I’ve been keeping a huge secret while here at Rosary. This secret is so earth-shattering, it’ll knock your socks off. Okay, here it goes.
As of the day I publish this, I have an 862-day Duolingo streak.
I don’t really know what prompted my sudden urge to teach myself Italian on Duolingo. It sort of just happened. Maybe it was the Italian genes coursing through my veins, tempting me to grow my vernacular. I remember sitting in my bed on December 26, 2022, wasting hours of my very valuable time scrolling on TikTok when I came across an advertisement for Duolingo. The Duolingo owl stared through my soul, encouraging me to start a streak. I knew I had to; once I’m hooked on something, I can never turn back.
I had started Duolingo streaks before, but never something this serious. I remember getting to a 20-day streak and realizing that I couldn’t stop. I had to keep this streak up. So, every night like clockwork, I’d crawl into bed after performing my skincare regimen, and I would practice my Duolingo. The lessons started tame and easy: pronouns, present tense verbs, and simple words like dog, cat, and apple.
As time passed, however, the lessons began to get more outlandish and ultra-specific. The units soon focused on online shopping, discussing college life, and my favorite: “Talking about a scary hotel.” It was starting to feel like I’d never be able to actually have a real conversation in Italian; after all, how would I be able to communicate with someone if I only knew how to say “Ci sono rumori strani in questo hotel” (There are strange noises in this hotel). When would that ever come up in a normal conversation?
I was well into my Duolingo streak when a huge problem suddenly arose: Kairos. Because of the rule of abstaining from technology while on the Kairos retreat, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to keep up the impressive streak I had going. I begged my mom to do my Duolingo for me, but she just didn’t get it. However, I realized that because of my long streak, I had racked up tons of gems, which I used to freeze my streak. This meant that I was able to lock in the days I had completed and not have to worry about my streak breaking over the days I was at Kairos. I was able to come back from Kairos and pick up my streak right where I’d left off.
I am genuinely very proud of my streak on Duolingo. Even though it might sound rather silly, this almost two-and-a-half-year streak has shown me that although it may be tough to keep up a hobby or a certain activity, it becomes incredibly rewarding once you cross a certain threshold. The fruits of my labor are sweet indeed! However, please don’t come up to me in the hallway and ask me to say a word in Italian. I get nervous.
