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Stephen Henderson
UNST 121 Prof. Bagley
1/21/14
PSU Term One: A Retrospective
As I begin my second term here at Portland State University, Im inclined to think back
on my first college term. It was full of ups and downs, as well as many unexpected experiences,
and lots of firsts. Of course, the most obvious first would be the fact that its the first time Ive
completed one term of higher education as its called. But there are many others. I wrote my
first college essays, completed my first classes, and unfortunately, dropped my first class. I
realized quite quickly that 17 credits was a bit much for me, especially when I didnt enjoy one
of the classes I was in.
Surprisingly, college wasnt the first place that I actually enjoyed getting up and going to
class. Ive had plenty of boring, repetitive, why am I here type of classes in high-school, but
there were also a few fun ones. I still find that I enjoy classes the most when theyre both
entertaining to my sense of learning, yet still challenging academically. And so far all of my
classes at PSU have been that way. Last term I had 3 classes, Film Analysis, German 1, and the
Design and Society FRINQ. All of them were fun in their own way, and they were all definitely
a challenge. Not an impassable obstacle, but enough to occupy my time and help me really learn
things.
My film analysis class was definitely my favorite of last term. It provided my first look
into the film school here at PSU, as well as giving me an outlet for my compulsive need to talk
about movies all the time. On the first day of class I could tell that I would enjoy spending time
in that room with a group of people just as in love with film as I was. This class provided even
more knowledge than I expected, as we did two projects that required us to write, storyboard and
then produce a short film. These films may have been only 30 seconds and 2 minutes in length,
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but it was a start. I was falling in love with film production, and everything involved in that.
However, film analysis had its low times as well. Our midterm was simply 5 short answer and
short essay questions, but they were complicated, difficult questions. Not many people had
stellar results, but I did even worse than that. I ended up with a 50/100 on the midterm, which
was the first time Id ever failed a test. It was crushing at first, but I had to consciously tell
myself to learn from my mistakes, and try harder in the future. And with that attitude, I charged
through the second half of the term with a newfound sense of determination.
Interestingly enough, at roughly the same time of this midterm crisis I was falling
behind in my reading of our book from last term, Brunelleschis Dome. So it was good that I
rediscovered my academic drive, because it helped me to power through the end of the book,
study hard, and ultimately, fail a second midterm. My results were not at all what I expected. So
it was definitely a relief to see that most of the class did as poorly as I did. Regardless, I knew I
had to change something. So I put more efforts into my studying, and working on the term paper,
as I knew it was an opportunity to help my grade. That term paper was really my pride and joy of
the term, and I really think its one of my favorite papers Ive written. Naturally, I was excited to
get a 39/40 on it. That really tied the term together.
German was an interesting class to be taking alongside such difficult classes, as it wasnt
nearly as challenging, but just as enjoyable. Ive always been one to easily pickup languages, and
German 1 is no different so far. The thing thats been most challenging about it is the very
different way in which its being taught to me. Im used to learning languages from a very basic
level of vocabulary and grammar, then moving on to more complex ideas and words. In German,
we started off by learning some of those basics, but then jumped right into the whole idea of
travel, and survival vocabulary for being in a foreign country. I like that the goal of this program
is to get people to travel, and that my professor is preparing us as quickly as possible.
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So it was a good first term, and I really enjoyed all the experiences I had. From making
movies in my film analysis class, building bridges in FRINQ, to learning a new language, I really
hope that my entire college experience continues to be this exciting.

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References
Misforstaler. Dir. Keaton Suskie, Alex Edmonds. Perf. Stephen Henderson, Alex
Edmonds. Youtube, 2013. Film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra7ZkN4g6io
2013 Fall Term Research Essay. SAH in PDX: Year One. Weebly. n.d. Web. 21 Jan.
2014 http://sahendo67.weebly.com/inquiry--critical-thinking.html
Attractions. Places of interest, Cultural Destination, Sights + Travel. N.p, n.d. Web. 21
Jan. 2014. http://www.frankfurt-
tourismus.de/cms/tourismussuite/en/sightseeing_frankfurt_rhine_main/sights_travel_guid
e/