Mayssa Chehata, Blog #10: Reflections on a Semester

On the first day of class, I sat as we went over the syllabus and honestly, I was rolling my eyes and on my computer looking for another GER6 course I could switch into. I was thinking this is going to be a class about holding hands and rainbows, and as an IR and Economics major, I just don’t get those types of things. I (fortunately) was not able to find another GER to switch into, and thus the journey began.

This class was a complete 180 from what I had expected. Our discussions were amazing, and I loved the way the blogs required us to think about “higher-order” questions, but keep them grounded in the movies and the material. The book was a great guiding force and reference point for the beginning of the course, and I really liked that after we had completed the book we didn’t just drop scholarly literature but rather turned to scholarly articles that were very pertinent to the things we were discussing.

I think what had be so skeptical from the get-go was this idea of forming a community in a classroom. I’m a senior so I’ve taken my fair share of classes, and all of them have been: get there, take notes, maybe have some type of discussion which really only serves to impress the professor or earn participation, and leave. ZERO connection with other students. Again, I am an IR and Econ major so that might have to do with it. Nonetheless, I didn’t know what about this class and this group of people and this professor would be any different. And I’m so glad that it was.

We actually have formed a community. When I walk past people in this class, I say hello to them, maybe stop and chat. That is never the case in other classes. I feel like I know everyone, or at least have an idea about their thoughts, beliefs, and their way of thinking, and that’s awesome.

Having this experience has really opened me up to knowing that you don’t have to go through life blindly passing by the people who you encounter, just having them as blips on the radar of your life, and nothing more. Rather, with the smallest bit of effort, you can have all those people you encounter actually have a meaning in your life, and hopefully you have one in theirs. As I prepare to enter corporate America (bleh), I think this is a really important lesson to take with me, and I feel really blessed to have been in this class and met such a great group of people and professor.

Best to Everyone. I truly hope we will meet again.