Maya De Castro

Danyal Howard
ENGL 1302
28 Nov 2023

FINAL REFLECTION!
basically a diary entry… my bad!

God, for starters, this semester was a doozy. I enjoyed most of my classes (I did despise

my only art class which is ironic since I am an art major after all), managed to come out of my

shell a little bit more, and I’ve even started to look at school in an entirely new perspective! I’m

pretty proud of myself for finally being able to say that (I say, after having gone here for almost

three years now). It doesn’t seem as if a lot of time has passed, but when I look back at these

past few months, I realize how much I’ve changed as a person and how much I’ve been able to

accomplish. It’s honestly such a crazy thing to come to terms with. As corny as it may be, I’m a

different person now compared to the me I was at the start of the year, if anything, even from

the version of myself from four months ago.

Academically, I’ve been viewing my college experience in a waaaayyyy better light. I’ve

been very vocal about it before, but I was an avid hater of attending college, let alone UTRGV.

Here and there, I would just find a reason to despise every moment I was here. It wasn’t great…

at ALL! I’m not quite sure what shifted in the air, but I’ve been calming down a little more and

actively trying to find reasons as to why and how I can make the most of my time here. If I’m

going to be dedicating a significant amount of my time at the university, I might as well try to

enjoy it! Like, damn… I’ve really been going through the past few semesters bitter and

dissatisfied with everything. It was about time I started to switch it up! In all seriousness, being
able to get to the point where I can say that I don’t utterly despise being at school definitely

gives me some peace of mind. A breath of fresh air at least. It’s such a good feeling. I do still

have moments where I definitely don’t want to be here, but it’s not as bad as it was before.

Let’s go me!

On top of being able to genuinely enjoy my academic experience, I’m also proud to say

that I’ve been going out of my way to try and connect with my friends and family more. I’ve

turned over a new leaf! No longer am I going to be a chronic flaker, but instead I’ll make the

most of being around the people who I sincerely enjoy being around. I still have to work on

responding to people’s messages and continuing those conversations, but I’m at least glad to

step out of my comfort zone even if it’s just by a slight margin. I need to find a better way to

balance my social life with the time I take for myself, though. Even though I’ve been a little bit

better at being present with my friends, I’ve been really bad at trying to be present in my own

solo time. That’s definitely something I have to build on in these upcoming months. Not to

mention, I have to remember that I can’t always be out and doing things if I don’t address my

responsibilities first (or, at least, make sure I get them done afterwards). I’m getting there,

though. Slowly, but surely for sure.

For this class, I really enjoyed being present! You’ve been a kind and patient professor

with a lot of personality (something a lot of people on this campus lack, let me tell you). One

thing about this course that really forced me out of my comfort zone was trying to formulate

and polish up my research project. Eventually, I realized, “wait a minute, I’m not that passionate

about this,” but it was already way too late to switch it up. Oh well, amirite? I’m still pretty

satisfied with how I approached everything, but I definitely want to give myself some time to
actually think about what I’m passionate enough about. Something you said resonated with me

to the point where I even had to jot it down. It was something along the lines of “go explore the

world a little and figure out what you’re passionate about.” One of the many things I got out of

this course, so thank you for that. And, really, thank you for just making ENGL-1302 very

enjoyable with your stories, presence, and your amazing outfits!

All in all, there’s just so much I can keep reflecting on to the point I just might have to

bust out the journal I haven’t touched in months! AHHHH!!!! What an interesting semester

indeed. I hope it can only get better from here.