I'm a person who really enjoys languages. I like words, how they can be tweaked and shifted around to make something so beautiful as a poem or so silly as a pun. I like the challenge of figuring out a new language, seeing how the words relate to each other in ways different than I am used to. Since I started learning Spanish when I was fourteen, I've enjoyed dabbling in other languages, studying what I could here and there. I'm noticing that things are different now, though; language learning is my job here, and I'm seeing with Arabic that language-learning really is work. I have to discipline myself to set aside time for learning and studying vocab, or try and go and hang out with a local friend or just talk to someone in a cafe in order to help my ears get accustomed to the language's sounds.
It wasn't until I vacationed in Germany that I realized how nice it was to be exposed to a language that I had no obligation towards... I could try and figure out some German, but it wasn't my job to learn it. It's a bit like I was dating German for a few weeks and had dated other languages before, but for these two years, I had committed to a serious relationship with Arabic. I'm realizing that I'm perhaps more scared of commitment than I thought! Learning a language is different, too, because it's not like being in school anymore. I have this big, abstract goal of proficiency in a language rather than papers to write before a deadline. The self-imposed structure is still very much a learning curve for me. I'm committed now, though! Arabic and I are in it for the long haul. A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, right?