*photo is little 21 year old me in 2012 on my first study abroad trip! Location: Route de Crêtes, clifftop view of Cassis, France.

A little catch-up for you with what I’ve been up to this past September! I had a friend’s birthday party, a small indie concert in Washington DC where I spent the night, a bit of travel for my day job, I watched my parents’ cats while they were on vacation, and finished out the month with a quiet weekend at home. So I was busy- but aren’t we all? – and I did my best to keep up with my language learning & have fun with it.

French: Still reading “C’est Louise: L’Halloween tome 3” par Camille Laurent (“C’est CAM” sur youtube)! 

Spanish: I’ve kept up with some of my cultural practice- listening to Radio Menea (in Spanglish), El Washington Post for news, etc but I haven’t really engaged with too many other kinds of Spanish content lately. Time to find something new and exciting to get myself back into!

Italian: There has been a lot of political news lately- and I’ve discovered a few new travel podcasts about Italy (some in Italian, some in English)- so my listening is covered here. I’m still slowly working on the “Short Stories in Italian, Intermediate” book too.

Chinese: Still need to take an “official” at-home HSK2 exam. I pushed back the July test, since I came back from vacation and felt like I’d been on too-long of a break from my Chinese practice. Before the end of the year is my next goal for when to take it. It really is just for me- it’s not like I need a certain score for school or work. But I’d like to see some tangible progress, and to be able to use it as proof of the hard work I’ve done to earn my passing score! The end of the year (3 months from now) should be plenty of time. I finally located some free online practice tests to use, so I need to get cracking on this.

Polish: My Polish studies were a little slow this month, but I continue to keep up with a few Polish bookstagrammers and learn about Polish culture content in English.

Icelandic: My Icelandic studies were a little slow this month, but I continue to keep up with Icelandic culture content in English.

ASL: Another back-burner language, but I found that I came across a few new signs this month. I also discovered an account on instagram that makes pretty infographics- honestly, that’s just what I need sometimes to get me interested in learnig a few new signs! Check out @ DEAFining_asl .

German: I’ve been watching some reels and tiktoks in German recently, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised with words that I recognize. I think some of it comes from English being a Germanic language, but some credit must go to my memory for random vocab words haha!

Japanese: I’ve watched a few Japanese anime movies in English recently, and I plan to go back and rewatch them in Japanese too. Always a good start to work on the culture, and then add the language.

再见! Zài jiàn! ❤

Bonnie