As a senior at Muhlenberg I always learn as I go. The nice thing about Muhlenberg College is that they give a very good well rounded education. Chinese history is something that I have not studied beyond the basics. You know, the simple things you learned in elementary schools and all the wars they were involved 3,000 years ago. However, just one month into taking this Chinese history class, I already learned a lot more then I thought I would!
So far, I learned three new things each week. The first thing I learned was more about The Great Wall of China. I already knew about The Great Wall but, only the basics. One of the first things I took away from the first week was how grueling it was for the people to build the wall. Not only that but, other small walls were also built around various villages to keep them protected as well. The second week I learned about was the Bronze Vessels. The Bronze Vessels were particularity interesting. I never knew that these vessels existed, let alone they were each designed to fulfill a certain task! Some vessels are made for drinking wine and some were made to be used at different types of banquets. Not only that but, some vessels are designed around certain animals too! Some of these animals represented include owls, frogs, dragons and tigers. I didn’t read about any cats or dogs but I sure hope they included some! In the third week so far I learned about different Chinese tombs. The one cool fact I learned about these tombs is that if they were not buried properly, their spirits could haunt people for years and years! Another interesting fact is that they buried these people in certain ways. By this I mean if they had a certain profession, lets say archery, they would be buried in their own way. They would be buried differently then someone who was a servant. Only three weeks have gone by and I have already expanded my knowledge much more than I thought!
As far as the class itself is concerned I am really enjoying it so far. I like how we are given the freedom to do the readings and work on our own time! I also like the way the assignments are spaced out. It gives us more time to focus on that assignment and work on our other classes as well. The last thing I really like about this class is the community aspect behind it. I like seeing other people commenting on my posts and I enjoy commenting on other peoples posts as well. While we may not be on campus (or at least I am not because I am a senior) it is really nice to have that community aspect that Muhlenberg provides from my own home! Overall, I am enjoying this class and I look forward to learning many more new things that I did not know before over the next two months!
