Hello everyone!
My name is Emily, and I am a third year student majoring in Psychology and minoring in Sociology. I honestly took this course to fulfill my literature requirement, however I am hoping it might possibly guide me towards an interest in reading. When I was younger, reading was my favourite thing ever, but nowadays I have little faith in my ability to pick up a book and stay committed to it. I am a little anxious going into this course as I will be reading a novel almost every week, but I am also looking forward to it!
Something that was new to me was the structure of the class. I find it very flexible and the simple schedule puts me at ease. Because of the set grade, I believe I will be able to go through the course with less stress involved. I also really enjoy the idea of writing blog posts for the readings. I like how it feels more freeing to write out our thoughts in that format instead of a traditional assignment.
After the first class today, I was very entertained. Never in my life would I take time out of my day to think about what literature actually is. Getting to question the word itself and all else associated with it made me feel slightly less anxious about the course. I am definitely not the biggest reader, but I am looking forward to some of the upcoming works that I have chosen. I actually had fun with the time that I spent looking through the novels and reading their descriptions. I am excited to start working through them one by one!
I also found the first lecture video very interesting. The conversation regarding language and Romance studies was completely new to me and out of my scope, so it was a lot to digest, but still incredibly intriguing. I especially liked the family metaphor that was used in the conversation about Romance Studies video. The idea of the Romance languages as a kind of “unruly family” helped me to better understand the topic and also understand why these literatures are studied together. The conversation format was something that I appreciated as well because it felt relaxed and easy to listen to.
I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts on the future reading and hearing what my classmates think as well! I am excited to hopefully rediscover my enjoyment of reading and explore all the different themes that these works have to offer.
Hi Emily! I can relate to your anxiety around the readings but also am looking forward to everything! Hope to see you in class!
Hi Emily, and welcome to the course! I’m glad that you already had fun anticipating the books you will be reading… I hope you’ll enjoy reading them and, yes, without the stress of the grade hanging over you!
Hi, Emily! I am also a psyc student. Nice to have you in this course! I also have the same problem as you – hard to start reading and finish reading a book. Hope that after taking this course, we both can improve!
Hi Emily! I can definitely relate to being a big reader a kid, and being a bit intimidated by finishing a novel each week, though I’m sure we will all rekindle our love of literature along the way!