Student Blogs

I have to say, this course, which I mostly took to fulfill the lit requirement, ended up being one of the more enjoyable courses I’ve taken so far. Like most, I think that the course surprised me in what it … Continue reading → read full post >>

It feels so weird finally ending this semester. It’s as if we have only been reading for a couple weeks and not 13. There is so much to write down about this course but I want to start off with saying how this is totally not what I envisioned this course to be at all. […] read full post >>

Wow! I can not believe how fast this semester has gone. For the final week, I chose to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers. This was surely one of the longest reads and once again, I am not too knowledgeable of the history of the Angolan Independence which does add a level of complexity when […] read full post >>

This week I chose to read my Brilliant Friends. I really enjoyed this week’s reading and can say that it was really interesting to me. I felt that the story flowed really well and it was a pretty captivating story. … Continue reading → read full post >>

Hi everyone, this is the last Blog for this course. Registering for this course, I believe is a big step forward in my career development. At least in the past few days of my previous life, I never imagined that I would be a serious reader, and at least in those days, I did not […] read full post >>

When reflecting back on this class and all the novels I had the pleasure of discovering and reading I find myself a bit awestruck by the sheer amount of incredibly diverse, yet astoundingly reminiscent of one another these various works were. While I do love reading I found this class a tad challenging in that […] read full post >>

I truly loved this class. I am a Psychology major minoring in Creative Writing, so this class itched the nerve that’s been left neglected for a long time. It gave us openings to history, narratives, validating reflections, and many more. My favourite aspect of this class was our ability to speak freely with no censorship. […] read full post >>

Before taking Romance Studies 202, I had previously taken Romance Studies 201, so I was prepared to continue furthering my interest in the literature of the Romance world. When I was first introduced to this course, I was excited to to read more literature, as what most I had been reading late, were essays and […] read full post >>

 I really enjoyed the uniqueness and the flow of this class. Being able to read all the different novels was really interesting to me. This was something that really helped bring back my love for reading that I had lost overtime. I think this is because the novels were very interesting and were so different from each other but all seemed to have different connections which is what really pushed me to keep reading the novels. I loved the theme of childhood and memories that result from the novels and I think it was something that I really connected with which lead me to have a greater understanding of these novels. It was really interesting that these novels were from different cultures, different languages and different places as it showed me bits and pieces of culture which was really interesting to be able to interpret and even compare. I really enjoyed reading the different delivery and writing styles in the novels as well, being able to work harder or focus more when it came to the storyline of different novels really seemed to grow me as a reader and I think as a student overall. I found it really challenging to do so, but more in a positive way, as something that further pushed my interest as well as my drive to learn more, dive into the novels, and to really try and understand and respect the author's writing and art overall. I really enjoyed the grading contract and delivery of grading for this course overall. I think it led to more flexibility as well as more comfort in knowing what grade you were going to receive. I found this to help me reduce stress as well as to be able to plan everything better and stay more organized throughout the semester. I found it very helpful to know the future outcome of my grade. It was almost like a reward to know that I worked hard to get the grade that I planned for and almost felt as though it was like setting a goal. Overall, this was one of my most enjoyable classes and it really opened up my mind to literature. This class leads me to want to explore more romantic novels and I think overall the texts I've experienced in this course have grown me both as a person and as a student and lead me to learn new and interesting information throughout the art of these novels or texts.

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 I really enjoyed the uniqueness and the flow of this class. Being able to read all the different novels was really interesting to me. This was something that really helped bring back my love for reading that I had lost overtime. I think this is because the novels were very interesting and were so different from each other but all seemed to have different connections which is what really pushed me to keep reading the novels. I loved the theme of childhood and memories that result from the novels and I think it was something that I really connected with which lead me to have a greater understanding of these novels. It was really interesting that these novels were from different cultures, different languages and different places as it showed me bits and pieces of culture which was really interesting to be able to interpret and even compare. I really enjoyed reading the different delivery and writing styles in the novels as well, being able to work harder or focus more when it came to the storyline of different novels really seemed to grow me as a reader and I think as a student overall. I found it really challenging to do so, but more in a positive way, as something that further pushed my interest as well as my drive to learn more, dive into the novels, and to really try and understand and respect the author's writing and art overall. I really enjoyed the grading contract and delivery of grading for this course overall. I think it led to more flexibility as well as more comfort in knowing what grade you were going to receive. I found this to help me reduce stress as well as to be able to plan everything better and stay more organized throughout the semester. I found it very helpful to know the future outcome of my grade. It was almost like a reward to know that I worked hard to get the grade that I planned for and almost felt as though it was like setting a goal. Overall, this was one of my most enjoyable classes and it really opened up my mind to literature. This class leads me to want to explore more romantic novels and I think overall the texts I've experienced in this course have grown me both as a person and as a student and lead me to learn new and interesting information throughout the art of these novels or texts.

read full post >>

I can wholeheartedly say I am very sad to be writing this blog post, the only thing keeping me a little happy about this course coming to an end is that we still have two classes together even after writing this. 

It is a little surprising, (not in a bad way), that I managed to stick to my contract considering I remember feeling a little hesitant at the beginning of this course. I remember struggling to even write my introduction post, and now here I am having so much to say for my concluding post 🙂 

Never once did I think about dropping this course, but I was definitely curious as to how much I would enjoy it. I can very confidently say this has been my favourite course I have taken so far at UBC. Not only because of the amazing structure, which I will get into, but the welcoming and comforting feeling I feel attending this class (when it was on zoom and in person). 

The first day we were welcomed with music and little did I know every class we would be welcomed with music. Not only that, but everyone being individually welcomed with a hello at the start of class is something I have not seen before, and it makes me really happy. 

I don't think I could give a straight definition of what romance studies is, but however it should be defined all I know is that I love it, and would recommend it to everyone who hasn't taken it. I am not a reader in any way nor do I 100% commit to a lot of the courses I take (I will admit that). But not once did I find myself dreading this course. 

I love how judgement free it is and just how free it is in general. But also provides a very clear and straight to the point structure that is easy to understand and follow. I love how open our lovely TA's and Professor are about the reality of sometimes not understanding a book, and accepting that that's okay. 

There are books that we read during this course that I will genuinely never forget and discussions had in class that will also stick with me. Something I thought to myself a lot when listening to class discussions was how people interpreted the book differently and how amazing all the interpretations are. Sometimes I would read a book and feel discouraged that I did not understand and feel as though it was because I don't read often. But coming into class and seeing how passionate Jon is about each book and topic, was so inspiring and I always left the class with so much new knowledge. 

Overall, I could ramble on forever about how much I love this class and its structure and grading system but I will leave it at that. Thank you so much Jon, Patricio and Jennifer for an amazing experience with this course 🙂 

read full post >>

I can wholeheartedly say I am very sad to be writing this blog post, the only thing keeping me a little happy about this course coming to an end is that we still have two classes together even after writing this. 

It is a little surprising, (not in a bad way), that I managed to stick to my contract considering I remember feeling a little hesitant at the beginning of this course. I remember struggling to even write my introduction post, and now here I am having so much to say for my concluding post 🙂 

Never once did I think about dropping this course, but I was definitely curious as to how much I would enjoy it. I can very confidently say this has been my favourite course I have taken so far at UBC. Not only because of the amazing structure, which I will get into, but the welcoming and comforting feeling I feel attending this class (when it was on zoom and in person). 

The first day we were welcomed with music and little did I know every class we would be welcomed with music. Not only that, but everyone being individually welcomed with a hello at the start of class is something I have not seen before, and it makes me really happy. 

I don't think I could give a straight definition of what romance studies is, but however it should be defined all I know is that I love it, and would recommend it to everyone who hasn't taken it. I am not a reader in any way nor do I 100% commit to a lot of the courses I take (I will admit that). But not once did I find myself dreading this course. 

I love how judgement free it is and just how free it is in general. But also provides a very clear and straight to the point structure that is easy to understand and follow. I love how open our lovely TA's and Professor are about the reality of sometimes not understanding a book, and accepting that that's okay. 

There are books that we read during this course that I will genuinely never forget and discussions had in class that will also stick with me. Something I thought to myself a lot when listening to class discussions was how people interpreted the book differently and how amazing all the interpretations are. Sometimes I would read a book and feel discouraged that I did not understand and feel as though it was because I don't read often. But coming into class and seeing how passionate Jon is about each book and topic, was so inspiring and I always left the class with so much new knowledge. 

Overall, I could ramble on forever about how much I love this class and its structure and grading system but I will leave it at that. Thank you so much Jon, Patricio and Jennifer for an amazing experience with this course 🙂 

read full post >>

Hey everyone!  So last blog post! This class has been quite an interesting class for me. At first, I recall... read full post >>

Hello again! To be completely honest, when I registered for this course, I was mentally preparing myself to simply “get... read full post >>

As the last reading for this course, I made sure to take notes and reflect on the text as heavily as possible. I wanted to bring something more significant from it than a blog post, and I feel I did. In this novella written by Jose Eduardo Agualusa, we meet our protagonist, Daniel Benchimol, who […] read full post >>