While most people had an easy time adjusting to their first semester in college, I am not

most people. I struggled with most of my classes and making new friends, but I had a short break

from my day in my english 110C class. While I dont normally enjoy writing based classes,

english class was actually entertaining and relevant, and I feel like I learned a lot from it.

Back in grade school, I used to hate writing essays for my classes. I would write a very

concise answer to the prompt, but I didn't know how to elaborate from there. I managed to say

what I needed to say, but it only took a paragraph to say it! I never seemed to understand all the

many rules of grammar, so I frequently second guessed myself. I didn't know how to fix a run-on

sentence, only that I had to in order to fix it to get rid of the little green underline in Word. Even

simple spelling mistakes would elude me. I thought I before E except after Y was just

something people said, and it had no actual meaning. I also hated how I would procrastinate on

large projects, and always wait till the last minute to get them done. More than once I would find

myself typing up an essay the night before it was due, and the first time I would reread it would

be in class before turning it in. One time in sophomore year of highschool I turned in a paper, but

I literally got a zero on it. In my 3:00-am-five-hour-energy-fueled stupor I must not have been

aware of how bad my paper actually was. These experiences scarred me, so I honestly I never

even meant to sign up for the freshman year english class. My advisor saw that I wasn't taking

ENGL 110C, but they assumed I needed it to graduate. Instead of learning about the writing of

some old guy a long time ago, we discussed the fundamental idea of knowledge. This class made

me realize that knowledge is simply a commonly accepted idea, rather than some universal truth.

We ended up learning so much that Im so glad I ended up taking this course!

I always thought that engineering students didnt need to care as much about their writing

skills, and could focus more on other subjects. This is why I was pleasantly surprised when I
started taking an english course focused around engineering. We learned about things that

actually mattered, like how astronomers have discovered a foreign object in a parabolic

trajectory in our solar system. We also did fun assignments that related to modern culture, like

watching a sketch by the people from Good Mythical Morning and explaining how it related to

ethos pathos and logos! While this english class didnt cover every concept, it explained why the

basics are important.

At the beginning of the class, I distinctly remember the teacher explaining how her class

isnt meant to be hard. Most of our classes require our maximum effort and participation, but

English 110C is more relaxed and we frequently finish early. It was really nice having a class

that seemed to mostly be peer discussion rather than another lecture. Even my other humanities

and general education classes required a surprising amount of effort, but this one was simple and

easy to pass.

I learned that not all classes have to be ridiculously challenging, or that they cant be fun.

I had a lot of fun, but I also learned a lot along the way. One interesting concept we went over is

writing rituals. To practice it, we just wrote bullshit over and over for about five minutes, then

wrote about whatever we wanted for another five minutes. This exercise was designed to get us

in the flow of writing, and to help us tune out distractions. I learned a lot about rhetoric and

rhetorical devices. I learned how to properly use evidence and commentary in my writing, and

most importantly, I learned how to use Microsoft Word to cite my sources! I still remember

when my teacher showed that Word has had a feature that automatically puts your sources into

MLA, APA, IEEE, or whatever format you would need. I was kind of angry that I didnt know

this before, but at least I know it now! I may not have learned everything I need to know for

english, but I learned a lot about the college experience.

 I came in to the class with low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised. I had fun,

learned quite a bit, and got to know a nice group of people. This class helped me transition to

college life, and to become a better writer. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this class!