Beginning Japanese

 I really enjoyed many aspects of beginning the process of learning Japanese this semester, and getting exposure to a completely foreign culture. I probably struggled the most with physically writing in the language and proper intonation, but I'm happy to have encountered those obstacles and begun to more actively engage with the language in general. It was a great experience, and I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity it presented.

 私ははるやすみにワシントンD.C.のじっかまでうんてんしました。それからほんをよみました。スーパーでにくややさいをかいましたが、でもあまりばんごはんをつくりませんでした。ワシントンD.C.がすきです。

I happened to run into this video organically in my youtube algorithm, and thought it was very amusing. While obviously the cat has no real understanding of the noises it's making in the way a human would, hearing it sound so similar to "ひゃくえーん” was fascinating. It's probably an extreme example of cats mimicking human speech, but even considering that, it's a cool oddity.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hQpnyGSMCU