Cannot wait for spring

As the second half of February begins, I can't help to wonder if spring will arrive sooner or later. This winter however, has been quite pleasant, despite a few bitterly cold afternoons.  As the temperatures begin to gradually warm up, I often find myself daydreaming of all the warm weather activities just around the corner.  There is something about the fresh smell spring brings that I cannot get enough of.  As February turns into March and March into April, I can already begin to imagine the breath- taking transition of the ground from yellow and dead to green and full of life.  I can see all of the neighbors planting pink, yellow, purple and blue flowers in their yards.  The sound of the exhaust from a lawnmower that has not seen the light of day for a few months can be heard in the distance. All of the mentioned sights, sounds and activities are the experiences I feel during the beginning of a new spring season.  Spring however, may have many different meanings and/or experiences for many different people.  Such meanings or experiences provide new understandings and thoughts on what the true meaning of a yearly phenomenon, in this case spring, really means.  Perhaps new understandings will lead to new perspective of one's role during the beginning of a new season.    

Reflection on the Experience Synthesis Essay

After completing my synthesis essay on patience, I now am able to look at myself in a new perspective.  For once, I can feel something developing inside myself that shows how far I have come and how close I am to achieving many of my goals.  For me, patience wasn’t always something I could understand or wanted to develop.  With time however, I have begun to understand that the best things in life are worth waiting for.  After all, if everything was easy to accomplish and waiting had no meaning then nothing in this life would be special or significant.  My original design plan for this paper was to discuss, form and gain new perspectives within the qualities of perseverance.  It is true that perseverance helps get people through tough times.  It is also true however, that those who preserver through times of difficulty and uncertainty must first have the patience to push pass through those barriers and reach their desired goals.  During the last few weeks spent writing my paper, I have been able to see both my personal experiences and my continuing journey in developing patience form even deeper connections within myself and hopefully with those in my intended audience as well.  If I have not been able to form a connection with those sharing experiences similar to that of my own, then my work is not yet complete.  I am positive though that those in my audience will be able to find some connection to my writing about patience and their personal experience with it.  Patience impacts all of us in one way or another.  There are those who choose to develop it and prosper from it.  There are also those who would rather take the easy way out and skip the hard work that is required to reach any goal that is worthwhile.  I look forward to continuing my journey of developing patience in the years to come.    

Peer Reviewing: My Experiences

This week has been unique. For the past few days, I have been working on an experience synthesis paper, my first essay in college writing this semester.  What separates this paper from the rest in the past, is the peer reviewing sessions that have taken place in class this week.  In the past I was never fond of peer reviewing.  I was and still am today to an extent, a shy person.  Of the very few times I ever had to share my work with others, I would often feel embarrassed that the people reading my writing would look at or treat me differently afterwards.  I always felt like I was the worst writer in the class, that I was not good enough. Not only did I doubt my abilities to correctly review another classmate's paper, I didn't see any point in doing the work that a teacher would end up doing instead. After this week however, I can definitely say without a doubt in my mind, peer reviewing has allowed me to connect with my classmates. Peer reviewing helps the reader understand and perhaps get to know a little more about the classmate, whose paper they are evaluating.  The reader may be able to make connections with the writer and possibly form a friendship with them.  I look forward to getting to know more people through peer reviewing in the future this semester.