Hello! It’s crazy to think how fast this semester has gone, as I still vividly remember trying to put together my 400-word introduction post for this class (as well as all the other introduction posts other classes used as an icebreaker).
This class was definitely structured in a way that I have never really experienced throughout my years at UBC, or throughout my entire education even. It was great to be given a choice, know what’s expected of you, and know exactly what you’re going to get by the end of it. I really appreciated being given a lot of wiggle room on how much work I would be doing in this class.
A fair disclaimer, I am one of the students who opted for a lower grade since I had a full load of 5 classes while working full time hours most weeks. Paired with getting a new job as a step up in my career, I was really worried if I would still be able to pull off getting decent grades in all my classes. Being given a chance to lessen my workload for at least one of my classes, it was like a big sigh of relief. That being said however, it didn’t take away from my experience with this class!
When I first read about Romance Studies as a course, I thought it would be mostly on history. While some of the books did touch on historical events during the times it was written, it was mostly on the stories of people living during these events. It was also really interesting to be reading through the romance languages, as I’ve only read a handful of translated books before this class, and none of them have been from any of the romance languages. I loved reading through not only the different languages and regions, but through the different times as well. I will also be adding the many books I was interested in but haven’t read onto my reading list when I have the chance to pick up some reading again!
Lastly, I also really enjoyed the discussions we had in class, especially the one with Manea. It got me to really reflect and think about the layers of these stories that I never would have picked up on by myself, and the discussion with Manea was really an amazing experience to hear him speak about his writing and how he connected with his stories. Thank you to everyone in the class, the TAs, and our professor for making these great discussions possible!
My last question for the class is: What was your favourite take away from this class?
I’m glad you got a lot out of the structure of the course because I also felt that it allowed us to have some freedom in the way we wanted to approach the course. The lively group discussions and the in-depth blogposts allowed all of us to take a lot from the course regardless of what we contracted for and learn a lot about the people’s and cultures these texts may represent. Happy to hear you enjoyed the class and good luck with the rest of your endeavors. Have a great summer too!