Hello, chosten ones. I am a journalism dude who has graduated from lurking in the depths of OSINT Twitter to posting on new, obscure websites, I guess.

As you can tell from my poorly cobbled-together subject line, I like learning languages, exploring different cultures, and absorbing new, often useless information like national flags and etymology into my soft, squishy brain folds. I like it.

It titillates my noggin.

Plus, it helps a lot in my field to be curious and open-minded about the world, especially when it comes to languages and other ways of communicating.

Even in that regard, my journey is just beginning, since my knowledge of Spanish is pretty bad and I can't make it through that one Jerry Rivera song without needing to google the meaning of the lyrics; my Brazilian Portuguese probably sounds stiff and awkward, and I have trouble understanding native speakers, but I still think it's a beautiful language; Mein Deutsch ist ein bisschen besser als die andere Sprachen, aber nicht viel. Es tut mir leid! Those are pretty much the three languages I've been picking up bits and pieces of the last couple years, but I want to learn as many as I can.

I think it would be great to be part of a community/network here on Cohost of people who also want to explore different cultures, whether that's by learning other languages, sharing a traditional family recipe, or even just recommending a book from your home country or in your first language. Maybe you want to get a Duolingo buddy to keep you motivated. Hell, maybe you don't really want to learn a language, but you want to play Apex online with someone on the other side of the planet who doesn't even speak a word of your native tongue. (As someone who doesn't play Apex and likes to understand people, I'm not quite sure why you'd want to do that. But if that's what you want to do, you should be able to!)

In my limited experience, connecting with people in the unlikeliest of places, and in the unlikeliest of ways, can have profound experiences on one's outlook on life. As the late great Anthony Bourdain said:

"Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life — and travel — leaves marks on you."

And you should travel, if you can! The past couple of years showed us how fast you could be stuck inside with nowhere to go. But until your next trip, why not make your mark here? Think about how cool it could be if a tight-knit group on a niche website like this could become one of the best ways to explore or learn about the world. Are you in need of someone to learn or practice your English with without any of the stress or drama or soul-wrenching debt of a formal university? BOOM. Cohost-penpal-network.

Have you ever wondered what Corsican folk music sounds like? Or downtempo, low-key French rap? Or Korean avant-post-metal played with traditional instruments? No? Doesn't matter. BOOM. Now you know, and you can tap into your network of Cohost peers to find or share more stuff like it.

Do you need help recreating your grandmother's torrijas recipe? Are you in Singapore and want to know how to cook up some Käsespätzle? Or do you live in Cincinnati and want to compare how you use corn in your half-Appalachian, half-Midwestern, all-American dishes to how someone in Eswatini uses it in theirs? BOOM. Instant international corn party.

I should clarify — I don't know how to make any of that. But maybe somebody else does, and we've now formed a network where you can get to them. Hypothetical BOOM.

Yes, I know as I'm describing this, you're bursting with excitement. "Finally," you say, "after scrolling past tons of suggestive drawings, markdown experiments, cryptic messages and what feel like traumatic flashbacks to some kind of war between different Tumblr factions, I've found what I've been looking for. I've found a global community of likeminded individuals. I've found... the Internet."

Yes, my dear friend. Yes you have.

But not just that. I propose that we've all found fertile soil here on this wonderful new website. Together, we can create a place where people can go to learn from and about our huge, wonderful world — one that's as difficult to navigate as the Twittersphere, as uncomfortably-specific as a subreddit, and as aggressively passionate about things that don't matter as a StackExchange comment section. And, despite all of that, I think whatever community we make together will have a special life of its own.

So, reach out to me if any of what I wrote above sounds good to you. If you speak Spanish, Portuguese, or German, and want someone to talk to in those languages, let me know and I'll do my best to talk back to you. If you speak another language, whatever friend, reply with a letter in that too! I'll struggle-read my way through it on a late night with Wiktionary and Google Translate and Jim Beam, the three tools regarded as key to language mastery by experts who would never admit it out loud. If you want to just have a conversation in English, that's great, yeah, I dig it! The English-speaking world is a big place with lots of cultural diversity too, and I'd be happy to learn from you as well.

Who knows? Maybe we can set the groundwork for a "Cohost Cultural Exchange" or something. (CHCX? CCE?? CCX?!) Anyway, if you made it this far into my rambling introductory post, thanks for reading. I hope you'll reach out!

(P.S., if you found the fourth hidden song link already, you get bonus points.)