I survived Geog 1!

Now we are down to this last requirement before I can finally say, “Hay salamat! Makakatulog na rin.” This course, to be honest has been one of the most excruciating subjects I have ever had. I did not expect it to be this hard. I mean, I often hear people saying “madali lang yang Geog 1” and “chill lang ang Geog 1.” But please don’t get me wrong, I do not regret the day that I asked Sir Palis to accept me in his class. Actually, after all the blogs, group projects, quizzes and individual assignments that I have accomplished without any failing grade or late submission, I can say that I ended this semester as a better student. It may have been very exhausting but it gave me a lot of realizations and taught me lessons in life. Let me tell you some of the most memorable experiences I had in Geog 1.

Basically how I look like when reading

Photo from http://www.betterparenting.com/get-your-kids-some-boring-books/

The quizzes, to be honest had been a burden for me. Not being a bookworm, it was not easy for me to read ten to fifty pages every week. Before I start reading a sentence, I would have to convince myself for an hour or so.  I often wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning to read them and continue as I ride the jeepney and bus to school. And yes, you can say that I crammed reading a lot of them. And it is kind of ironic that the ones that I crammed the most are those that I got perfect scores at; and the ones that I did studied hard for are the lowest. Crazy right? But after all the eleven quizzes, I can say that I learned a lot. If I were not forced to read them, then maybe I would not be able to get what Sir Palis was talking about.

The blogs have also been quite challenging for me. I am not a great writer. I can tell. And I have also accepted that fact that I am not that good in the English language. I am not like some of my classmates who write blogs when they are bored or when they just want to say something. So writing a blog of seven hundred to a thousand words was really a great challenge for me. It usually takes me a couple of days and nights to finish a single blog. It was really exhausting but after I finish every blog, it makes me feel really good. I am often surprised of myself that I was able to do them. The blogs made me little proud of myself as I say “uy, it’s not that bad.” I never thought that I could do it just until now.

My drawing skills have not developed since kindergarten

Photo from http://www.principalspage.com/theblog/archives/we-need-more-8-year-old-kindergarten-students

The drawing assignment of AS parking lot had also been a struggle for me. If there is one thing I can’t do, it’s drawing. I really have no talent in this at all. Even when I was in grade school, I would ask my mom or my sister to draw for my assignments so please bear with me. And that also was the problem that I and my group mates in the group assignment had. How unlucky it is that none of us know how to draw. But I am not mad with them because at least there was someone who has skills in Adobe Photoshop. Well, thanks to Migo! He saved our group! But aside from our lack of drawing skills, we also had a hard time in conceptualizing. Globalization as a topic was kind of hard and challenging because there were a lot of things about it. Many of readings have mentioned the topic. So what we did was compare the core and periphery. We did it simple and we thought that Sir Palis wouldn’t like our project but we were happy that he actually did. I was just kind of pissed off that some of my group mates were not that concerned for our group output. I can say that I contributed enough in the concept making and leading the group and I expected that those who were not able to attend the meetings, be it in person or online would take the initiative to print out our project; but they just didn’t. I understood some of their reasons but there was just this one person who had a lame excuse of having a class from seven to four in the afternoon with no breaks. It just did not make any sense because if it’s true then it means that have all eighteen units during Tuesdays and Thursdays. So I was left with no choice and took the task instead.

That would be all. As you can see this course had been a test to my reading, writing and drawing skills. It was not easy but I am proud of myself that I made it! Thanks to Sir Palis! If not because of him, I would not be able to believe that anything is possible.