Thankful for a Classmate

Honestly, I'm thankfully for having such a great group of classmates in my American Lit class. We have a really great balance of fun and work in that class. Everyone contributes something special and our class wouldn't be the same if we were missing some students. There are some students who I think help me in class when we work in partners, in particular Paulina Pei and Nina Posner. They always have an interesting perspective on whatever we're discussing and contribute a lot to our conversations. We work together efficiently and I'm really glad that I have had the opportunity to partner with them and get to know them better.

I am...a Plow?

When I think of a plow, I think of a farm. A plow plays an active role in agriculture along with a lot of other things,  similar to a team. So to answer the question, yes I am a team player. Sometimes, however, I take the role of the leader, similar to a farmer. When I was younger I used to be much bossier and more controlling, but I grew out of it. I realized helping out in something can be a lot more work than being the leader of a project, and it's not necessarily about the recognition you receive that defines how meaningful your work is. For example, when I volunteered at PAWS, I wasn't out on the go rescuing all the precious animals, but I worked behind the scenes cleaning them, feeding them, walking them, and just playing with them. At first I thought of myself as just one of the bunches of volunteers doing the same thing as me, but I realized that without my help, people wouldn't be able spend as much time individually focusing on each animal, and I really was ultimately contributing to the well-being of the animals and the organization. Being a plow is nice, but sometimes I like taking charge and being the farmer.

New Direction for American Lit?

Honestly, American Lit is one of my favorite classes of the day. I'm always so tired in the mornings and it's such a relief that my first class keeps me awake but doesn't stress me out. We really can openly express our opinions because people aren't judgmental. Also the atmosphere is so light, it's like a breath of fresh air.


The assignments we've been given have been appropriate and reasonable. It is a bit of a hassle, though, to take notes while reading, and sometimes I forget. We also haven't had to write any papers (which trust me I am not complaining about!) so I'm sort of just waiting to have a giant project laid on me.  I really enjoy the blog assignments. It's a new way of writing and it's pretty neat that we can do this with subjects that are school-related. 


So all in all, I love this class and I really don't have much to say on improving it, because it's great just the way it is!

The Moment I Knew I was an American..

I think the moment i knew I was an American was when I took a school trip to Paris in the middle of 8th grade. Nothing felt too different at first when I was with the 20 other Americans from my grade school. Sure, we saw all sorts of amazing pieces of art and interesting landmarks, but most of the people in those kinds of places are tourists, so we didn't feel all that out of place. 
However, we did stay with an actual French person our age there. Probably the minute I arrived in my exchange student's home I think I realized how different our lives really were. Everything there seemed so much smaller and neater. Almost classier you could say. It was really weird seeing what was in my exchange student, Elise's, closet. All of the clothes she had were darker and very sophisticated, where as literally everything in my suitcase was bright and fun. The French seemed to act much older at an age where in America we're still considered kids. Something about that helped me realize what I still see as more of an American lifestyle that I lived. Things there weren't so dramatically different that it seemed like I was on a whole other planet, thankfully. That would just be strange. I could still easily relate with all of the Parisians easily....well maybe not easily because of a bit of a language barrier. But overall I learned a lot from that experience and learned some of the qualities I possess that make me an American in my opinion.