Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Reflections - Fall 2017





Ahoy Mates!
How are you all feeling today?
Now, that the Spring Semester is over, you've got your grades and the summer is starting; what are you guys up to? I would love to hear your summer plans.
As for me, I've got lots of plans. Though I am not taking this summer off (yes, I am going to be attending the summer semester too) there a lot of goals on my list this summer that I look forward to completing.
But before getting into my summer goals, I've decided to start something new.
It's a new blog series called - Reflections.
Basically, at the end of every semester, I'll be posting a few things I've learned that semester, a few things that I did wrong and how I plan to improve for the next semester.
This series will help me stay on track, productive and learn from my past mistakes.
I recommend you all to start working on your Reflections too. You definitely don’t have to dwell on your past but you can learn from it and become better.
So, grab my Reflections Worksheet and get to work!

The first semester I started College was the Spring Semester and not the Fall semester so I am going to post my Reflections on the Spring Semester 2017 -

Things I learnt this semester :

Arabic is not that hard : No I am not kidding, trust me. When I first found out that my whole college degree would be in Arabic, I naturally freaked out. And when I learnt that I had to do a whole foundation semester to improve my Arabic, I freaked out more. Yes, I could read and write and understand Arabic, but when I first started my classes, I was honestly shocked! They all spoke in fluent Classic Arabic. I was absolutely horrified. I couldn’t understand more than a few words since I spoke the Kuwaiti dialect and not the Classic Arabic. Also the fact that Arabic grammar constituted to 80% of the marks upset me. But thankfully I had studied a bit of Arabic grammar in my childhood so that kind of helped me out. I even moved classes (from level 2 to level 1 ) just on the second day of college.
But later on, I regretted it. Level 1 was too easy. I missed level 2 even though I had only been there for two days. Then I changed back again! And I don’t regret a minute of it. I realised that it only seemed hard in the first week. I just had to work a bit harder and focus more. Even though I joined in the second semester and missed most of what was taught, I could easily catch up. I started going on daily walks with a few of my classmates and our professor where we would only speak Arabic and I started improving so much! The daily talks really helped me. And I realised that all the complexity was just in my head. Arabic wasn’t that hard. Yes, I'm not perfect but I've definitely improved and have now developed a new love for this beautiful language.

Making friends is crucial: In the beginning of the semester, I was this very awkward, shy and fully covered up person. Everyone already knew everyone since they had been together for a whole semester already. I was the new kid. Even though I'm a very social person, I just couldn’t seem to make any friends. what's worse, all of them lived in the dormitory, were from different countries and spoke fluent Arabic. After a few weeks of this, I decided that I would give up trying to make new friends. we had literally nothing in common. I loved Kuwait while they all spoke badly about it. And so I thought I was better off without any friends. Oh, how wrong I was!
My classmates all planned a get together in Souq Mubarakiya with the professor and I was contemplating not going, but thank God I decided to go! I sat with new people, made new friends and got to know them all. In addition to this, the early morning pre-class walks helped a lot too. I made friends with people who weren't on my level and it was an amazing feeling. I had someone with whom I could share similar interests and talk about homework. I can honestly say that I wouldn't have been able to pass out with my sanity intact if it weren't for my classmates!

Studying every day is very important : I did this in the beginning of the semester but started to slack off towards the end. And that really cost me my marks. It's really important to come back home Abd study and revise your notes. I had even stopped submitting my homework's towards the end of the semester due to laziness. But next sem I plan to get rid of this habit.

You don’t have to be speaking all the time. Sometimes, silence is golden and better: this was one of the biggest lessons I learnt this semester. Sometimes people say things that you may not agree with or that you don’t like. That does not mean that you have to go running your mouth off. Sometimes it's better to keep quiet. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. And keeping quiet will prevent so many problems.

Grateful for :
Professor : I am especially grateful for my professor this semester. He had been helping me right from the beginning even before the classes started and helped me throughout the semester. He even helped me choose and register for classes in the next semester. He was really friendly, funny and supportive. Though his methods were strict, they really helped me improve.

Classmates : There were these three girls from Turkey whom I am the most grateful for. They became my friends on the first day when I was this scared little freshman who had no idea about anything. They were so supportive and encouraging and took me under their wing.

My Friend: She was this one friend of mine who knew Arabic. She helped me throughout the semester in chatting, in my homework's, and even attended one of my classes with me where she helped me with the class discussion. It was a blessing having someone like her. Seriously guys get yourselves and Arab or an Arabic speaking friend!

Three things I want to improve in the next semester :
  • Study everyday
  • Put more time into the blog
  • Use extra sources and put in extra work

Overall feel of this semester on the  :
Personal Level - 9 : I grew so much personally and learned loads of things this semester
Academic Level- 8 : My grades were stuck in the 82-83% range but considering the fact that it was completely in a different language, I am happy, kind of.
Social Level -10 : I made so many new friends and built a very good bond with without losing contact with my old friends.
Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start reflecting on your semester and life too.
If you are ready to reflect and improve, grab the Reflections Worksheet from the Resource Library by entering the password or by Subscribing to the Ahoy College Newsletter.


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Hit reply to the Reflections Mail you received and let me know,
What are some of the things you would like to reflect upon?
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