In college, I decided I wanted to get my Master's degree in a Study Abroad program and become a librarian, so in my fantastical digging I found a program in Estonia. I'd never even heard of Estonia, but I fell in love with the language, so I became determined to learn it and move there after getting my Bachelor's! That, of course, never happened, but this was in the middle of a period of extreme turmoil in my life, so I spent several months throwing myself into my studies as a form of escapism.
Because of that, I ended up actually becoming conversational in Estonian by the time my life became stable enough to come back to reality full-time. Haven't retained much of it, but I'll always love it, because it really is a beautiful language.
I taught myself via this interactive online video course hosted by an Estonian woman, and I developed the
biggest crush on her. Even if I didn't feel like learning or practicing, I'd do it anyway just to see her (the videos were all pre-recorded, mind you, there was no
direct interaction). In hindsight it's definitely cringe, but hey, it brought me joy during a hard time and gave me appreciation for a language and culture I once knew nothing of, so no harm done!
When recounting this to Patuk and showing her the videos, I came to the realization that the host looks eerily similar to her... like, Patuk if she had a bowl cut and a Finnic accent rather than a Slavic one. That marks the second time I've realized in hindsight that my girlfriend bears a striking resemblance to a person/character I crushed on in my past. I have a type I guess