Rachel's Paideia Blog

Beginning of Semester

Oops, it's actually the END of the semester now, but I think I can remember about how I was feeling a few months ago. The biggest mistake I made and wish I had been more on top of around August was my study abroad...stuff. This semester has been so overwhelming as a result--I felt constantly busy with all of the forms and paperwork and technicalities that I hardly had enough time for my school work. I was not aware of the stress that was about to ensue at the beginning of the semester.
Otherwise, I was very happy with how the Paideia program left off at the end of the Spring semester. I felt closer to the group and felt like we'd accomplished a lot. I didn't realize how drastically the size of our cohort would change this semester, but I actually ended up liking it a lot. I was way more comfortable with everyone and it was really cool that each person brought in their own readings to discuss rather than something from a set list. I've gone back and forth with my opinion of this, but ultimately I've decided I think it's best for people to choose their own topics, even if it is a little more difficult to come up with something. I also really liked meeting in the media room rather than one in the cafeteria. I thought it had a better vibe and was more private. Plus it was more convenient being in the cove rather than the commons because I no longer have a meal plan.
So maybe it's no longer the beginning of the semester, but I can see that all of my previous expectations have been met. As far as the program goes, I feel like this semester was a nice sort of break. We all worked very hard the first year with our community service work, and just generally had a lot more going on. This time around it was great to just have intelligent discussion with an interesting and versatile group of people. That's exactly what this section of the program needed!

posted by Rachel @ 2:58 PM