Excelsior!

Well, that was unexpected.

I don't know quite what I thought a college English class would be like - there is a vague notion in my mind of lectures on participles - but this wasn't it. For once, my age-old formula for handling class - Read, Regurgitate, Repeat - wasn't going to work. The homework was nothing - the hard part of the class was that it forced you to think. That's a real change from high school.

To be sure, it wasn't all sunshine. The books and films - with the exception of V for Vendetta, of course - weren't quite what I would have picked. I never did enjoy violence. That is part of what college is, though, I suppose - exposure to new things and the broadenings of one's horizons.

Did I learn anything? Was the course useful? Yes! I did not learn to write, but rather to tailor my writing. I did not learn to read, but rather how to discuss what I had read. Instead of endless basic grammar and drills, we had a few papers that challenged us.

The most important thing about this course, though? It was interesting! One day we discussed whether it is wrong to do wrong to do right, the next day child soldiers. After lecture after lecture, this was a class that I could look forward to.

I wish I could retake it.