Inspired by my department head, I pursued German at university. Our Germanic philology department was very strong and even collaborated with DAAD to offer study programs.
I really wanted to study the history of theater, particularly the influence of Italian theater on the Viennese scene. Unfortunately, there was a dearth of literature on these topics available in Russian — but there was plenty in German!
Moreover, the world's first theatrical research institutes were established in Germany; I yearned to touch the era in which this field of study took shape and delve into the works of scholars in their original language.
In essence, my love for the German language (which, at times, was not reciprocated) is a topic I could talk about at length.