What was your favorite class and how has it influenced your further course of study?
My favorite class here was definitely Advanced Fiction Writing last spring. Professor Asali Solomon is an amazing teacher and I always love taking her classes. I especially like the writing workshops, because they encourage me to write and further my skills. I'm not the best at writing short stories (I always want to make them too long), but they are a convenient way to practice writing, and I enjoyed reading the stories of my classmates.
Why did you choose your major/minor/concentration? What influenced you to pursue this course of study?
My interest in Japanese language and culture started the usual way: a friend lent me a volume of comics one day in middle school, and I was hooked for a long time. I had never been exposed to a culture that was so different from my own, untouched by Europe up until the last few centuries. I love learning the language, since it all seems to make so much sense compared to English, or even French. While it is difficult to learn a language with two alphabets and a logographic character system, sizable variances in speech depending on who you're talking to, and a completely different set of grammar rules, the sense of success I feel every time I learn something new makes it all worth it.
I didn't originally intend to minor in Japanese, but because I was planning on fulfilling the requirements already, it seemed like a good idea to have an official symbol of my work on the subject.
I am majoring in English expressly so I can concentrate in Creative Writing. I hope to write novels in the future, so I want to gain as much knowledge about writing fiction as I can now.
What surprised you most about your course of study or what would others be most surprised by about your course of study?
The requirements for minoring in Japanese are extremely strict compared to what I've seen of other minors. You need to take Japanese for at least three years and the grade expectations for those classes are difficult to maintain. I hope I will be able to do well enough this semester that I'll be able to minor in Japanese.
What do you hope to do after graduating from Haverford?
I am currently applying to a number of companies that send English-speaking teachers to Japan for language classes and cultural exchange. While not at work, I plan to spend my time writing fantasy novels to encourage young Americans to continue reading for pleasure.