Pathway Reflection Essay
This is one of the assignments of my PROV class which illustrates my main experience of the first semester in George Mason University. Since it is my first time in Mason, I learned a lot of things new, including culture, life, and academic stuff. The reason I put this assignment here is that this was my fisrt journey here, it would be a wonderful memory for me in the future.
Reflection Paper
Leaving one’s homeland to study in another country is never easy. As an international student, I encountered not only dilemmas but also cheerful events throughout this semester.
I am taking EAP this semester which teaches us skills of reading literature. With my strong interest, I infused plenty of energies into it which are even more than that I infused into my major courses. I talked actively and frequently during the class and finished all my assignments conscientiously. However, my grades were disappointing, which was like a thump on my heart. That was my biggest dilemma and the most influential event during this semester. Fortunately, professor Voigt found out my anxiety and made an appointment with me to talk about my concerns. He told me that he knew I spent a lot of efforts in his class, but the direction I was forwarding might deviate a little bit from what they wanted. Given that explanation, I realized that I should follow the rubric rather than my arbitrary thoughts when I was doing assignments. I was glad that professor Voigt talked with me about my issue, from which I felt a strong emotional support from INTO Mason which encourages me to recover and get better.
The same thing also happened in my PROV class during the individual midterm conference. When I first looked at my midterm grades, I was frustrated. However, Professor Scott encouraged me a lot by saying that I was doing well in his class; this was just a small piece of the whole semester; if I kept going, I could get a great grade in the end. I felt confident after that conference and determined to try my best during the rest of this semester.
Besides the attentive care I felt from INTO Mason classes, I learned many other skills that were helpful for my future academic life. For example, what I learned from EAP class were the skills of reading article, annotating, and conducting our own research. As graduate students, we are supposed to read numerous literature and write our own paper. The skills I learned from EAP class helped us pave the road for our graduate career.
In PROV class, I gained familiarity with the America academic style which requires intensive discussion during the class. It is quite different from classes in China in which what students need to do is listening to teachers. Keeping America academic style in mind, I forced myself to talk during one of my major class which primarily based on discussion of the articles assigned every classes. By pushing myself into an intensive discussion, my courage and speaking ability will be dramatically improved in the future.
The other major class I am taking this semester is statistic which is my favorite. I enjoy every class because not only I am interested in statistic but also our instructor Patrick is a very interesting and smart professor. I did two face-to-face module tests in his office. He told me that he understand that English is not my first language; it is hard for me to translate statistic theory from my language to English. I really appreciate his understanding which is also a great encourage and makes me feel more confident in future statistic classes.
In terms of my Mason campus life, there were many impressive things happened during this semester as well. The most unforgettable event is the fire alarm. I still remember the feeling when the first alarm happened. I was so scared that I have no idea what was happening and what to do. However, after I went out of the building, I found that there was no real fire. The same alarm happened two or three times after that. It might be helpful for us to know how to escape from a fire, but it also decreases our sense of crisis.
Secondly, I learned how to get used to American food which is disgusting for me. I forced myself to eat in the campus every day by telling myself that “you are starving, your tongue is out of serves, what you need to do is just filling up your stomach”. I do not eat any instant noodles or other fast foods because I forced myself to have every meal at school, which is good for my healthy even though the taste is horrible.
Last but not least, I love the swimming pool in the Aquatic Fitness Center which is the best pool I have ever been to. Both the quality and the temperature of the water are perfect, which provides me a great facility to improve my body condition.
In sum, I harvested a lot during this semester both in academic and campus life. I learned how to analyze literature, the differences between American and Chinese learning style, and new life experiences. Those harvests are essential to my future success in graduate life. Although there is only one month left this semester, I determine to try my best to improve the performance of my first semester in George Mason University.