The main purpose of this essay is to discuss my experience with course Global Experience. Moreover, it will also incorporate instances from my service learning at Yawkey club in Boston. This essay aims to tackle all of the questions provided by the professor.
First, I would define this semester as an extremely insightful journey. It was an interesting and fun road both inside and outside class. My integration with my service learning had been great because of the amount realization I got from the exposures. We were required 3 hours a week to serve in our chosen institution. It was not difficult to integrate the hours to our daily life because it was flexible and we always found a time to do it. A part from this requirement, I had experienced several other instances in my life wherein I was required to transition. One is during my parting with my high school days upon my entry to the university. During high school, I had a lot of free time that I used for spending time with my friends and family. However, it all changed when I entered Northeastern University because of the drastic change in workload. Now, I do not have the luxury of time to spend with my friends because of the workload.
But despite this difficult shift in environment, this semester I was able to develop within me good study habits. I use these habits in order for me to manage my time so that in the end I can get time off to spend with important people. A lot of the techniques I used are product of the learning I received from the professors here at the university. I know that these study habits that I developed will not only benefit me in college but also in the future. They allowed me to work more efficiently and effectively.
Furthermore, in this semester I feel that I have met the requirements and criteria in the syllabus. In class I have participated during discussions and as well as engage my classmates to course related discussions. I am satisfied with my presentations as I gave my all for each task assigned to me. The only thing that I feel was my weakness was my blog post presentation. Unfortunately during that instance, I had forgotten to post several blog posts. To be honest it has been difficult to remember to write them each week since it was usually due on Mondays and not the day before class. Despite this setback, I feel that both my tidiness and leadership skills increased this semester.
Looking back at my experience in the service learning, if I am asked what I could have done differently, I would say that I should have talk more actively with other people. As I mentioned earlier, it is difficult to get to know everyone and I wish that I had more time to talk more with each individual. Moreover, in this class with my service learning I would give my self a B because the reason stated above. I believe that I have met the class syllabus criteria and that I have done a good job participating in class discussion and being proactive.
I originally applied for Northeastern University for a major in business, but since my tests results was below the meeting requirement; I had to participate in American Classroom for one semester. To be honest, I did not know anything about the program before I arrived in Boston in the end of August. I did not know what to expect or how it was going to be. However, Northeastern University is my top choice and my dream school so I participated in American Classroom in order to matriculate into Northeastern University was never a question for me. I believe that I still would be interested in applying to Northeastern if I had the knowledge about the Global Experience course. The Global Experience course has been a great experience for me to adapt into the American culture and it has also made my English improve. The Global Experience course has also gone beyond that and thought me more about leadership and working in America.
In class we have discuss what makes a good leader and what characteristics that set apart leaders are. We also discussed how to behave while working in America, which will help us Northeastern “huskies” when we are going to work with our co-op. Furthermore, the topics that have been the most beneficial for me must be the leadership and resume lectures that we had on week 10 and 11. The reason why I chose these topics is because it helped build confidence in me especially in leading. My dream job is to be a CEO someday. In this line, leadership development is something that fascinates me. I often read books about CEOS and leadership skills for me to be familiarize with the nature of the business and the world.
The lecture we had in week 10 about leadership was very interesting because I have never discussed different leadership styles before and this gave me more insight in leadership. In addition, week 11 also added to the knowledge given by week 10 because it was work related. I started working on my resume before this summer and I finally got the time to polish and finish it in class.
If I had the opportunity to create my syllabus for the Global Experience course I would change some sections of it so that it would further improve. For example, I would increase the practical exposure of students so that they can integrate themselves more into the real world and its demands. I would also make the course more related to the student’s university majors. I would invite maybe more people earlier in the semester so that the students can get insight from several professions since many of the American Classroom students are undeclared. I believe this could help them find their desired major. Furthermore, I would not change the service learning because I believe this is a great opportunity for international students to adapt to the American culture and as well improve their English. However, the only thing I would change with the Service Learning is how it is organized because when my group and I first went to the location, they did not sign us in and did not give us any clear specifics jobs to do. So I would probably make this clearer if I had the opportunity to change the course. Moreover, I would also host more events because I found it very valuable when Ms. Charline Melon invited business people over to talk about their professions. This gave me insights and more confidence regarding my major decision. In the end, I am very satisfied with the course and it has been an extremely insightful journey. I feel ready to matriculate into Northeastern University now after completing one semester of American Classroom program.
