Rob93FL

I used to be a terrible test-taker. I would stress out the night before the test and stay up all night studying, then I'd cram in some more studying in the morning before the test. I'd review my notes up until the moment the test was on my desk, but that rarely helped. I would become so nervous that I'd forget what I had just read. During my senior year of high school, I went through a lot of changes that generally made me a more relaxed person. I started working out, I made myself become more social, and I got a job. All of these changes helped with my confidence, which I believe had an indirect impact on my test-taking skills. Now that I'm in college, I'm able to start tests feeling relaxed and turn them in without second-guessing all of my answers.

I used to use shortcuts and acronyms when I was younger, but I quickly grew out of them. I think most children and teenagers went through a phase where every text was filled with "lol" or "u" instead of "you." It's just a part of being young. Now that I'm older, I appreciate how much easier it is to read texts with proper spelling and grammar. I want to make my texts easy for the recipient to understand, so I make sure to cut out acronyms, spell everything out, and use punctuation.

My father has always expressed that he would love for my sister and I to learn his native language, Farsi. He used to always say that he wanted to take us both to Iran to visit his family and show us the country that he grew up in. Being children, we shot down the suggestion because we didn't like the idea of extra homework and studying. My sister and I have both given it a lot of thought, and we've both decided that we really want to learn the language now. We're both enrolled in private lessons that we've been attending for nearly eight months. Once we're fluent, we'd like to join my father when he visits his family in Iran. In addition to the personal reason, it's also a good idea in general to know more than one language. There are a lot of Iranians in my area, so it would look much better on my resume to be fluent in both English and Farsi.

When I was in high school, we were required to take two years of a foreign language. The foreign languages that my school taught were Spanish, French, Latin, and I believe German. I chose to learn Spanish because I had heard that both of the Spanish teachers were excellent. I wouldn't consider that learning a language, though, because I was forced to learn it. Also, I didn't continue the language after my second year was up. Now that I'm older, I can appreciate and understand the benefits of knowing more than one language. Right now, I'm studying Farsi. It's the language of my father's country, Iran, and I've always wanted to visit his side of the family. I'm taking private lessons with my sister, and I've been enrolled for around eight months. I look forward to finishing up this language so that I can move on to giving Spanish another try.

I don't use acronyms nearly as much as I used to. When I was younger, every text, email, and IM had some sort of acronym hidden within it.

When I took Spanish in high school, I was in a classroom with around 25 students. I took Spanish 1 in a classroom and Spanish 2 online. My Farsi class, however, is a private lesson. The only three people in the room are myself, my twin sister, and the teacher.

I rarely write on myself. If I have nothing to write on and I absolutely must write it down, then I'll write it on myself. It doesn't happen very often, though. I always have writing utensils and paper or my phone with me.

Correct grammar is very important to me. I take pride in the language that I have used all of my life. It doesn't take long to type everything out, use punctuation, and double-check what I've written.

My name's Rob and I'm a 20 year old pharmacology student from Tampa, Florida. I am half American, half Iranian, and I'm currently in the process of learning my dad's native language, Farsi. I am also considering learning Spanish, which is the main reason I'm here. I look forward to learning what you all have to teach me as well as sharing my knowledge with you.