Hello all! My name is Patrick, and as the topic title suggests, I’m from the flatlands of Central Oklahoma!

I am going to be taking Japanese when I start college in the fall, but since I have never taken any sort of Japanese class before, I wanted to have, at least, some knowledge of the language beforehand. I am currently utilizing multiple resources to start my Japanese journey, including an actual tutor, a regular textbook, and, of course, TextFugu. I actually stumbled upon TextFugu after watching Koichi’s YouTube video about pronouncing the Japanese ‘r’ (and what a great discovery that was!). I can say that out of the three resources I’m using, I’ve learned the most from TextFugu. I only recently began my studies (I just finished the free season 1, which is why I only now signed up), but I’m already enjoying the process immensely!

I have always had a love for Japanese culture, both high and popular, which sparked my life-goal of living in Japan. This desire to live in the country is my main drive to learn the language (necessity is a great motivator), but I also simply want to learn the language out of my love for the culture. Hopefully, I will be able to study abroad in Kyoto for 11 weeks in 2.5 years (university requires 2 years of Japanese before you can do it), so that will serve as a trial to see if I could actually live long-term in Japan (in addition to an amazing experience in itself).

Anyways, I’m probably rambling too much. I’m very glad to be here, and I am looking forward to learning Japanese with you guys!

- Patrick