Memories of a Class

My first semester of college to say the least was not quite what I expected. I'm not sure exactly what I expected but, whatever little thoughts I did have about what college would be like my first semester, they were wrong. English 111, was different than any other English I took in highschool. From past experiences I always remember English as reading, working on grammar, and occasionally writing a paper. I figured college level English would be much different from what I remember in highschool, I guess just not quite as different. I never knew what the Modern Language Association was prior to English 111. I didn't even know there were different styles of papers such as a MLA paper or the American Psychological Association format. What I feel I learned the most in English 111 was how to write a paper and address the audience in a way that whoever the attended audience is will be more likely to relate and understand my topic. I never heard of rhetorical appeals before English 111 and these three appeals pathos, ethos, and logos, seemed to be the most focused on topic when writing a paper for English 111. Never before when writing a paper had I thought about appealing to my audience in an emotional, logical, and credible way. If I had to choose one thing I think I will retain most this semester in English it would be structuring my writing's to better attain the attended audience's attention. I recently seen the movie The Spirit there were three character's one named pathos, one named ethos, and one named logos. A few months ago I would of never known what was implied by the character's name or understood the character's themselves. It was nice knowing and understanding something that would probably go over most people's head.

Now the semester is winding down and I no longer have to fret about my performance in college level classes. The beginning of the semester did seem to be a little overwhelming but, that was mostly due to my personal apprehension. The thought of failing had occurred to me but only because I felt like I had been out of school for so long. I was not coming right out of highschool and had not written a paper in what seemed like forever. In a way though, it worked out for me, what I lacked in knowledge I was able to make up in maturity and effort. In the end I would not just consider English 111 success but, the whole semester was a success. I learned a lot not only through my classes but learned a few things about myself. Most students can relate to the fact that attending class, trying to work, and other obligations can be hard to balance. I taught myself to multitask and balance a school life and work life. I also taught myself that most success is not found in intelligence but, implying myself and what skills I possess. The only thing I worry about now is choosing what carrer I may want to go into one day. I joined the Navy in 2003 and looking back on it I think it was any easy way out of choosing what I want to do with my life. The thought of picking a career that may be what I do for the rest of my life seemed a little overwhelming. I still struggle with that problem and I guess that's why I still haven't made any big commitments as to what I want to be my major. I'm interested in a lot of different things such as, nutrition, psychology, music, and health. I'm just not sure if any of those fields are what I want to do for the rest of my life. I ca just only hope I can figure it out in the near future.