About a week and a half ago, I began my Duolingo journey and decided I wanted to learn Russian. This was a unique challenge for me since I have only ever been exposed to English and a few years of French in school. I never had a real talent for language learning, and Russian is especially difficult since it does not use all the same letters we use in English. But I was determined and with Duolingo threatening me to do my daily lessons, nothing could stop me. After a few weeks of learning, I still feel like I would be horribly unable to survive in Russia, both because of the language and the cold weather. But I have definitely improved greatly and now have a slight grasp on what some of the words say. Aside from the learning, one of my favorite features of Duolingo is the ability to start a friendship streak. This forces both you and your friend to do your daily language lesson in order to keep your friendship streak up! This adds another layer of accountability to keep you motivated and learning. You can send your friends reminders when they need to do a lesson and high-fives when they complete a lesson. Overall, Duolingo is a super fun way to learn a language, and I now understand why so many people like to use it!