Background/Expectations

I have never been particularly fond of writing, but ever since the third grade I have been involved in some type of accelerated English program. I always showed up to class, but rarely paid attention, and always completed my homework, but never with enthusiasm. Math has always been my favorite subject, even though my English grades often surpassed those in math, and by the end of my freshman year in high school I noticed a correlation between the classes I liked and the grades I received: I always enjoyed the classes that challenged me the most. I was never really brilliant in music, or physics, or math, but I spent time outside of class working on those subjects (unusual for me) and ended up choosing acoustical engineering as a major - a discipline that combines all three of those.
My primary reason for electing to take English 108 was that I expected it to be challenging. I also expect, and hope, that this course will break up the monotony and boredom that have confronted me in every English class that I have ever taken. Judging from the first day of class and the reading list, my expectations seem valid. When I walked into class, I expected to hear that we would be reading Austen, or Shakespeare, or Tolstoy, but was surprised that we would be reading books that I might actually read on my own if not for class. I hope to gain from this class a deeper respect for modern literature and its adaptation to film.