Reflection: This class's topic is perfect for my friends to tease me about, but also one that they're all a bit more interested in

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Write

     As I've talked about before, I wasn't actually planning on taking this class. Or, rather, I wasn't planning to take a class with this particular topic. All semester long my friends and family have been teasing me (in a loving way) about how I somehow accidentally signed up for a class about dogs. And that it's me, the animal-loving dog whisperer of the family, that is taking this course. It seems to be a never ending source of entertainment for them. But I have noticed that the more I share about what I've learned, the more interested they all become.

    I think one thing this course has really taught me so far is that you can, and often will, relate to different art pieces in the most bizarre ways. I had never thought that reading an article about dog eulogies would teach me anything about the world or myself. And yet, here we are. Not only can I relate to all these unique ideas, but my understanding of people and everything around me has increased. I guess my point is that this course has reminded me to keep an open mind. Even learning about the strangest, most random topic ever, can increase your knowledge and change your perspective. There will always be more to learn, so you might as well have fun learning through new topics.

    Another thing I've gained from this course is a two-part concept. First, write down your thoughts. And second, share those thoughts. We never really notice how quickly and often our point of view changes. I can view a piece of writing one way but then see it completely differently the very next day. Writing your thoughts down allows you the change to further explore what you're thinking about as you write it and as you reread what you wrote later on. You will grow even more when you share those thoughts. Throughout the entire semester, I've been talking to my roommate Kylee about what I've been learning. She found a lot of it interesting and fun, some of it disturbing, and most of it very revealing about people. Although she mainly just listened, Kylee has told some of her thoughts on these concepts. I loved hearing her perspective, she'd often have a unique way to see the topic and it was actually pretty refreshing listening to the opinion of someone who hasn't read all the same materials I have.

    Relating to new and different material and writing down and sharing your thoughts on various topics are two key concepts in this course. They are also concepts that apply to other classes and life in general. I'm not super interested in engineering, but maybe if I do explore this study area I can figure out how I relate to it and how I can use it in my everyday life and future career. I'm also not really good at journal writing. It just hasn't seemed that crucial to me. However, maybe I should put more effort into writing my thoughts down. Doing this will give me the opportunity to sometime in the future reread everything and see what I used to think (especially during a year like this one).  It would let me see how my perspective has shifted and how I have grown as a person.

    Overall, this course has helped me to understand some important parts of research and perspective. I think it's important for us all to identify and develop skills like these. I'm sure that many of my classmates had very different 'lessons' than I did. But that's the cool thing, everyone's experience is unique and as long as we improved in some way it will have been worth it.