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           My banner is one of the photos in the incredible photo series Follow Me by Murad Osmann, which I introduced in my very first essay Live, laugh, and love. This photo is taken in London at the art installation by Leandro Erlich where people could create and make art by themselves.

           I started this course with curiosity and anxiety. It was a new semester, a new college life, and a new expectation in a completely different place. I'm worried about my writing because I always didn't like to write. But this course surprised me with its creativity and spontaneity.

            We had to write an essay every week, and I felt pushed to keep writing. At first, our essays were only about our experience and feelings in our trips. However, as the semester went on, our papers got harder and harder. The most difficult one was to write from a lens. It was something that I had never deliberately done, and when I tried to look at things through only one perspective, it seemed nearly impossible. As we evolved from writing through one lens to several lenses, it felt so much easier because I had already learned the "tool box" to do one lens.

            I enjoyed all the trips that we took into the city, because every one of them was unique, interesting and meaningful. We've experienced museums, art performance, individual art site, penitentiary, and our self-planned trips. I've become a "pro" as a city player. Now I'm not afraid to go into city alone and I'm more than welcome to go and explore, because I feel that even with all these trips, we still have a lot that we didn't get to see. We were asked to even make art ourselves, such as the mosaics, drawing maps, and making collage out of words and sentences, which had been a lot of fun for me, since it brought out the artistic side of me.

            One thing I like most about our class is the plenty of opportunities to learn from each other. I really relate to what my English professor said in her class, "Many years later, when you looked back to your college life, you will find that most of the things you've learned were from your friends and classmates." This is so true because it's exactly how I felt during class. Professors are acting as a guide, but we ourselves are also the teachers. It was more about self-explore and exploring with others than simply lectures. We learn from each other's thoughts and opinions. At the beginning of this semester, sometimes I might get a little confused about a part in a reading, but I would be able to comprehend it through my classmates' words and their interpretations. Furthermore, every one of us, including me, was an active participant in our little "circle". We made contributions by sharing our own ideas and comprehension. For example, I noticed that the experience Liane described as her deep play moment in the Barnes Foundation -- to let go of everything else and to really let your feelings in... -- was a big moment because a lot of us had something to relate with her point and we kept bring her experience up in the classes afterwards. Sometimes I could feel that my opinions changing after listening to all the insights the class offered. And sometimes by expressing my opinions, I could see how my classmates perceived my ideas, so that I could get to understand more clearly about how to shape them and convey them to people better.

            This class provided a safe and honest space for all of us, so that we could be honest in our class discussion and in the essays, and not worried about being judged. I feel free about talking and writing in our safe space. I can express how I genuinely feel or think. It helped to realize a more complete version of myself and my growth in writing and critical thinking over the time.

            I really appreciate that Mark gave us enough freedom and independence to decide for our own papers and ideas. And he was being fairly careful about comments on papers. But sometimes I wish I could get some more direct response for my writing so that I could have a clearer version of how I was doing in my writing and how to improve it.

            As for the learning edges, as Ellen said, a paper of over three pages will probably be a challenge. Moreover, we didn't do a research paper, so I might need some efforts to write a research paper later on. In addition, we only visited the center city (areas around City Hall and old city). We didn't get a chance to go to other parts of the city -- north, south, west or east, although I knew some of us had been to these parts individually. However, we can't expect to figure out every part of Philly in one semester.

            This course guided us to manage the skill of how to think and think critically and how to play and deep play. We combine readings with our trips and experiences. And the readings, including the essays about critical play, deep play, "live creature", and the Barnes Foundation, were also leading us to plan our trips and provided a way of perceive our surroundings. This class is about creating and making art by ourselves. In the future, I can see myself trying to make art out of something if I am inspired or even get stuck. I can also see myself trying to view arts through the lens of deep play, critical play, believing and doubting, and a lot of other techniques we've learned to manage. And I'm glad to be able to have all these different points of view to consider so that I could perceive art in my own unique way. The class invigorated my passion for art and English. We grow as we inspire each other.