bunch of unknown characters that I can't read

nothing weird about that, see description for input spec

if the ones you printed aren't what your code gets stuck on then you might want to add a flush to ensure your prints get out

you might also want to print better to ensure you can run the same thing yourself

Please don't give free hints in Discourse. Users are supposed to solve the kata by themselves, not by looking at the Discourse page. Thinking, failing and trying is very formative.