My Long-standing Relationship with Japanese

I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, and moved to New York when I was 11. During the first six months following my arrival the main focus was adapting to a new culture and a new language. The process of learning English, although not as hard as I originally thought it to be, was long, and even today, I'm still learning.
When I got to high school I was given the opportunity to take Japanese as a third language, and so for the following three years, that was the one class that I enjoyed the most. My favorite part was that it wasn't nearly as hard as English (in terms of pronunciation) because it is very similar to Spanish (my first language). I've decided to continue my Japanese studies at Columbia because I'm hoping to spend a semester abroad in Japan. I'm most excited about finally being in a class with people who want to learn the language and about the culture, and who have similar goals as mine. So far, the hardest part has been the amount of work that I have to do outside of the class, but I think that as time goes on, it will hopefully become more manageable.

みなさん、こんにちは！

はじめまして。わたしのなまえはデボラパンタレオンです。コロンビアだいがくのがくせいです。そして、いちねんせいです。わたしのかぞくはドミニカきょうわこくからきました。でも、わたしたちはニューヨークのブロンクスにすんでいますれ。わたしはじゅうはっさいでわたしのたにようびはさんがつじゅうはちにちです。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。

Vocab:
にすんでいます: Live in.
ドミニカきょうわこく: Dominican Republic
そして: And
でも: But