Self-Assessment Essay
Xhelion Lika
Prof. Miciah Hussey
Eng 210
May 23rd, 2023
As a European guy, English classes always take work for me. Considering that English is my second language and that this is my first year in the U.S., I was very nervous before the semester started. I didn’t know what to expect and what was actually going to happen. The first class went really well. My classmates were friendly, our professor was very nice and funny which is rare for a professor and the whole environment gave me such a positive vibe. That was a relief for me. The way we were sitting was very strange at first but I found it interesting. It was fun going to class and listening to every discussion that was held. I like the fact that the professor would read the readings with us that we had for each class and he would ask about our opinions about each paragraph or if we didn’t understand something. I learned so many new words and honestly, Google Translate became my best friend for the past 4 months. Workshops were helpful because I always needed that third eye for my papers. My classmates gave me ideas about what I should write. Also, conferences gave me a better understanding and I was able to get answers to every question that I had in my head.
Our first paper was writing a personal essay. I chose to write about the time when I was stuck in the Turkish airport for three days due to bad weather. I had never thought that I was going to elaborate on what happened there. It was my first time ever talking about that event. In the beginning, it seemed like it was going to be hard. I am good at telling stories but I never mention the emotional side of it. Especially when it is my story because I don’t like showing any emotion to people that I don’t know really well. This time it was different. Talking about the way I felt during this event was the whole point of the paper. I had to be specific and every detail was important. I had to go through pictures and videos again to try and relive those moments. It reminded me of the anxiety and the stress that was going through my body. The first draft that I wrote wasn’t that good. In the story, I mention my father because he was with me, but one of my classmates told me that I can use this detail to self-implicate myself in a way for being in that situation. This idea helped me throughout my whole writing process. I tried and gave my best and I wasn’t expecting our professor to tell me that I did a really good job.
For our second paper, we had to go to the Museum of Modern Art and write about a work of art of our choice. The one that I liked is called “Beirut by the Sea” by Marwan Rechmaoui. I really liked how the work of art looked and I read the history that inspired the artist to create it. It was important to write based on our own observations and how we interpret every detail. My thesis statement was strong but I made many other mistakes. I actually started googling about it and I wrote based on what Google said. I found another work of art that was almost the exact same as the one that I chose. The history was the same but there were more details that the first work didn’t have. We had to provide four different sources and I had only two. I think I stressed out more than I should have. My head wasn’t that clear and I misunderstood the whole point of this paper. During our last conference, our professor tried to explain to me what I should have done better but it was too late and I got mad at myself for messing up. But we learn from our mistakes and I got a lesson this time.
Overall, I really enjoyed this class. I thought it was going to be stressful but things went pretty smoothly. I would definitely recommend taking this class to my friends, so they won’t take these other boring English classes. It was fun reading new things every week. We were free to say our own opinion and to discuss it in groups. We also talked about some personal mental issues that we all have that we never say out loud. Being the only European in class and coming from a whole different culture and mentality, I felt very respected, and every person there was nice and kind to me. I will never forget this class and everything I learned and mastered here. Also, I will always be grateful to our professor for every advice and help that he gave me.
