoon and Pokemon.

I started taking art lessons and drew あにめ on the side (the picture above is an example of a recent illustration I drew for a friend) until it became more than a hobby, and less than a full-blown profession for me. I have to admit that my secret dream profession is to work for a large game company like Square Enix, but I was talking to a friend who's currently working in the game industry and she said, my dream would never happen unless I could speak Japanese.

That reason, and others are why I decided to take Japanese here at Columbia, and I'm glad I did. Even though learning a foreign language is hard, it's also rewarding at the same time, and so even if I struggle, I'm determined to stick with it and learn as best as I can. Who knows, maybe my secret dream will come true one day because I took さとうせんせい’s class. ^__^

PS: I think I should invest in a Japanese-English Dictionary...