Why am I in this class?

      Running from class to class on Wednesday, trying to find the correct room and not be late on the first day of fall semester, I never paused to think about why I was taking those specific classes out of the hundreds that my university offers. So when my friends would ask me during the day "Hey, so what classes are you taking?" I would automatically list them all off and, without thinking about what I was saying, I would explain that "I need this math class because I am majoring in Econ" and "Well, you see, my humanities class fulfills an EM requirement". But when I came to Japanese, I would pause. Why was I taking Japanese? And my friends' confused faces didn't help. "Haven't you already fulfilled the language requirement? Why start another language and take 5 classes this semester?" I wasn't able to explain why I was taking Japanese, apart from "I just want to", but it annoyed me, this idea my friends had that I did not need JPN 101 if it didn't fulfill any requirement.
      I think languages are not something you learn only if you need them. A language can broaden your horizons and teach you something about a culture that is different from your own. Languages live and die, just like the people that speak them. They are an ever-changing entity, and they have always fascinated me.
      When I first decided to start Japanese, it was my senior year of high school, and between preparing for state exams, as well as the SATs, TOEFL, and college applications, I thought I had no time to do anything else. But my best friend, who liked Japanese culture as much as I did, managed to convince me to attend a Japanese course. With only 4 people in the class, it was a very nice experience, and quite possibly one of the best parts of senior year. But we didn't learn much. せんせい had to leave for Japan only 8 weeks into the course, thus ending our little adventure. (She only taught us 10 kanji or so, for which I was - not so secretively - grateful.)
      I don't really know when I started liking Japan and Japanese culture. What I do know, is why I started liking it. Growing up watching Italian TV stations, I was exposed to anime since a very early age. And as one of my friends says, anime generates some extreme reactions. Once you reach a certain age, you either love it, or you make fun of those who watch it. (There are, of course, people who will only watch one or two particular shows and not care much whether they are anime or cartoons, but those people are the exception.) I was one of those who loved it. And from then on, I just found myself being more and more interested in Japanese culture, and eventually, the language itself.
      My first year in college, I was (once again) debating whether I should pick up Japanese. But time went by too fast and by the time I had decided I would take it, I couldn't sign up for new classes any more. So this year, I decided that whatever other classes I would take, I would certainly take Japanese 101. I am excited to learn a new language, especially a language that I am genuinely interested in. Kanji still scare me (and my roommate who is taking an upper level class says that it doesn't get better even after years of studying Japanese), but I know there are no shortcuts to learning a language.
      When my friends now ask me "Why are you taking Japanese?", I answer "Because it fulfills a requirement for the East Asian certificate". I am still debating whether I want to get the certificate, but it stops people from prying any further. Explaining why you like something is hard, and in this case, I prefer the shortcut.