Below is the reflection that I submitted as Assignment 6 in Honors 100. In this, I reflect upon my first quarter, set future, goals, and talk about classes I am excited to take in the Honors Program.
During this autumn quarter, I have met lots of new people in the different atmospheres I have introduced myself to. I have met people in my Honors section class, in my FIG, and in my dorm hall. I think that in terms of my expectations for my time at UW, I have gotten more relaxed. I am not as scared as I was in the beginning when I think about my future. In the beginning, I was unsure about what my experience at UW, let alone, first quarter would be. I feel that the assignments in Honors 100 also helped me map out my future a little, making it less intimidating to think about. I am excited to experience what is ahead of me in the future.
Something that has surprised me about myself is that college gives me a lot more freedom. I heard stories here and there about getting more freedom, but I never actually understood it until I experienced it. For example, I really learned to manage my time better. If I take the time to plan what I have to do, I am not only more efficient, but even excited to do everything. On a less serious note, something else that has surprised me is how badly engineered Red Square is. On the days when it’s raining super hard, Red Square compiles puddles of water here and there, and if you aren’t watching where you step, your jeans end up soaked.
I have met a couple friends in my FIG who I have studied with and done homework with. I have also met people in my Honors section who want to take similar paths as me, so it is nice to talk to them about those things, and also life in general! I learned about the wide variety of opportunities available to me in terms of undergraduate research, and I hope to take advantage of that. I think it will broaden my scope on a specific topic I am interested in, and also give me tools I can’t learn anywhere else.
By the end of my first year of Honors, I hope to learn something super specific in my honors classes, but be able to find many ways to apply it back to the real world. For example, I really love how specific each honors class, yet the broader ideas link back to society and can be stemmed off into multiple directions as well. Next quarter, I will be taking Honors 211 about prisons and their roles in society. I think this course will not only teach me more about incarceration in America, but also the effects of “bordered spaces” on our society. I was also super interested in two classes called “Ways of Feeling” and “Love: an unfinished syllabus”. This is what I mean when I say specific classes, they are very rarely offered in standard college classes. They have super specific topics, but are crucial to force yourself to think about when we talk about how society functions. This is what I think the interdisciplinary honors program will provide me, and I hope it will introduce me to a new way of looking at society, and the world.
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