The adventure begins!

Hiiiiii my name is Julie and I’m a second year! I grew up in Vancouver and love to read, dance, and sew. I went to London for psychology in my first year, but decided I wanted to rethink my major and be in a school system that I’m more familiar with, so I took a gap year and transferred back! Now, I’m probably going into Cognitive Systems, but I’ve been enjoying every subject I’ve taken, so who knows (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

I actually found out about this class through a Reddit post made by Professor Beasley-Murray and thought it was super interesting! Though I’ve always loved to read, literature has constantly intimidated me. I’m embarrassed to say that after AP Lit in grade 12, I’ve avoided anything written before 2005 (╥‸╥) (off topic, but we read Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood in that class and collectively agreed it was a fever dream; and now I just got the second book of the series from Secret Santa, so I will be fever dreaming again in the summer!). So, a class all about literature not originally written in English? Yeah I’m intrigued, but also terrified! However, these first lectures have done wonders in easing that fear. Knowing that I’ll get a certain grade as long as I fulfill my chosen contract means I can focus on the actual reading and discussion (as long as I work up the courage to raise my hand). Now, I’m genuinely excited to read more during the semester and learn something I’ve had absolutely no exposure to before!

I really loved the discussion about literature from the first day; it made me think about this art form in a completely different way. In response to the question of how literature made you feel, I had written that it made me feel in awe of the author. Actually, all my responses sang praises for literature. It never crossed my mind that most of the authors were part of the WEIRD demographic (ha! I still remember something from first year psych), or how elitist and exclusionary it could be. It’s funny, though, because I had been avoiding/excluding myself from literature for as long as I can remember, as I thought I wasn’t smart enough to deserve reading it unless a teacher spoonfed me the analysis! Hearing everyone’s opinions showed me how much nuance there is in this topic, and encouraged me to reevaluate my own stance. I can only imagine the discussions we’ll have for the actual books!

I’m super excited to be in this class! Now I’m going to try and get faster at writing blog posts (this took me almost two hours (╥‸╥)) and start reading Proust ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜

Have a great rest of the week!

Julie ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ