Introduction – Week 1

Hi! My name is Alexandra, but I almost always go by Alex. I am a second year undergraduate student studying economics in the Faculty of Arts with an interest in learning languages, more recently the Italian language. Growing up, I spoke mostly English and learned Greek practically at the same time as my grandparents, who are from Greece, would take care of me while my parents were at work. Also, I studied at a French Immersion elementary school, then took three years of Spanish in high school, and later in my first year of university began to take Italian classes. As you can see, I fell in love with these Romance languages. I also love to travel, explore and learn about different cultures, and overall just being in the atmosphere of warmth. In the next year, I would love to study abroad in Italy for a semester. 

I have always enjoyed reading ever since I picked up the Hunger Games series when I was in elementary school; however, I found that at certain times throughout the school year, I wasn’t able to find the time to read lengthy novels for leisure anymore. I’m looking forward to delving deep into these upcoming readings, and pushing myself out of my comfort zone to be open to discussion. 

To be honest, I didn’t really know what I was getting into when deciding to take a class called Romance Studies. Watching the lecture video as well as the discussion video, it’s interesting how multiple pieces of works of literature are all grouped under the category “Romance Studies”. I also find it interesting how the Latin language, “bastard offsprings”, which was at a certain time the language spoken of a formidable empire, are now actively spoken, studied and regarded as significant. In contrast, classical Latin is commonly deemed a language that is no longer in use. 

Moreover, I am very intrigued to learn about Romance Studies, what that really means and explore its themes. I also am very interested to see what it’s like to read a translated version of a text, especially from the languages French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, which are all languages I’m quite familiar with. I think this course is a great opportunity for me to read a variety of books that are different from what I typically read, which is most often Dystopian novels.