Throughout this portfolio I was able to explore my inner self and really "turn to face the stranger". The stranger in this case being myself. Through these series of essays I explored the masks I hide behind, the people I look at as my heroes, and places that catch my eye and inspire a sense of curiosity. I think that this portfolio helped me explore my inner self and really get to know myself. This portfolio pushed me to get out of my comfort zone and look behind the "mask" I hide behind. I mentioned in one of my essays that we all hide behind masks every day. It takes real effort to be able to reflect on our selves and actually point out the masks that we hide behind.
Looking back on the portfolio, I am very proud of it. Although I faced a lot of challenges, I think I did well in the end. I struggled at first with the word count, then I changed the strategy I used to approach my essays. I started using a technique called freewriting in which I can't stop writing within a short timespan. I think it benefitted me quite well. I watched as my word count grew. I was able to write more and express my ideas better. In more than one instance throughout the course, I had a fear of the unknown. I was afraid of the major assignments and didn't know what to do to tackle them. In the end most of them turned out fine and I didn't do too bad, except for the first assignment. I did really bad on my first assignment. I just wasn't used to the class and wasn't really acclimated to the college environment in general. After the first assignment I knew what was expected of me and I worked to achieve it. I also struggled with source integration. On more than one assignment I struggled to integrate another writer's work into my own. I still think I'm not really good at it. Overall, during this course I faced a lot of challenges but I was able to overcome them and become a better writer.
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