As the first seminar of the unit, I think I did a decent job.
Our seminar was mostly about “Travel” (well, actually all of it). We all gave different opinions about travel and, at the same time, analyzed literary quotes to support our opinions.
We started off with “Why travel is important in modern life.” Many of us said that we think travel is important because we could experience new things, discover, and find our own “self.” Like how a quote said, “Your feet will bring you where your heart is.” I believed that traveling is a journey to your own “inner world,” guided by your heart, which is basically finding where you belong. After my answer, the leader asked a follow-up question: Is travel about finding where you belong or helping you belong where you already are?. I connected my answer with a movie we recently watched in geography class (a movie about inner redemption). I said that “where we belong” is our beliefs or our regions, and traveling helps us belong as ourselves in our beliefs. Although I also agree with the point that it depends on your status right now, I still believe that those things are still built on a “belief.”
After that topic, we talked about how travel can reduce stress; however, out of all the answers of “relaxing” and “self-discovery,” Anna asked about “work travels.” They still count as travel, but it’s not always relaxing; however, it can increase your stress. I answered by quoting “All roads lead to Rome.” I said that no matter how you travel, you still end up finding a new “you,” even if at that point you aren’t relaxed, but later on you might find out that you gained new knowledge, or you got to know new people, so no matter which “road” you take, you still end up at the same “Rome.”
We also had a big discussion on the purposes of travel, starting with the question, “Can boredom be a purpose for travel?” We had similar opinions that boredom can be a purpose; we thought that boredom could cause your desire to discover and your “wandering,” like the two quotes about “wander” have said: “Only those who wander find new paths” and “Not all those who wander are lost.” Wandering can let you find new things; it can also be meaningful. They might not have a specific goal or purpose, but their boredom and curiosity have let them start their journey. We then discussed if travel can be without a purpose; caused by the “boredom” discussion, we thought that deciding to travel is already a reason and that the process is more important than the starting point. The last discussion on this topic was about whether dreams are journeys. Shell shared her own experiences of controlling dreams, and I said most people can’t control their dreams, so their actions are controlled by their personalities and by the true “you,” so you can discover yourself more and also learn from the dream experiences, so I also thought dreams are journeys.We also gave our opinions on if we would go on an adventure just because of a dream. I said no because it’s dangerous and dreams aren’t facts and they could lead to unknown things.
We then talked about why people still travel even if it is dangerous. Connecting to Tintin and his adventure to save Chang and with the quote “Because it’s there,” we agreed with the opinion that people travel to danger by loyalty and courage and the desire to challenge themselves.
The last topic was on whether life was a journey. I reckon that a life is a journey, but there are also small journeys inside, like the journey of time, the journey of mental growth, or the journey of a traveling experience. I used the quote “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” I believed that that one step is a small journey, a journey in your mind on whether you should go on a journey, and the “thousand miles” is the journey of life. We continued with the last question on whether death is the end of the journey of life or being forgotten. We all agreed on the idea that being dead but still being remembered can’t count as your own journey; you aren’t learning anything, discovering anything, or doing anything yourself.
To sum up, I got a decent score and a decent number of highs; I connected literary quotes with my own opinions and showed my own understandings of the quotes and the questions. The leading management was also very nice; questions were designed to connect with each other and to let us fully express ourselves. The summarization made by Olivia after every question was very concise and effective and showed her full understanding of our discussions.
As for how I could improve, I would try connecting my analysis of quotes to the authors and the background to show more understanding of the quotes and also connect our discussions to each other’s points, like making rebuttals or arguments, or add-ons.
Overall, reflecting on my performance in this seminar, our opinion expressing, and my quote analyzing, I think it was successful.