Anticipation

Morgan Rooney
MSMU Class of 2020

(5/2018) When asked to reflect on the semester, it wouldn’t be right to start from anywhere other than January. With each new year, many start off with resolutions- some harder to reach than others. Personally, I can’t say I have ever been known to follow through with my resolutions, whether they be to exercise five times a week, cook some old family recipes for dinner, or try to pick up the viola more in my spare time. Each new semester, both spring and fall, I must remind myself that it is a new start. I can start all my new classes with a clean slate, and start planning around my new work schedule. It is not about the New Year for me, but the clean slate in the semester that reminds me that I can potentially be successful in the classes I have chosen.

Because I am only a sophomore, and because I didn’t formally decide on a major until after the end of Freshman year, I’m only now really diving into the communication program and the potential career paths that will be open to me through it. It has been interesting taking different classes in the department and being able to write more journalistic articles for the school newspaper, The Mountain Echo, along with the more narrative articles I have written for the Emmitsburg News Journal, like this one.

These have brought me to attend events I wouldn’t normally attend and have challenged me to think deeper about things on which I wouldn’t normally reflect. Both have been great ways to break down my own boundaries and open up more than I had before. I don’t know what my future holds, but I am really excited to progress in the field and improve my writing and communication skills. This semester has really been a confirmation that this is the path I would like to continue to follow and I look forward to learning more so I can expand my horizons.

In addition to communication, I also have taken a variety of French courses with the hope of potentially double majoring in French Studies. This is the second semester in which I have been taking an Arabic through French course, where students learn basic Arabic while the class instruction is in French. Through this class, especially this semester as my Arabic and French is progressing, I have really been overwhelmed with the variety of cultures in the world that I don’t often think of.

After having taken this class, I feel as though an entire world has been opened up to me. Learning about people a world away only increases my eagerness to travel to different places and experience different cultures. When taking any language, especially Arabic, I feel as though there is no way it could not be a beneficial intellectual and cultural experience. As Arabic is extremely difficult for an English speaker to pick up, and my expertise only includes a very limited amount of the language. Despite the difficulty, however, I have already learned a lot. When I come across Arabic writing, I can’t help but to sound out the letters and try to figure out how the word is spoken. It’s really exciting to be able to take the things I’ve learned and apply them outside of the classroom.

This has truly been a semester filled with anticipation, for a variety of reasons. I have been planning for a while to go on the 2018 summer study abroad trip to Tours, France, where I will have the opportunity to learn and experience French culture as well as increase my proficiency in the French language. I will have endless opportunities to enrich my understanding of French culture including living with a French family and experiencing different aspects of French language, history, landmarks, and cuisine. To immerse myself completely into another culture will be such an amazing learning experience. I look forward to all the stories I will be able to tell.

Overall, I will be spending over a month in France and I could not be more eager to go! My whole life, I have always been looking forward to the opportunity of traveling abroad and the day is quickly approaching. Studying French has opened up so many windows for me and is something I really enjoy, even though I may not be the fastest learner in the world. I have already decided that I want to continue to improve my language skills for the remainder of my life, whether that be in French or any other language that I decide I want to try to pick up or learn a bit about.

Coming to the end of this semester marks a halfway point in my college career, which really puts things into a new perspective. Time has really flown! Three years ago, I did not know where I would be the following year, and now I am coming across that realization once again. This 4-year decision offered me a form of security, in my own mind at least. Even though I did not know exactly how life at a university would be or where it would take me, I knew I would be here for 4 years.

As the time goes by (very quickly), I am beginning to ask myself the questions I asked myself three years ago. Where will I go when it is finally time to leave this place? What kinds of careers or studies will I be pursuing? How will the experiences I have here affect my future? What kinds of opportunities will come my way? Although I am technically already an adult, it feels as if a much more “real adulthood” is approaching rapidly, and it is exciting and terrifying at the same time. The array of things I would like to accomplish and the unlimited possibilities makes the future look bright and fuels my eagerness to take myself there, wherever “there” might be.

Read other articles by Morgan Rooney