In college, I majored in Asian Literature. For three and a half years, I spent many hours reading books from Palestine, Egypt, Japan, Taiwan. and Mainland China.

I still don’t know what attracted me to Literature. Although I dabbled in Geology, Physics, Psychology, Journalism, and Philosophy courses, I found reading fiction and analyzing it most fascinating.

I was a lucky kid who had unconditional support from my parents. I didn’t worry about securing a job after graduation and didn’t even consider applying to grad school to become a Literature professor. I dismissed people warning me I was “paying a lot of money to be a Starbucks barista.” When choosing courses, my main goal was to have fun as much as possible. That’s why I never skipped a class.

What did I learn from studying Literature? Nothing special really. Attending college is unnecessary if you intend to read books and learn how to write. However, I have no regrets about immersing myself in the works of Soseki and Lu Xun. I’m grateful for the professors who returned my essays loaded with pages of feedback. There’s no way to find out if my expensive education was actually worth it. I can only say I wouldn’t be the same person without the years I spent studying novels. I’m happy with this answer.