An Introduction

Introduction, expectations, and reflections

Hello! Thank you for choosing my introductory blog as one of two you read this week. My name is Bilal Bartaai. I am a second-year environmental science major, concentrating on ecology and conservation. As I’m sure you guessed, I am taking this course to fulfill part of my mandatory arts requirement. I will say, however, that I was initially in a different class for the same reason but chose to switch because of how intriguing I found this course. Perhaps I’ve returned to your good graces, perhaps I have not. Regardless, let us finish this introduction to discuss more topical matters. I was raised in Toronto, Ontario. I enjoy music, sitcoms, reading (more on this in a bit), and foolishly setting goals much too grand for me to possibly achieve.

Now that introductions are out of the way, why is it that I chose to move into this course, and what do I hope to gain from it? Firstly, I was most intrigued by the structure of this course, and how different it is. As a science student, most of our courses are identical structure-wise, so when I learned of an opportunity to not take another lecture-and-exam-based course I was elated. The other aspect of my intrigue was the amount of reading in this course. Reading used to be my favourite pastime, and I would blow through books at an alarming pace. With university and an ever-expanding to-do list, however, maintaining this habit has become difficult. I took this course in hopes it would give me an excuse to read and not feel guilty for not doing schoolwork, because it is! Moreover, the types of books read and discussed in this class are not what I would typically read, and so I look forward to challenging myself with material I wouldn’t necessarily pick up on my own.

Only one more thing to discuss, the lecture. I will be very honest here, a lot of it went over my head. I think it will take me some time to get grounded in the vibe of this course, but I do have some thoughts and reflections. I am incredibly new to romance studies, so to see it be built up, deconstructed, and begin to be built again was a sort of whiplash that left me fascinated. I knew so little of the subject before and I dare say know less now, but I am more eager than ever to dive further into the reinvention of romance studies. As a final note, I thoroughly appreciated the unruly family metaphor, and I too cannot wait to see what bringing this unruly family together will entail.

If you got to the end of this introduction, thank you! I look forward to reading your blogs and comments and interacting in meaningful discussions with everyone throughout the term. See ya!