Final Reflection

This semester has gone by so incredibly fast. Yes, I realize that I began my final reflection with a cliche, but the truth is that our welcome week feels like it barely just ended, and now we are taking finals.

And now we have to reflect on all of this stuff. Sheesh. Well, here goes-

In the Explorations seminar, I found the readings to be secondary to interaction with my peers in learning our class objectives. I learned more about myself when I was talking with my classmates than I did from Goffman or Bellah. In these interactions with my friends, I had actual inspiration to analyze who I am, who I was, and what I believe. Learning the stories of my classmates and hearing their opinions made me think of my own. In turn, I would think of how I want to spend my future.

That's not to say I didn't learn anything from the course itself. The books were informative. Goffman gave a vocabulary to those known but unnamed aspects of social interaction. Augustine shed life on one man's logic in the 5th century. Heinlen presented an interesting view of the military's interaction with society. The only problem for me is that these were not flesh and blood examples. Although they actually happened, as in the cases of Goffman and Augustine, the stories of my classmates seemed more relevant to me as one in a similar situation to their own.

If I had the choice, I would choose Explorations again for my first semester UC seminar. Ultimately, as a class exploring identity, I learned the most from those around me. I have never had such an amazing mix of classmates, and I probably won't again.