First Blog Entry: Matt

My name is Matthew Gadziala. I am a senior and a history/ Asian studies combined major. I chose history as my major simply because I like it. I have always liked studying history and my college experience has contributed greatly towards a better understanding of history. As for Asian studies I became interested after my advisor recommended that I study abroad in China. In my spring semester of junior year, I participated in the Shanghai program. It was a challenging semester, but perhaps the most rewarding experience ever. Combining the two subjects seemed very logical. Since graduation for senior is very soon, I am trying to figure out what I will do afterwards. I am currently applying to several graduate programs at the universities of Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany in a Master degree in History. I hope to move on to a PhD afterwards and perhaps teach at the college level.

I am from Rochester, New York form the town of Brighton. It is a suburban environment fairly close to the city. It is perhaps a five minute drive to downtown Rochester. My house happens to sit on the boarder of Brighton and the town of Pittsford. Because of this it is easy to go between both towns. I would not say there is that much to do. Although there are usually only a few places that my friends and I go to. Because my friends and I are usually laid back, we typically just hang out with each other.

I don’t recall any instance of receiving bad feedback on my work. I think it is very important to listen to constructive criticism. I think that everyone feels a little reluctant to accept criticism of something such as a written assignment that they feel they have worked hard on. I think it is natural to feel that someone is tearing your hard work apart, but it is necessary to be able to see how someone reads your work. If I would consider criticism to be bad, it would be something where the person reviewing your work does not give any feedback because they did not pay any attention. . I am open to criticism if it helps me develop my writing.

I cannot say that I am very exposed to poetry. Aside from my studies of Chinese culture, I have not had many classes that focus on poets or poetry. Poetry within Chinese culture was considered a very high form of art in which both scholar officials and members of the gentry could take part. There are many famous poets such as Du Fu who is called the “poet sage” and Cao Cao, leader of the Wei kingdom during the Three Kingdom period after the fall of the Han Dynasty. I think with poetry I would be able to focus on the more creative aspect of writing instead of the more analytical method associated with my major.