Just Call It Bittersweet Sentimentality.

So here we are at the end of another semester. To me it seems like only yesterday I was walking into my first class as an English major not quite knowing what to expect, or if I'd truly made the right decision to switch from Nursing. Honestly, it only took that one day for me to find the answer: Yes. Within the first week I felt my entire mentality shift and noticed an improvement in my mood. For the first time in four years, I am happy and do not regret my decision in any way, shape, or form. I already feel like I've learned more and have been treated like an adult, rather than an incompetent child.

With that being said, I remember seeing the flyer advertising this class last fall. I actually had to read it a few times so I knew my eyes were not deceiving me. An entire class devoted to the works of Joss Whedon?? Jackpot!!! After being an avid Buffy and Angel fan for so long, I finally had the opportunity to be in a class that basically discussed a huge chunk of my early adolescence.

This class was above and beyond my expectations. Yes, I have seen every single episode of Buffy and Angel, but I have never had the opportunity to discuss them in this context. What I thought of as purely entertainment turned out to have deeper moral and ethical values that were definitely worth talking about. There have been so many specificities come up about a few episodes in particular like, "The Body" and "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?" that I completely overlooked previously. For example, the uses of camera angles to affect audience emotions, or the issues of communism and rascism playing a huge part in an outcome. I learned so much from reading articles, looking at blog posts and sitting around a table discussing each episode that it's unbelievable. Writing the response papers was a lot of fun for me too; really getting to dig deeper into the core of those episodes was a blast!

I also appreciate the fact that I was exposed to more genres in Whedon's world like Firefly and Dr. Horrible. I never would have taken the time to watch them without this class. And as I've said before, I am now a proud fan of Firefly. I have bought the series on DVD as well as Serenity. Of course I will continue to watch Buffy and Angel, the latter especially as I continue working on my critical essay. By the way, thanks to those who have provided me wih feedback for my essay, I really appreciate it!

Thanks to everyone for an amazing semester, good luck to all of you in the future! And super special shout out to Dr. H for just being awesome! :)