Entry 1: My First ft. SEII Program

 

    My journey to DePauw was full of firsts for me. It was my first trip to the United States, which was very exciting. Unfortunately, it was my first time traveling alone and living without my parents; despite this, I had a fantastic experience. It was also my first time attending college after four difficult years in high school; however, I would say I thoroughly enjoyed my high school experience. I had a lot of firsts, but it was also my first time encountering what college writing really is, which was very overwhelming for an international student like me.

    My first experience with college writing came during a summer program at Depauw called the "Summer English Institute," or SEII. All of our classes were full of international students from around the world. Our class was small, with less than ten students, and we had TAs who were very encouraging. My first professor was also very nice; she is very kind and supportive of me. Although her class pace was a little slow, she gave us a lot of good advice and lessons. Everything appeared to be fine until we had our first writing assignment task which was a real wake-up call.

    My first essay as a college student was probably not the best, but it was the most memorable to me. We were given the task of writing an essay concerning stereotypes in our lives. I honestly struggled a lot during my initial process because I felt I hadn't really experienced strong Stereotypes in my life. My first draft was truly terrible. Even though my TA checked it and said it was fine, I felt the story was just off. I was fortunate to have a really great idea for my essay, even though it means I have to rewrite everything from scratch, and I only had one night to do it. My grades were surprisingly high; I received an A in my first college writing assignment and a special mention from my professor.

    Reflection at my previous work, one of the things that really made my essay stand out was the way I told my story. I used a technique called parallelism, which my professor said she didn't like, but I made it work for my essay. What I learned from that experience was that I needed to work more efficiently. I wouldn't have had to spend the entire night finishing my essay if I had been more organized with its structure. It will also help me organize my thoughts and ideas, which will be beneficial in future writing when I have less time to complete my essay.

*Click to read my essay mentioned in my blog*

'That Basketball Girl' by Noinah