はじめまして！

わたし！わたし！わたし！

みんなさん！　きみたちはわたしのブログよんでいますか。よかった！　にほんごクラスのブログかくはとてもたのしいですよ。じゃ、はじめましょう！

ゴンザレズさんは、だれですか。それがしつもんです。わたしはニュヨウクからきました。アメリカじんです。でも、わたしのははとちちはアメリカじんじゃない。コストリカじんです。きょうだいがあります。いもうとのなまえはキッピイです。いもうとのいぬのなまえはチュリガです。とてもかわいいとやさしいです。でも、いぬはおおきいですよ！

えっと。。。わたしはプリンストンだいがくのにねんせいです。わたしのせんこうはれきしです。アメリカれきしはすごいですね。でも、こうこうにかがくをべんきょうしました。そして、すこしにほんごをべんきょうしました。わたしはかぞくからスペインごをわかります。

もっと？　いいえ！わたしはなにをかきますか。わかりません。

じゃーね！

Re-starting 日本語??

I am meant to tell you why I chose to study Japanese and my feelz about it. Let's begin!

I actually studied Japanese in high school. I stopped because various kanji started meaning too many different things for me to care to remember, and by the time I stopped the class was populated only by anime-obsessed teens with whom I could not relate because, at the time, I looked down upon anime and manga. How foolish, eh?

When I came to Princeton, I decided to study something entirely different. I was deciding between German, Italian, and Arabic. I ultimately decided on German because Italian was too close to Spanish for my taste (I am a native speaker) and jeez, was it むずかしい to learn Arabic through Rosetta Stone. And, I thought I could one day, in the far future, learn enough German to read those literary masterpieces of the intellectual literary world. Alas, I didn't keep up with it, discouraged from the start by folks who were so much better at it right off the bat than me. It was difficult to find motivation to study because there was no-one with whom I would be speaking German anytime soon, and because I had no other way to apply my learning than in class. My grade was apparently not enough to push me to study.

This year I prioritised Japanese over German because I already had SOME foundation in it and because, voila, I have a use for it! Plenty of my friends speak Japanese, which will make practising much more likely a possibility. In addition, this spring I started attending this Japanese anime film series called Drawn and Moving in the Wilson Blackbox. One film, The Sky Crawlers, COMPLETELY changed my life and since I watched it, I make sure to have my daily dosage of anime series and films and manga. Of course I would love to be able to understand some of what I read or see without the need for translations and subtitles.

So, after two days of studying Japanese at Princeton, I feel super psyched about the coming semesters and the speaking, listening, reading, whatever practice opportunities that will be presented to me. I can't wait to re-indulge in the culture with everyone and hope that we all thrive in the class!

I also can't wait for the workload to pile on in the form of hours of self-studying the language. /end sarcasm.

じゃーね！

For kicks: my original about me

I apparently made this blog in middle school using my e-mail. This was my about me; it's incredible how much has changed!

¡Buenas! Voy a empesar por decirte de mi vida. Soy una niña a quien le encanta las ciencias. Mi sueño es estudiar en la U "MIT." Quiero estudiar la bioquímica allí. Solo una persona en mi famila ha sacado su bachillerato y pienso seguir en su paso. Ademas, que seria la vida si uno no puede estudiar? Talvez ir a la escuela no es algo muy divertido, pero pienso que estudiar es demasiado importante. Si eres estudiado puedes progresar en cualquier pais del mundo. Antes de morir quiero visitar a todos los paises del mundo que pueda. He ido solo a Costa Rica, donde vive mi familia, y a Australia. Me encantaria conocer todas las culturas que pueda. Tambien, quiero aprender todos los idiomas que pueda. Me gustaria mucho aprender italiano, portugues, etcétera. Inclusivo, el año pasado estaba aprendiendo japones, pero este año no puedo. Mi vida tambien se concentra en otras temas. Me encanta montar a caballo y dibujar. Soy muy artistica. Soy buena para trabajar con computadoras y antes hacia diseños graficos. No me gusta ver la tele excepto para ver el canal HGTV. ¡Me encanta ese canal!