Thanks! She'll be the best Christmas gift my family receives. c: We don't have many December birthdays in my family.

Join BOTH! JK, join whichever one suits you better. <3

I'm a biology major specializing in ecotoxicology with a minor in earth and planetary sciences. My work is chemistry intensive but I'm sooooo bad at chemistry outside of my own specific needs haha. I'd love to take German, though! I adore languages. I wanted to take Japanese next semester but the class is offered at a time that I already have a class in, and I NEED the other class for my degree so I can't drop it in favor of an option, unfortunately.

It's really good to hear that your husband is getting better!

Thankfully my cat doesn't help unwrap presents, but he LOVES trying to "help" me wrap them by sitting obnoxiously on the paper I just unrolled and eating bows lol.

I'm all about the questing. I'll raid once in a blue moon if someone is desperately seeking another group member and I have the time, but I'm very into the lore and the questlines. I actually just recently completed the loremaster achievement for questing my way through everything on my main and am now working on other achievements. I love how in-depth the lore is. Have you ever read any of the WoW books? They're really great for filling in the blanks in the lore in the games.

Well that sort of explains your Guest Lecture lesson! You sound very busy. And yeah, he was even able to drive today so it seems like the worst of whatever it was is over.

Haha yeah. My own real life career path aside, I've always loved the idea of healing magic in Harry Potter and always wished they'd had more on it in the books. :D

we will be having a quiet christmas, might see my parent but not sure yet,

How's everyone's weekend been going? :)

Learning a new language is fun. I'd love to have continued taking Italian but my school doesn't offer it. :( My sister is studying abroad in Italy at the moment. I'm the reason why she starting taking Italian in the first place. She's majoring in Biology too. My other sister is studying Japanese. c: I don't know how she does it. I think Japanese would be too hard for me to learn.

I learned Dutch while living in Belgium. I know a bit of French too. Plus I'm trying to pick up some basic Mandarin phrases because I have 3 Chinese kids in the daycare I work at.

Yeah, my university doesn't offer beyond sophmore Italian classes, otherwise I'd take it, too. I took Italian for 4 years in my earlier schooling career, mostly in high school, and what I took was at a very high level and surpasses what the university offers, so I'm not even eligible for these classes.

I think Japanese would be amazing, but I agree with the difficulty. Learning a whole new type of language structure, a whole new way of writing after using a western alphabet for so long would be hard as all get out, but I think it'd be fun! I tried to teach myself Welsh last summer because there are no schools or tutors in the city that offer it, but even that was insanely difficult.

Hello everyone! I joined up two weeks ago, but I'm only just getting the courage to start posting. Everyone seems to be very friendly (:

Going right into Harry Potter, in about a week I'm going to go see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. I don't even know what I'm going to do with myself. On the trip home at the airport, they're going to see a suitcase full of wands and robes.

I'm sorry to jump in on your conversation! Another biology student, hooray! I'm studying wildlife biology, myself. Unfortunately I've had a lot of bumps in the road with my schools, and I've had to start attending part time instead. It does make things drag terribly, particularly with all the prerequisites.

It's also very cool to see others interested in languages! Growing up, I had quite a few books in French. I've kept up with French until now, and I would take more classes but it just doesn't fit in with scheduling at all. I have taken a university Japanese class as well, and really enjoyed it! So if you are interested, totally go for it. Reading/writing-wise, about the best I can remember sadly is A E I O U in katakana. :P While I'd still like to do it, I've been trying to get myself to learn Icelandic. It's the top of my bucket list! And the language is fascinating, and so old. I haven't done much yet, but the alphabet alone has been a doozy!

I'd love to take French but I know I'd butcher it. It's a beautiful language. I always struggle with pronunciation.

Dutch would be cool to learn too. My school has a language center (shared with other schools nearby) that offers classes for less popular languages. One of the languages they offer is Dutch. I would like to take it but I know that I'd get my German confused.

Italian came really easily for me because I know Spanish. I did start confusing some words. I want to try reading books in Italian. It would be a good way for me to practice it.

I hate grammar. I'm not really fond of learning new grammar structures. I'm always worrying about my grammar in German since it's different.

I'm glad you decided to join us. :) Is it your first time going to Harry Potter World?

No worries! The more the merrier! :D

I actually started out in wildlife biology and ecology, but last year I got the opportunity and the funding to do a research project on heavy metal toxicity in native water birds and ever since it's been my focus. It isn't what I dreamed I'd be doing, but I enjoy it nevertheless!

I know what you mean about bumps in the road, I hit a few myself, but in the end it'll all be worth it!

Icelandinc sounds incredible! I can hugely appreciate ancient languages like that. The only ancient language I've taken is Latin, but that was a blast! Word order doesn't matter in Latin, so anything goes. And with the Welsh I'm trying to learn, while it's the same alphabet, the rules are SO different that I don't know where to turn next. All of these mutations on vowel sounds after certain consonants or letter combinations... yeesh!

I took French for 5 years when I was younger but I was never overly good at it. I think part of the reason for that was that the teacher I had for my first 3 years was dismal and she really didn't like me, so I never got the help I needed in class. It's too bad - French is a beautiful language and I would have loved to have kept up with it!

I did it the other way, I learned Italian first and then took Spanish, and I can totally sympathize with the mixing up words thing. During my first oral final exam for Spanish I had to stop and think for a good solid half minute about everything I was going to say before I said it so I didn't Italian it instead lol.

Reading is an AMAZING way to practice. I grew up speaking Polish at home but I never learned it in school. Writing was easy to keep up with because I have family in Poland that I communicate with regularly, and speaking was easy because I practice at home, but I never really got a grasp on the language and the rules until I started reading in Polish. I've read the first 3 Harry Potter books in Polish, funny enough! It was nice because I already knew what was going on from reading them in English, so if I was ever a little fuzzy on the wording, I could just refer to what was going on overall from my prior knowledge of the books.

And I think I'm one of the few in the world who LOVES grammar and rules lol. It makes everything so straight forward... once you get it down. Learning new grammar rules and verb conjugations is always hard. Spanish is actually a good example of that for me - it took me forever to figure out the different past tenses and when and how to use them.

Spanish is my first language. I got more confusing not knowing if the word I knew was also Italian.

I have a friend who loves grammar. She's learning Arabic and studying linguistics. I don't think I've met anyone who speaks Polish.

I think I'm going to try reading the Chamber of Secrets in German since we're supposed to be reading it in book club right now. I've been rereading the Harry Potter books lately. I've been on the fourth book since summer. It's really hard finding free time to read during the school year. It seems like I'm always reading something.

I admire all of your foreign language abilities! I took a few years of French and Spanish but am really only decent at reading it, not speaking or listening. I've been learning American Sign Language over the past year for one of the schools I work with. It's really beautiful, and I find it a bit easier to pick up since it's visual.

Haha. Cats are so good at "helping." Oh yes, the lore was fantastic. I never read any of the books, but if I ever play WoW again, I will make sure to do so. Are you looking forward to the movie? I'm a bit skeptical, although, I'm trying to consider that it's based off of an older version of the game.

That is so exciting. Please let us know how your visit goes!

How old are the children you work with in daycare?

It's even worse because there are some words that are very close, if not identical, in Spanish and Italian, so I can definitely see the confusions happening!

And that'll be fun! I'm trying to read like 3 different books at once right now haha, so it's a bit of a challenge.

The books are great. My favorite was Arthas by Christie Golden. Even without playing they're fun reads!

I'm looking forward to the movie, but yeah, I worry it'll fall short of my expectations. I have high hopes, though!

Hi everyone! I wanted to do some Luminaire gift giving for my fellow Ravenclaws. Ping me and I'll put something from your WL under your tree. Unless you have an entirely insane, unaffordable wishlist, or an invisible one, in which case, I'll give you something appropriately wizardly.

that is very sweet of you

Tis the season :)

it sure is :)

that's so kind of you :o

I enjoy the season, I've just fallen out of touch with Subeta over the last few years. This cult pulled me back so the least I can do is throw some shinies at my housemates. :D