Thursday, October 16, 2008

Reflections of English 111 Here we are back at school


Here we are back at school. It has been a very long time since I was in school. After graduating high school I did attend several classes at the local community colleges on Long Island, where I was raised. I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. Then suddenly some unexpected curve balls were sent my way. You see both parents became ill and I was forced to get a full time job, there was no extra money to pay for my college tuition. So I attempted to pay for a class here and there and then just got comfortable with working full time. You guessed it as usual life if full of curve balls. It was rather a difficult task to work full time and support myself in an apartment. Because I didn’t have a degree I found myself going from job to job and not having a career. Unfortunately, at this time in my life college again took a back seat to working.
So here I am many years later and I think or I am pretty sure what I want to be when I “grow up”. I was able to take a couple of classes a few years ago to help me get into the medical field. That was my first attempt at having a direction. Since then, I have decided that I want to help people learn to eat more nutritiously and to help them try and prevent some disease. I am currently working a full time job in a medical office but have realized that this is as good a time as any to plunge right in and get back to school.
English 111 has been my latest and final start back to college life and I must say it has been an experience. At first I wasn’t sure that I would be able to do well. I worked very hard and I hardly saw my husband. If I wasn’t in class, I was tucked away in a spare room of our house working on yet another paper. It seemed that as soon as I finished one I was already working on another. It was rather stressful at times and I hope that I have learned how to write. Although, I am sure I still have a long, long way to go before I call myself a writer. At first I thought, English will be easy, not realizing how much work would be involved. Some might say at least you got it over with, but I am glad that I took it first. It has really taught me proper writing techniques that will certainly go a long way for me for the future of my college career.
I feel that at this point, which is much later in life, that English 111 was a stepping stone to help me be more successful in getting my degree.