Since starting at CSUMB I have had been reaching out to achieving my goals, learning and growing intellectually and as a person. The reason I decided to begin studying the Japanese language and culture is that I've always wanted to go work and explore new countries with a plethora of opportunities. The reason I chose Japan in particular is that I have always found the country absolutely fascinating and it seemed like a really interesting place to work and learn more about. I had also wanted a skill that was in demand, and that I didn't need much prior knowledge of before coming to college. So even though I hadn't studied Japanese before, I had been able to learn a substantial amount in these four years. Initially my goal had been to become able to communicate with people in Japanese. However, as time went on I feel that I have acquired even more substantial skills in Japanese that I had learned over the course of my time at college. For example, I have learned so much about the Japanese culture, through classes but also through my unforgettable study abroad experience. These cultural experiences helped me to develop my MLO 2. I had also had many opportunities to become well versed in giving presentations in Japanese. This is because in pretty much all of my classes I had to work with others or individually and give a professional presentation in Japanese. From this I was able to develop my technological skills in both English and Japanese, helping me towards fulfilling my MLO 4. My skills in writing and reading Japanese have also become a lot better than I had anticipated, and I am able to comprehend a significant amount of Japanese text. From this, I was able to go towards my achieving of MLO 1. These skills had probably improved the most while I was studying abroad in Japan, as I had been completely immersed in the language. In the classroom all the books were written in Japanese, the teachers only spoke Japanese and we had only wrote in Japanese. This completely immersive environment helped me towards achieving my MLO 5. By constantly using the language I was able to remember a lot more vocabulary, grammar and kanji. However, I would have to say my most proud skill would be my speaking. I feel that I am able to properly express myself in Japanese, and I really enjoy speaking the language with Japanese friends. The reason I am most proud of it, is not only because it's probably my best skill in Japanese, but also the most useful in my opinion. Being able to carry on a conversation in Japanese is extremely interesting, as talking to someone in their own language brings many new perspectives that you wouldn't know otherwise. In the future I want to improve my reading and writing skills. I would say that these are probably the most difficult to learn in Japanese, as there are thousands of different kanji, and it's a long and difficult process to memorize each one. However, it is also a very valuable skill, as being able to read and write extensively in Japanese can help significantly in work environments. I also would love to read more Japanese books in Japanese. This is because I feel you can learn so much more of the culture and perspectives through the native language of the text. I think that this would also benefit my cultural knowledge of the language, which is also an invaluable tool to have.