The semester for me has been surprising in a number of ways. First off, I realized that I was in the wrong major; it took a few months of thinking and deliberating, but I can finally say I’m making the right choice in moving away from music education, which is what I entered Penn State for. I’m currently exploring a double major, which will be difficult, especially considering that none of their classes overlap at all, but I’m willing to give it a shot. In terms of RCL and what I’ve learned over this semester, there are a few things. I’ve never been challenged by an English class before, so that was new and honestly kind of refreshing. I’ve actually had to put effort into this class, whereas in high school I could pretty much coast. I’ve also learned the importance of rhetoric and the like on our daily lives. I’ve never considered, for example, how daily items have different connotations and rhetorical value. I go through my day seeing new things and implications in mundane objects, which is interesting and gives a new spin to how I see the world around me.
Giving the speech and TED Talk was difficult, too, but as a musical performance major it helped to be put into that situation. I’m comfortable performing with an instrument, but simply speaking, there is nothing between you and the audience and that can be difficult. Putting myself in that situation where I was not in my comfort zone definitely helped my performance by making me adapt to new situations and keep my calm even when I was stressed about a grade.