Time has flown by.
While revising my “So Here I Am” blogpost, I had a moment of shock. Here I was almost five months later revising my very first blog post. The funny thing is that it feels like I wrote that blog post a week ago. Being in the Writing about Travel course has been one of the highlights of my first semester at Chapman University.
I came into this class scared. I have never been a confident writer, despite the fact that I love to write. Knowing that other college students were going to read and critic my work, especially students that were older than me, scared me beyond words. Critics scared me. Discussion scared me. Everything scared me coming into it! However, as time went on I began to realize that there was no reason to be so scared. Everyone in this class was beyond kind and any advice I was given on my work was always sentimental and not deconstructive. I’ve learned that as a writer, I should be confident. Not having confidence is your worst enemy when writing. If you don’t like what you are writing or do not think it holds any value, why would anyone else think different? Being in this course opened my eyes to that I can write in my voice and that you should never feel restricted to writing in a particular style that is often perceived as “right.” I have also learned that as a writer, it is okay to go back and change things. Even if something is your final draft, nothing is stopping you from making something even better. I am so thankful that Savy gave us the opportunity to grow in our writing by encouraging revisions.
My knowledge of travel has significantly grown from this course. I enjoyed the fact that I am leaving this class feeling like I have learned about important topics that I will carry with me. The fact that we focused each week on a new topic and deeply explored meanings and ways to resolve issues was very beneficial. I think going forward and traveling in the future, I will now be a lot more aware of different problems. Whether it is my carbon footprint or trying to interact with locals more – I know there are so many lessons I have learned from this class. My definition of travel has also changed from being in this class. Coming into the course, I only thought of travel as packing a suitcase and going on an airplane to a new location. But I believe now that travel is much more than that. From the new space blogpost, I was able to see that travel can be as simple as going to a new club on campus or visiting a friend’s family that has a different culture than you.
As a class, we defined rhetoric to be “the way that we choose words/imagery/music / tone/audience that can present an idea or a message. It makes the audience feel something; it makes people act, sometimes in unintended ways. Not always noticed, but can be. An art form”. I think it is essential to read, write, and think rhetorically in today’s world because it helps us deliver a message that is personal to us. When we use rhetoric, we are painting a picture to convey to others. It can be a helpful tool in allowing others to see ideas through your eyes and leaves a more significant impact to oppose to not utilizing rhetoric.
Overall, this course has been fantastic. It has opened my eyes to new ideas and viewpoints through the use of blog posts, discussions, and lectures. There was never a day that I didn’t look forward to attending it. The most challenging aspect of this class was diving deeper into my own opinions and viewpoints, but through the help of Savy and all the other students, it wasn’t a barrier. I believe this class helped me develop my style of writing and become a lot more confident in my work.
batulaonline.travel.blog 