Rachel's Paideia Blog

End of Semester Reflection

I can't believe it's already the end of the semester! Time seems to pass perpetually faster. I've been especially nostalgic recently when thinking about this time last year. I was doing my final preparations before leaving to study abroad in London. It's pretty unbelievable to me that that was a year ago. It's still so fresh in my mind and something I think about on a daily basis...I can't believe it's over.
Studying Abroad really and truly did change my life. All the clichés are true. It changed my life, I became a different person, etc, etc. And I really struggled this semester trying to transition back into normal college life in America. It was difficult. I got tired and frustrated and began to lose sight of what I had liked so much about Southwestern. Then I started to really enjoy my classes and connected much more with my peers than I had in previous years. I spent more time in Georgetown and did the whole "college thing," whatever that means. But I embraced it. Study abroad saved and ruined me. It was the best experience I've ever had, but it really changed how I view the rest of my life. It was tough initially, but now I'm learning to be a better person because of it.
As far as my creative work goes, I'm finally starting to get an idea of what my Capstone is going to be like. The last couple of weeks just about everyone I know has been stressing about their Capstone presentations and, to be perfectly honest, it made me a little nervous. It's going to be a lot of work. I'm excited though. Dr. Cleere has been one of my favorite professors at Southwestern, so I'm really excited to be working with her. Jane Austen would not have been my first choice in topics, but that's okay. I appreciate the challenge and think it will attest to my writing skills that I can spend so much time on something of that nature. It will be good.
Paideia has been interesting this semester. As seniors, we're all much busier than we've been before, so it makes sense to me that our cohort would be a little less focused and need to allow for everyone to concentrate on their Capstones. I really enjoyed hearing what other people were doing for their projects. It's all so entirely different from what I'm doing. I guess that's what Paideia is all about--making connections.

posted by Rachel @ 3:02 PM 0 Comments

Off-Campus Event: Poetry Reading

A little bit over a month ago I went to my first poetry reading ever. Aside from writing ironic little haikus on occasion, I'll be the first so admit that I did not like poetry at all. It was always my least favorite part about each of my English classes in high school. Maybe my style of writing isn't so concise--I'm all about telling a story, and I've felt that poetry lacked that. So a friend dragged me along to this poetry reading at one of our favorite coffee spots, Bouldin Creek Cafe on South First street. I've spent a lot of time at Bouldin in the last several years and was actually familiar with a lot of the poets reading. And I actually enjoyed it! For once in my life I was able to appreciate words for their beauty and fluidity, not just for the story they told. It was such a unique perspective! One poet read about his experience with homelessness, but rather than simply telling the listeners exactly what this experience was, he was able to capture the feelings of his struggle in such a way that I felt was infinitely more appropriate and more telling. It truly conveyed his emotions in a way that I was not prepared for. It was so moving! It was really beautiful.
After hearing this poetry, I thought it might be a good idea to read some poetry on my own. A friend let me borrow a book, John Berger's And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief As Photos, after I told him about a paper I was working on for class, and it contained so much writing that I loved, including poetry. I finally learned to give this style of writing a chance, and to actually enjoy it. Maybe I'll start writing my own poems next.

posted by Rachel @ 2:39 PM 0 Comments