Friday, May 4, 2012

Semester Final Grades

This semester was a difficult one.  I promise you that you will hear me say that probably every semester.  Besides the difficulty of upper level literature classes, I've also experienced a lot of changes in my personal life and it's just been a heck of long and difficult semester.

I think I've probably written about finals already, so I won't bore you with the details again.  But, final grades were issued yesterday and I wanted to let you know how it all turned out.  I ended up with a 3.60 GPA this semester, it's not a 4.0 like last semester, but I'll keep it all the same.  I ended up with a final grade of an "A" for my Romantic British Literature class and my Contemporary American Literature class.  And (drum roll please), I pulled off a "B" for my final grade in math!  Heck yes I did!

Seriously, my literature classes this semester demanded majority of my study time and I bombed my last chapter test in math and I wasn't able to dedicate much time to studying for my math final because all my time was wrapped up in researching for my final papers for both literature classes.  So, I am proud of that math grade.  I left that final feeling comfortably confident but nervous because I was confident, if that makes any sense at all, haha.  But it's done.

I've decided not to take any classes this summer and to focus on myself and some things I want to work on for me and a future I'm pursuing.  This first year back to school after about a 6 year absence was intense but I've learned so much and I've loved it, even when I didn't love it.  I'm looking forward to progressing more and more into the English major and relating to the literature that will be exposed to me.  I'm proud of myself.  With all the personal stuff that's gone on since I enrolled in Fall 2011, I've still managed to maintain a great GPA.

Going back to school has taught me how strong I am and how smart I am.  I've always known I was a quick witted person, but I would never have ventured to call myself smart... that's horrible to say, but it's something inside of me that I need to resolve and it's the truth.  I've learned this semester especially that I have a lot that needs to be said and people want to hear it and the things that I have inside me are worthwhile and relate-able and that I have a special way in which to communicate them.  I learned this semester that people want to hear my input.  My literature classes were discussion classes.  That's all we did was discuss the texts.  We would have an occasional pop-quiz, but primarily we heavily discussed the texts we read.  And a lot of the British Lit. was above and beyond easy comprehension, and the American Lit. texts were all from a Latin-American perspective and so these texts required a lot of me to relate and attempt a vague understanding of them.  What I'm trying to say is that they were intimidating texts to discuss and I was scared at first to offer input, but the more I did, the more people would tell me that they appreciate my perspective and the view-points I brought to class, and that my comments helped them relate to the texts in a deeper way having heard my perspective of the text.  That meant a lot to me; to be heard and recognized for what I had to say and wanted to say.

This has been an insanely intense year at University, but I did it and I did it successfully.  So much inner strength comes for that statement.  I didn't just survive these semesters, I thrived, and I found a voice that has been quiet inside of me for my entire life and I found a way to communicate it.  That is so... liberating.  I am grateful for all that I learned in these last 2 semesters, specifically the one that just ended.  I'm looking forward to returning to school in the Fall.  I thank you all for taking interest in what I have to say and for sharing your thoughts with me.  Thank you.

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