The summer before my freshman year of college I had to decide what language class to take. I had taken Spanish all of high school, so the logical thing to do would be to test into the highest level of Spanish I could in to and finish the language requirement as soon as possible. I knew I wasn't going to major in a foreign language, so why dilly dally? But as I browsed through the different language classes that were being offered, something caught my eye... My college offered Russian classes. My best friend is from Belarus and speaks Russian, so it would be cool if I could speak the same language her family speaks. A crazy idea crossed my mind: what if I enrolled in Russian 101 and just started over with something completely new and different? Would that be wasting all the time I had dedicated to Spanish? Would it ever come in handy in real life? Would I even enjoy it?
I asked my mom about it. How would she feel if I took Russian instead of Spanish? Would that be silly? Would that be a waste of money to take classes for something so different? She told me if I wanted to take it, I should. (My mom is pretty cool.) College is about taking opportunities and trying new things. So I enrolled in Russian 101 for my freshman fall term.
The first day I was so nervous. I showed up to class 20 minutes early. I didn't know what kind of people would be in my class or if the professor would be nice or scary or mean or weird. Every possible scenario was racing through my head. When the class began, the first 15 minutes or so were conducted entirely in Russian. I had no clue what was happening, but I enjoyed it. My professor was awesome and energetic, and the people in my class were eager to participate. The environment was very learning-oriented, and it felt awesome to be a part of.
However, it quickly became apparent that this class had the most work out of any of my other classes. That fact stands true to this day. Taking Russian was not living out some sort of awesome dream in which i floated through and never hit any bumps or roadblocks. Russian is hard. More often than not I would walk into class thinking I was prepared for whatever my professor could throw at me that was from the homework. Maybe one time out of ten was I able to perfectly answer a question. I really struggled to keep up with the fast-paced learning. I found myself spending many nights thinking, why the heck am I doing this? I thought I would fail.
First term ended, and towards the middle of winter break we received our grades. I was so nervous to see my grade. I was convinced I had failed, or at the very best gotten a C. There was no way I could have gotten anything better than that what with the grades I had received on tests and quizzes.
So imagine my extreme disbelief and relief when I found out I had gotten a B! I had never been more proud of a grade. It turns out that I was not the only one who was struggling. In fact, struggling was typical. During Winter Term I became better friends with my fellow Russian classmates. I got to find out that I wasn't doing as badly in comparison to the others in my class than I had thought. Of course, there were a few students who did better and some who did a little worse, but overall we were all doing pretty okay. I was so grateful.
Fast-forward to today. Russian has become my favorite class, and my Russian classmates are some of my best friends. I know I will continue to take classes in this language, and even if it ends there I am glad I decided to take a risk and start a new language. Taking Russian has been one of the best decisions I have made, and it was on a whim. Don't be afraid to take risks, and appreciate the opportunities you can take.
