An after-class reflection

Throughout the whole semester, I have written more than 18 essays for my ENG 101 class’s blog. Wow, I never imagined myself accomplish that much before. At my home university in Cambodia, I only had to write around 5 essays at most for my writing class. It is surprising that I can survive this semester. Looking back, I have exposed to a variety of writing topics, the one that I have never thought of before, and learnt a lot from those writing in term of writing process.

Most of our blog entries were narrative or reflective work. Each topic had its own theme and focus. Writing for those blog entries might have been a daunting task for me, but at the same time they encouraged me to think a lot especially about my past experience. They are like a memory tools, stimulating your brain to work, to think, and eventually some memories flashed back, the memories from childhood, high school, etc. For example, the assignment to produce a reflection on the article “Shame” leaded me to think of my experience at school. While trying to think what to write about, the image of my first day at school just popped in my mind. In fact, I almost forgot what happened, but this writing prompt helped me to get my memory back.

In fact, each topic prompted me to think, to invent. Because of the time limited to write, I did not have enough time to think much about what I was going to write. So I just made an outline in my mind, thought of what was the main idea and then started writing immediately. This is all against what I have been taught in school. Of course, we are taught that as part of the writing process, writer should spend some time produce a list, a map, a cluster of their ideas. But with this class, I only had 50 minutes to write maybe a 750-word paper. Given to the fact that English is not my native language, I just cannot devote some time jotting down ideas as I have always been taught. Nonetheless, brainstorm the ideas in my mind does work though I might forget occasionally.

After completing each entry, which was not yet to be posted, I browsed quickly to check if all my paragraphs were consistent, had topic sentence, match the thesis statement, so on and so forth. I checked if I needed any more details somewhere, or if there were digressions that I needed to cross out. My revising strategy was to find the topic sentence of each paragraph and see if each of them grouped together would complete the message in the thesis statement. Again, due to limited time, I did not read everything all over again and again like I did with other papers. I did all this revising stage very quickly. So the revision could only be limited to check the development and organization of ideas. I did not have time to check my grammar or word uses. But not having time to check on grammar or word uses were not a huge problem to me because even though I might have made some mistakes, that did not hinder my reader’s comprehension of my essay, at least this is what I think.

At first, I did not really like this class. I even thought of dropping it. But my friend convinced me not to because she knew that we could learn something from that class. Now I am glad that I did not do it; otherwise, I would have missed an opportunity to learn more about writing. My perspective on writing has changed now. At first, I do not appreciate it at all; in fact, I view it as a torturing activity especially when I had no idea what I should write about. Now, because I have been forced to write, my writing proficiency is improving and I can write pretty fast. Eventually, I view writing as a time when I decipher my ideas and thoughts into written words. I even keep my own journal of my life in America. I mean I have kept diary before but I was in my own language, now that I can write in English pretty well, I have switched to English.

Now that it is the end of the semester, I can see that my overall improvement in writing skills is quite impressive, I can write better and in a limited allocated time. This is partly because I have done it for ENG 101’s blog entry. It has taught me a different way of writing strategies from what I used to, and given me another view what writing is about.

My plans for the upcoming winter break

Final exams are approaching in less than three weeks. Everybody is working hard. Scary as it might sound, but the prospect of the long nice break after that is really worth fighting for. In less than three week, I will have my first winter break in the United States. Since I will only stay in the States till May, I want to make use of this break to its fullest potential and get as much as possible. In fact, there are many plans that I am looking forwards to do, right after the finals.

Right after my last exam on Thursday, I will dine out with my friends. Actually, their finals are not over until Friday, but because some of them, the exchange students, will leave the States on Saturday, we decide to make use of our last time together as well, even if it means to take our time from reviewing for the class. It is going to be their last days and their program is over, so they just say “whatever”. However, the party is not over yet on Thursday, we have another one on Friday and it is not going to be over until the next morning. Every international student from France, Finland, Mexico, Germany, Mongolia, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan, those we have met is going to be there. How exciting!


I will spend the rest of my break with my best friend in. She is a medical student at college over there. We have known each other for more than 5 years already and the last time I met her was just before I came to Evansville this fall. Though it has just been like four months but I miss her already. So the prospect of spending my entire break with her is thrilling, I cannot wait to talk to her again. We also have plans to visit different places in Boston and the surrounding cities. Especially, we are going to countdown for the arriving of 2010 in New York City! I heard that it would be crazy out there, but I do not care because it would be the highlight of my stay here in the States. We will also go to some museums It has always been my dream to see the famous New York City. However, at some point, I am scared of the madness here as well and the thing is that I am quite small compared to the average American people. There are some interesting museums in New York, especially the Imperial Palace. So
those places are sure on my travel agenda as well. Another two closed friends are also joining us later. So this meeting will even lighten all of us up.

Probably, I am also seeing my relatives in the course of this winter. They are living in Washington D.C and it seems like years since I last saw them. If I do have chance to go there, I hope to visit various places of interest in this well-known city. However, I am still not sure about the plan because I will still go there again next March for my program workshop. So I think I can put it off until March and take time going to other places instead.

Having come from a tropical hot country, I am also looking forward to see snowfall. It would be the first time in my life to see snow and I am just super excited about it. Probably, skiing is a good idea as I have obviously never done that before. I have yet to find out where I can do the sports. But if it is too costly, I would need a second thought on the plan.


My flight back arrives in St. Louis several days before spring semester starts, so chances are I might spend few days traveling and visiting places there. Though it wouldn’t be my first time in that city, there are still many more places I have not got the opportunities to see yet. Nevertheless, I am all by myself. Hence, I am not really sure if I can do it or not. I still need to get information beforehand or I will get lost in the city.

In a nutshell, I am looking forward to enjoy winter break after few months of studying. There are some plans which I am sure of, and there are others which I still have to think about it. Nevertheless, just the prospect of the vacation alone leaves me with excitement. No doubt that I will have the best winter break ever.

Preparations for the final weeks of fall semester

Probably, the last 2 or 3 weeks at the end of the semester are both stressful and exciting moment in any college, stressful in that students are preparing for exams while the thought of the long holiday after that makes make them excited. Like no other, I am feeling the same combination of stress and excitement. No matter what, to be a successful student, one needs to be well-prepared. Now that the semester is nearly finished, there are some major assignments and some reviews to be done before I really can enjoy the after “end-of-the-semester chaos” moment.


Of course, there is a final portfolio for this ENG 101 class waited to be finished. There is not very much work to do, but I need to fill in more words and ideas to fulfill the word requirement for each blog posts as well as there are some mechanical problems I need to take care of before finally submit the final portfolio for evaluation. I plan to put up some pictures and make it more interesting. Moreover, I missed 2 blog posts, so I have to fill them in as well. I think it is not a really difficult task but I have to be careful and put effort in refining it as well.

Class presentation and research project assignment for ENG 490 class is one of my major concerns this semester. Just the fact that it accounts for 50% of my final grade already makes me nervous, not to mention the course’s demand for student’s critical and analytical thinking in the final exam. But no matter how hard it is, it is my favourite class; thus, I want to end it with glory. So I am now working hard on it, trying to grasp all the ideas and theories discussed in class and in students’ blogs. Hopefully, I am on the right track.

Now come to class that is outside my current major, ANTH 262. Preparation for this class exam requires lots of reading reviews and as part of my plan I am going to do it very soon. What is hard for me is to write a 6-page paper analyzing archaeological sites. It is a little bit challenging for me because some of the readings are not really technical and complex in its nature. I am working on it now; luckily there is no presentation accompanied the project, if not I would be in a very tight schedule.

Introduction to International Studies is probably my easiest class because there is not much workload and the level of difficulty is fine for me. Of course, given to the nature of this class with lots presentation of fact and information, there are a vast amount of information I need to study and remember in order to do well in the exam. Since it is not so difficult, this presents little challenge for me, fortunately. However, what I really need to work on is the upcoming class debate. It is difficult due to the fact that I am not a native speaker of the language itself, and I am not really good at debating, that is presenting with viewpoints, arguments, and examples, such and such. It is not talent. Still, I have to do it well. So what I am doing now is to be well-prepared for that debate by reading and planning my speech/argument.

After all the assignments and presentations finished, it is time to think about exam preparation. Fortunately, I only have to take two exams so the workload would not be that bad, hopefully. Actually, I think those exams will not be very difficult if I read and prepare well. They are not memory-based question and consist merely of multiple choice questions. Compared to the dreadful exams back home, I feel better here.

A tiring semester must be ended with a happy cherish moment. But how can I get that? I think I have to try my best in the exam, so that I will be able enjoy the last moment without fear of failing. Moreover, we the international students are going to have a farewell party for those who are leaving home after the fall semester. It is sad to say goodbye but it is a must to party. It is exactly how I hope my first semester at USI as well as in the States ends. But like it is generally well said “no pain, no gain”, to have fun I have to sacrifice my energy, trying to work hard for all the classes.

My friends in America

The definition of friend varies from context to context, country to country. In my country, friend is someone who is closed to me, who spend lots of time with me, who accompany me everywhere, and vice versa. In American context, however, anyone can be called friend. The American is quite easy in making friendship, but the relationship between the acquaintances is not closed. Having been told about this upon my arrival, I was little bit scared, scared that I would be lonely because I usually had friends beside me in my country while I totally by myself here. In fact, I think I am very lucky to have formed friendship with three wonderful girls, a Mongolian, a Mexican and an American, 2 of which are my suite-mates. There are several activities that we do together every day and week.

On normal weekdays, all of us would plan our mealtime together. Though we cannot always group together, the four of us, because of different class schedule, none of us ever eat lunch or dinner alone. It is funny that right after lunch, one would ask “So when is dinner?” Then another would joke that “How come? We just finish lunch, now you already think about dinner?”

Similarly, we do our self-study together even if we are not doing the same classes. After lunch, some of us would go to the library and do homework together until the appointed mealtime in the evening. Given to our talkative nature, we always try to find a study room so as not to bother other students, or rather so that we can talk. After dinner, we would go back to our dorm, chat a little bit, and start doing our homework again. The girl who lives across the hall would bring all her study material to our common room and then study time begins. It is good to study together like this, but sometimes we find ourselves talking more than studying. Nevertheless, we can be very serious in our study when any of us has test or quiz the next day.

In addition, we have what we called “addiction time” some time during our study time in the evening. It is done when we want to take a break from our study. Each of us has our own favourite snack, 2 of us like cigarettes, the American girl like peanut butter, and I like coke. They are our addictions, but we do not have them in our common room because the two girls have to smoke outside. So we have our regular place which we called “the smoker’s club” because it is where all smokers in our dorm spend time with their cigarettes. Once in a while, I call it “creeper’s club” for their lots of creepy people hanging out there.

Furthermore, when all of us are free from study, usually at the weekend, we have our family time. We call it “family time” because we view our group as a family rather than just normal friend. This is when we, the family members, spend time hanging out in our common room, chatting. Other international friends who know us say we are one of the most talkative people they have ever met. Yes, they are right. We can talk for hours on endless time. But there are also times when we just group together and have “Ramen noodle party”. Occasionally, one of us would try to find a good movie from the library to watch together for our family time.

Last but not least, we like to go off campus at the weekend. Almost every weekend, we are invited to join some parties of other international students from Saudi Arabia or Europe. We talk, play games, and dance in those parties. One of my friends from Mexico would demonstrate her dancing talent from Latin America. She dances beautifully. If we do not go to any party, we like to go the movies in a stadium near campus or eat out in a Mexican or Japanese restaurant somewhere in Evansville.

People who know us comment on our strong bond of friendship in spite of our differences in nationalities and cultures. We are also proud of this bond. Sadly, two of us will have to go back home after this fall semester. It is sad but that’s life. At least, in the time being, we are trying our best to enjoy each other companion as much as possible.

What will I do in the future?

I am a planning type of person. I make plan for everything, from my daily activities to my annual goals. Facebook application “What will you be in the next 5 years” said I’d be just doing the same thing, isn’t it funny? But in fact I already have plan for myself. If according to what I have planned, in the next five year, I will be finishing my graduate study somewhere outside Cambodia, either in the United States, Australia, or somewhere in Europe.

By 2014, I hope to get a scholarship, preferably Fulbright Scholarship, for a graduate school. In fact, there are lots of scholarships available for students in Cambodia. Though competitive it might be, I believe I stand the chance, given to my academic performance and qualifications. I prefer Fulbright Scholarship because it is the most prestigious scholarship in my country, in probably in many other countries. Also, I want it because I want to come back to the United States again. Moreover, I will be graduating with a master degree in International Development. I choose this subject area because I hope to help develop my community, society and country. It is important that my country has human resource in development, so that she can rebuild and bring up herself to the international stage. Definitely, I am aspired to be part of it. Indeed, I was inspired by a professor of mine in my home university. He encouraged me to pursue my pursuit in life, that is to work to help others.

Then come to a question: what will I be after graduate school? What will I do in the next 10 years from now? Indeed, I will be working as a community developer, occasionally trekking somewhere in rural communities in my country. I hope to work in any international agency such as the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP), World Bank or United States Agency for International Development (USAID). I will be involving in large-scale operation across the country. I will have project of my own working in the field of education, to make education accessible to those living far from populated areas. I will be able to apply all the knowledge I learn from schools to my working field. I want to do it because I believe that it fits my personality. I like to travel, see different people and help others. At the same time, I do not want to spend most of my time away from my family. So I just want short-term missions outside my place.

A job in any of these agencies is financially benefited. What I mean is those who work for them cannot expect to be rich or receive huge sum of wages. Nevertheless, they do make a high standard living, at least in Cambodian society. Thus, finance will not be an issue for me if I am able to get a job from any of those organizations. I do not have the ambition to among the high-class people with lots of money and luxurious lifestyle, what I want is just a job that makes me satisfied and proud of myself. Plus, I want to travel to places where people not normally go. Thus, community developer sounds like a good job.

Actually, I have formed my own philosophy of good life. For me, a life that worth living is the one that involves outsiders of our family being happy along way with us. It might sound like a missionary work, trying to help other reach god, but in my case I want to help other reach the standard of living that the majority of people in my society consider as good and healthy. I have been raised in a middle-class family; however, in my country I have witnessed a lot of misfortunes happening to people in my society. I feel that as a patriot I should help them to reach the level I am now as well, to help them live like human as others.

A plan that is not yet active is still a plan. Now that I have a definite plan, I am trying to implement it into action. I am trying to build my qualifications as many as possible. As a result, in the next 5 years, I will be graduating with my desired area of expertise, and in the next 10 years, I will be somewhere in the working world trying to transform theories into fieldwork.

Changes I have made in my studying habits

Compared to my home university, professors here at USI give lots of workloads to student; as a result, I have to stay up late every night to complete the tasks, most of which are due on the next day because I am a procrastinating-type of person. Every week, I have around a hundred pages of reading and at least two written essays. Moreover, I have to spend at least 5 hours a week tutoring at the Writing Center as part of my ENG 490 class’s fulfillment. I have never ever given this much workloads before, never before I came to USI. To comply with the changes of school work, I attended the Academic Skill’s Success Series Workshop to get some useful study tips. Eventually, I have devised my own plan of study strategies.

First, I start to use daily planner. Back home, it never occurred to me that daily planner was a useful tool to keep track of our study habits since I did not have lots of stuffs to record. At that time, I was so disorganized. I felt that I spent each of my days with no realistic goals and tasks. I rarely planned what tasks to be achieved that day. That was partly because I did not have lots homework back then, so I spent most of my outside-class time doing other stuffs like reading books, not textbooks, watching tv show, or listening to music. But here, I have to be very cautious with what I am doing; otherwise I would end up staying up late completing my homework, sometimes until 2 or 3 in the morning. Usually, my daily plan list exceeds the available space, so I have to stick in extra sheet. There are just too many things to do in a day. Thus, it is necessary that I use the daily planner to record my daily school work; otherwise, I would get side-track for sure.

In addition, in every class, I have to be very cautious and focused. Part of the reason is because English is not my first language and professors do talk fast since they are native speakers. Oftentimes, I find myself missing some information from the lectures no matter how attentive I am. In one particular class, which is mainly lectured-typed, which I am not so much used to, I always need to have coffee by my side during the whole class or I will pass out. Actually, the class is interesting but still do not know why I cannot stay awake in that class. When I was at my school in Cambodia, I did not usually pay that much attention; still I could do well in class. But it is not the case here at USI.

Furthermore, here I am pressured to read before class. I feel like I have to be well prepared before class if I want to succeed at USI. It is not the same in Cambodia. Then, though I did not usually do class reading, I was still be able to keep up with what my instructor was saying. Here if I just miss even one class reading, I feel like I am in the middle of nowhere, do not understand, at least to some extent, to topic being lectured or discussed in class.

Another similar change I have made to adapt student life here is writing. In some classes, I have to write a lot and only in limited time. Thus, I have to think and writer faster and much more than ever. I feel like a writing machine sometimes though. Writing is particularly difficult for ESL student like me. Usually, I cannot find the right words to express my ideas or that I could complete the number of essay requirement in the limited time because I could not write fast enough. In contrast, I can write up to 2 or 3 pages in just an hour if it is in my native language. Nevertheless, my writing is getting better and faster now, thanks to all the school work I have been given in class.

In a nutshell, after almost 3 months of studying at USI, I can see that my studying habit has changed tremendously. It is more organized and effective. I will bring this habit back home so as to better improve my study.

My future career path

Having grown up in a developing country like Cambodia, I cannot always choose any type of career like people here in America. In our country, there are certain needs for some types of skills and specialists that would help develop the country such as doctors, teachers, bankers, economists, engineers…, etc. Career in astronomy, for example, is out of the spot. Thus, my choice of future career is somehow shaped by social demand as well. Nevertheless, I love what I am doing in college; that is getting a degree in Teaching English, but my career choice extend beyond more that as an English teacher.

Few forces have driven me to my present major—TESOL. In Cambodia, especially in the city, it is important to learn English. Not that because it is part of the school curriculum but because the language would help in any future career one is pursuing. Understanding this, my mother always pushed me to learn the language since middle school, when I was quite a lazy student back then. However, my interest in the language started to form up when I was finally able to read books and listen to music in English. I would say my curiosity in learning about western cultures through books and music also partly inspired me to love English. I was fortunate enough to secure a scholarship at college that was well-known for its English teaching. That college was full of great professors whose English were fluent. Having them as my instructors, I aspired to be like them one day. It was not until then that I decided that I wanted to be an English professor so as to inspire others to love the language as I do.

Love as I may, Teaching English is not the type of work I want to do for the rest of my professional career. There is more I want to contribute to my country other than teaching English. Indeed, I love to work with rural poor communities in my country. I am aspired to help lift them out of poverty. That is why I also hope to work in the field of community development. It may sound unlikely that a student in Teaching English as a Foreign Languages like me would choose a career path in development. However, I believe that a community developer definitely needs the skills which, to some extent, relate to teaching because development’s worker needs to conduct training, research, evaluation…, etc. Plus, by working in the field of development, I hope to promote awareness of the importance of education as a powerful weapon in fighting against poverty in rural villages, where a large proportion of school-aged children do not have access to primary or secondary education.

Nonetheless, I know that I need more specialties other than English Education to make my career pursuit realistic. Hence, I plan to pursue in graduate school in a field of international development. It might be hard for an English major student to change her study course to development. But I am building my background in this field right now. I am now in an exchange program in the United States to learn more about American community; I am taking course in International Studies in addition to the ones in English major; in the upcoming spring semester, I am going to take class in communication as I believe it would help me when I directly work with the community.

People who have heard me talking about my professional plan might have thought that it is unrealistic because I am doing two things at a time—teaching English and working in community development. In fact, it is common in my country to do this especially when one of your works is teaching English. Once I complete my graduate study in development, I will work for an organization, hopefully the United Nation Development Program, in helping rebuilding Cambodia. I want to initiate program that benefit the poor, that help them rebuilding their lives. Additionally, I would also work as a part-time English professor like my instructors who have inspired me.