Retreat Time !

Part of the class at the Breakfast Retreat .. Thank you
Fernando letting me steal this picture (x

On Friday (yesterday), Mr. Aronson and Ms. Abuan our Bayan counselor set up a breakfast retreat for the class. There were many purposes for this get-together, one mainly being .. to allow the members in the class to get to break the ice and to get to know one another. 

I was surprised that so many of us showed up, only because it was the first get together and I didn't think as many people would have shown up. Not only did a lot of the new Bayan members showed up but so did a lot of the members from last semester. And it was nice having everyone who was/is a part of Bayan there. During the retreat we ate breakfast, went over the big plans for this semester and participated in a few, I would call them, "getting to know each other" activities. 

One of the activites that I felt was most interesting was the "fishbowl" activity. That is where partners are seated face to face in two circles, one partner is on the inside of the circle and the other is on the outside. I liked doing this activity a little more than the other. The other being a "four corner" type of game, where the four corners had different titles that served as the answer to the question asked by the professors. So back to the fishbowl activity, I preferred this one a bit more over the other because I got to talk to other students one on one & getting to know a little bit more about them. 

A new chapter begins ..

Hellooo ! I'm Maria Delos Santos & currently in the second semester of my first year at Southwestern College. New year .. New semester .. New blog !

Like last semester, I am a part of the Bayan Learning Community. And this blog is a continuation (in a way) of my thoughts, feelings and new knowledge I pick up in my English 115 class. This a fresh start on a blog, so like my professor said .. It's a whole "new persona".

I come from a big Filipino family and I'm pretty proud to be a part of a diverse group of people. Growing up in a Filipino family gave me a different perspective of the things I do. By this I mean, I have those Filipino values (kapwa, hiya, pakiaksama and utang ng loob) instilled in me when I make certain decisions. So learning about them in a published book kind of validated what I already knew, that much more. Last semester, I learned a lot of new things about my culture and coming back into the community I'm eager to learn more.

The one thing I hope is that this semester, we can form that
family bond that was there in last semester's Bayan Family.
(Credits to Jennica for the picture)

Being back in Bayan feels familiar because of having Professor Aronson again and having familiar faces in the class.  But at the same time it feels new because there are so many new people in the class that I am looking forward to getting to know. And mostly excited to connect as a Bayan.