Author: Abigail Hildebrant

Midterms are happening in my classes as I begin to prepare for spring registration. It has been a series of trial and error figuring things out, and halfway through, it still feels like the beginning. I suppose that is a bit of high school still rubbing off on me as I try to keep reminding myself that these are semester courses, not full academic year courses. My high school did not commonly have midterms, so that is a new transition for me as well. I have settled into a little bit of a routine, visited home a few times, and made a small handful of friends. The first papers I had here at Geneseo were for my two history classes, basically simultaneously. Between the two of them and all the reading, I did not even feel like I had time to visit the library. Thankfully, both papers came back with better-than-expected grades. Regardless, I hope to get to the library for future papers, so I do not have the same formatting issues again.

Courses are going fairly well. Since the start of the year, things have settled and it is much easier to manage the workload. The reading was challenging to understand at first; I would have upwards of thirty-page reading assignments in a night. Then, the next day, I could be quizzed on a topic within the readings. At first, I was only remembering the little details that did not matter so much on their own, but I got better at grasping key concepts. I still struggle with this from time to time, but I have improved nevertheless. In the beginning I was hesitant about taking two history classes I had no say in, but I adore them. Also, the Intro to History Major course with Dr. Mapes has been beyond helpful. At first, I brushed it off, wondering why I even needed to take it. However, I have been getting opportunities to meet the department, see a sample of the library’s special collection, get advice on reading and writing that I can easily apply. In fact, I doubt I would be doing better in my other history classes’ readings without this Intro to History Major course.

Halfway through INTD105-01, a writing seminar with Prof. Arena, it has been going very well! Since we finished some of the key concepts from the seminar, we have been working on the topic, Theatre: Therapy for Veterans. Since the start, we have finished The Theatre of War by Bryan Doerries. Doerries studied Greek plays in college, and after the tragic loss of his partner to cystic fibrosis, he found a personal connection to them that helped voice how he felt. He made it his life’s mission to read his translations to people who have experienced trauma, especially to war veterans. I do not have a military family; only a few distant cousins, my great uncle and my great grandfather served. Although they served, they never talked about it. I never understood even a smidge of the struggles that veterans and their loved ones go through or that people thousands of years ago experienced such similar struggles. I was drawn to this course by the use of theatre, something I have always enjoyed for entertainment, being used as therapy for those with post traumatic stress disorder. Not only am I learning about how those with this condition cope, but it is helping me form an understanding of people I would have otherwise not been able to connect.

I have not changed stances much on where I hope to be at the end of the semester since I got here, but want to be ready to take the next step up in classes next semester. Due to the amount of credits I have coming in, I do not have a lot of gen ed left and I have previously been advised to start some second-year coursework. Keeping my GPA good is an overarching goal along with get a good foundation set up, and continuing to improve my writing. I also aim to get a better grasp of Chicago citation style, as that is what a bulk of my future essays will be using. By the end of the semester, I also hope to gain a better sense of initiative for getting any help I need. I just need to get through this semester and keep calm. Knowing me, the end will likely catch me by surprise, I will panic, and then will get anxious. I am hoping by the time this semester ends fewer things catch me off guard that are in the syllabus. However for now, I just need to keep reminding myself it will all be okay.

I am Abigail Hildebrant and I am a first-year student here at SUNY Geneseo. In my spare time, I love to draw and play video games such as Minecraft and Splatoon. Previously, I had attended Tioga Central High School, roughly two hours away from Geneseo. Tioga is a quaint public school outside Binghamton with graduating classes of approximately sixty. It heavily pushes all students into dual-enrollment courses through Tompkins Cortland Community College, so I finished high school with a lot of college credit. This sparks a mixture of emotions for me, especially with what my course outline will look like and what that means for my time here. Currently, I am majoring in History, Adolescence Education: Social Studies to become a social studies teacher somewhere, someday.

The first few weeks have been full of ups and downs. When I was in high school, whenever my peers protested the dual-enrollment assignments, my teachers always warned us that college would be harder. Even with the warning in mind, college has been a lot more than I anticipated. For example, the amount of reading assigned in the first few weeks has been more than an entire year at my high school. It can be hard to keep up! I found high school reading very easy in comparison. I enjoy Letchworth dining hall and my suitemates are very lovely. Throughout these last few weeks, I started making some new friends! Everyone here is so much nicer than my high school peers, so it is a breath of fresh air. Though, I am still struggling a little with time management. Even with everything written down in a calendar, there is so much to adjust to that there are times I forget to do a reading assignment. It can be very confusing and stressful, but I am doing my best.

This semester, I am taking this INTD105 writing seminar, human geography, festival singers, and several history courses. The history courses have the most reading by far, but all my courses have reading in them. Each one is interesting in their own way, and the professors have all been so delightful. I am learning so much about the history of Latin America that I had not previously known about. The topics we talk about in there have been connecting extremely well with topics we have been talking about in human geography! Sometimes, the workload feels a little too much, but it interests me greatly. The Intro to History course has been relieving a lot of stress I have had about majoring in history and much-needed advice on handling the work. Mondays through Wednesdays are the most stressful for me, as most of my classes are on those days. In time, I plan to better manage the stress it brings. Singing in the choir on Tuesday nights does help! In all, I feel very fortunate for my schedule for my first semester here and hope it continues to get better.

This writing course will help me become a better writer through the subtopic of Theatre: A Therapy for Veterans. While doing so, it teaches about those with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and how theatre can be therapeutic for it. I love theatre and know little about PTSD, so I am excited to learn more. The writing seminar has made me realize there is more to take out of a reading than just the author’s argument. It is important to consider what the argument is towards and to consider it like a conversation. This is becoming useful in my history readings, as two historians can look at the same source and draw very different conclusions from it. Looking at different perspectives is important in interpreting those readings and what they mean in the big picture. My courses are very writing-intensive, rather than test–heavy, so this class is giving me resources to guide me through them. I would be clueless on the resources available, so I am super grateful.

Thus far, the readings for each course have been altering my perspective of the world around me and how I go about my learning. My classes are making me question things I had never questioned before. These realizations have been making me better informed and get more out of the reading than before! For the rest of this semester, I expect the readings to get easier as I develop better reading strategies. My professors are caring and can help guide me through it, all I have to do is ask. There are a lot of big-picture ideas and questions to be drawn from the readings–it often feels overwhelming and endless. But thanks to skills I am learning in my classes, I am becoming better equipped to handle it.