Columbia's best kept secret.

Sunday mornings at Butler, probably the only time you can practice your Japanese aloud in the library because you have the place to yourself. Getting up early on Sundays (which is apparently also "Sun" day in Japanese, too? For some reason that never occured to me that it was that sun we were talking about until Chinese class the other day when I learned that Sunday is Sunday in Chinese, too. wow) is so worth it when you can listen to Amazing Grace on WKCR from 0800-1000. This is about the extent of my religious proclivities on Sunday but it gets me all relaxed and ready for the day of rest, even if I plan to spend it in Butler. Can I take another little minute to rave about KCR programming on Sundays, because it just gets better with the Moonshine show and the Tennessee Border Show. Although probably my favorite show on KCR is Across 110th Street on Saturdays from 1200-1430. Anyway KCR is the Columbia radio station, 89.9 FM, which has been my favorite radio station since I was maybe 2. Check it out if you've never heard it.

So my reasons for taking Japanese this semester are worth elaborating on. I was having a discussion with a friend of mine over winter break and she was extremely jealous that I was studying Chinese in college. She was able to opt out of her language requirement in college because she satisfied it in high school. Now she feels as though she won't have the opportunity to learn another language in her life. It is a big commitment, to be sure.

I'd only registered for three classes this semester, in anticipation of going away every weekend racing bikes with the Columbia Cycling Team. An unfortunate and myseterious injury has sidelined me somewhat indefinitely, so I decided I probably had room in my schedule for another class after all. Hopefully I will get out racing at some point, but even so, studying a language is very portable - I don't need to be in a library doing research and I can study audially (is that a word?) with an iPod. This is great for avoiding carsickness in long van rides, or even while training doing endless laps in Central Park (my brother got me an iPod mount for my bike for Christmas, awesome - only one headphone y'all! that's the law!). Lastly studying a language is great for my frenetic lifestyle, which involves lots of short breaks between classes, when it's tough to settle in to a long reading, and commuting from downtown on the train.

Alright, I have a couple of more reasons, but I'm going to leave my handful of readers in suspense in hopes that maybe they'll tune in next week...