Reflection

I have only been at Penn State for a few months and I felt like I have learned so much. I am so happy that I never got homesick and fell in love with the campus. I am thrilled that I enjoyed all of my classes my first semester and I feel like I have learned more than I have ever learned in my entire time spent at high school. All of my classes are interesting and I actually enjoy and pay attention in all of my classes, which was impossible for me to do in high school.

I also learned a lot about art and what is art. I learned that things I don’t even expect to be considered art are art in their own unique way. I discovered that I actually do like poetry after attending Sharon Old’s reading and listening to Sheila’s in class. At the beginning of the semester if you asked me what art was I would have said that it had to be inspirational and something like a drawing, ceramic, museum, painting, sculpture, music, and things that are obvious forms of art. I would have never have called Penn State as a whole as art. Who knew I would write an essay defining it as an artistic community? I discovered that things could be defined as art that you wouldn’t even expect, and that basically everything is art in its own way.     

            English class really got me to go out and explore campus which I am so glad I did because I know a lot of things on campus that my friends that are also freshman don’t know about, and I can thank English class for this. For an example, I had no idea what the Arboretum was in September. No idea at all, and I live in East Halls. It is literally a five minute walk from where I live. After going on a field trip there, I fell in love with the Arboretum. I want to go back again and told my mom all about it. I plan on taking her there when the weather breaks and she comes to visit me next semester. I feel like it is a great place to go when you want to get away from it all, and just have alone time. I definitely am going to spend a lot of my time there next semester when it isn’t freezing outside and will probably do some of my best thinking there. There is so much to draw inspiration from and the art is plentiful.

            I developed a deep relationship with the arts and better understanding and appreciation for them now. Coming into Penn State in August if you asked me how I felt about going to a musical or going to poetry reading I probably would have said that I would never be caught dead attending either. They both would have bored me to sleep. It is December now, and my feelings have completely changed. I have so much respect for poets. I wish I could write like that, and hope that one day I will be able to write half as well as Sheila.

            I’m just thinking about how much I have changed already, for the better, and I am still so young and my years at Penn State are still plentiful. My options are endless and there are a plethora of opportunities waiting for me to go out and grab them. I am inspired to follow my dreams and make this happen. I feel like I have grown as a person since I arrived in August. I am definitely more mature, and independent. This excites me and I feel like I can accomplish things I never expected, and by that I mean doing my own laundry. It is the little things in life that matter.

 I learned what it takes to be a good writer and the hard way. In high school my grades were easily handed to me sometimes. I got A’s on all of my essays all of the time. Coming to college, I didn’t really take the first essay prompt as serious as I should have and had this ego that I was an excellent writer. I got a rude awakening. I received a C on my first paper, and I was so mad. My initial response then changed into a wake up call. That things are different and college is hard. Also, that I am not in high school in anymore and things will certainly not be handed to me anymore. I definitely grew as a writer. I never used to ask people to read my papers over for me before, and I learned that this really can help you as a writer and is a tool you should definitely take advantage of. I now harass my roommates to read over my essays and go to the writing center for help. I learned my strengths and weaknesses. I learned that I often ramble and say things that mean the same exact things over and over again with slightly different wording. I still have problems overcoming this weakness, but hopefully one day I will. I learned my strength is the fact that I literally could go on and on and it is easy for me to write. When a paper is 5 to 7 pages, I always write 7 pages not 5. I feel like I just have so much to say all of the time, and have a lot of thoughts I want to get across.

Overall, I changed and learned a lot since I arrived here in August. I am eager to see what is in store for me next semester, and am glad to call myself a Penn Stater.