Thoughts

Blogging is hard workLast semester I really wanted to take another class offered by Steve called Abroad at Home which is kind of taught in the same manner as this one, with the only difference being that there was an actual class setting. Because I had a class that conflicted with the time, I set up an Independent Study with Steve based on the class he was teaching. I had so much fun with the class, and even though I wasn't necessarily a part of it in the traditional sense, I still felt like I was. I was able to set up meetings with Steve, exchange e-mails, I received comments from him and his classmates and was incited to stop by the class whenever I could. For some reason this time around felt isolating and I'm not exactly sure why. One of the problems I believe, stems from the fact the students going to BA start much later than the rest of the study abroad kids, and our posts just don't coincide with one another. Because of this, it's really difficult to really get a feel of your progression. I know there's probably no way to really fix that, but I guess it's just something to point out. I notice that this time around there's a lot more open topics than last semester which is great and the readings were really good as well. There were times when I felt that the prompt for the next blog post didn't necessarily apply to my own experiences and I had a lot of difficulty being able to articulate my experiences in a way that I felt was appropriate for a class setting. The posting schedule at times felt rushed. But I guess that's my fault for being so behind.

Having already taken the class before, I felt that there was a noticeable difference in the amount of response I got from Steve this semester as opposed to last semester. I was surprised when he emailed me to see if I was ok because of the lack of me posting, and even proclaimed to him jokingly that I thought he had forgotten me. Maybe I was just spoiled last semester, but sometimes I didn't even think anyone was reading my posts. There was a lot more correspondence between a poster and a commenter that I didn't really see this time around.

This class will always have a special place in my heart though. Even if its not time for me to post a blog, I find myself internet surfing and still finding myself back here. Sometimes I still can't believe this is a class. Where else can you find a class where there's a bunch of student traveler-bloggers, travel internships, travel news, travel scholarships and youtube videos all in one.