College classes provide students with the opportunity to really venture outside the standard classes. From specific history classes to futuristic physics courses, there are new avenues in every subject. parkerb, GWU ‘18, writes about his favorite class in college - a very challenging yet rewarding experience.
Without a doubt, both the hardest and most rewarding course I’ve taken at GWU so far has been Arabic—more specifically, first year Arabic. Since it’s an intro-level language course, pretty much all the students were freshmen, so for the first week or so of class we were all in the same boat: confused, disoriented, and more than a little overwhelmed. Little did I know that that’s the perfect recipe for making friends! We bonded very quickly over the sheer terror of the work required to learn the language, though none of us ever considered switching to another class. Despite how challenging it was, every one of us loved the course and our professor. Arabic, like most introductory language courses at George Washington, meets four times a week. With assignments due at the start of every class, I soon learned the importance of staying on top of my work and never missing a single lesson, lest I be thrown into a state of constant confusion and risk my grade.
I think what really made Arabic special was that we were all there because we genuinely wanted to learn the language and were willing to put in the work necessary to do so. Arabic is one of the most difficult languages to learn for non-native speakers—no one was there just to fulfill a requirement or take a blow-off class. The professor was incredibly helpful and nice, but she would also never accept anything less than my best. She knew how hard she could push us to make us fulfill our potential. In just the two semesters I’ve had her as a teacher, I now can read almost any kind of text and understand its general meaning. I never expected to come out of my first year of Arabic with such a vast of knowledge of the language and such an amazing group of friends.
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Debner
GWU
Accepted to U of Minnesota, Catholic UA, GWU
Theatre/French Major at George Washington University. Very involved in GWU MainStage Theatre.
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