Yasmine Shahbazi

English II

Mr. Paulsen

15 May 2013

English Portfolio Metaphor

Sophomore year has definitely been peculiar to say the least. It has come with great challenges, some overcome, and some not; one thing for sure, it was no walk in the park. Managing to get through this year has been like a poker game. You deal or are dealt to. It includes skill and luck. You bet, check, bluff, and raise. You learn from those you play with. Sometimes you win with a pair or lose with a full house. But whatever happens, it's best to keep on shuffling along.
(tying in metaphor to this year don’t know where to put it in essay)******Sophomore year required times when I had to deal with certain situations solely by myself and yet there were other times when I had the reliability of my teachers to help me. This year made me study to the point where my brain physicaly hurt to get a successful grade, or I wouldn’t study at all and somehow do fine. I took risks, yet there were moments when I was insecure. I relied immensely on my peers who always encouraged me to try the best I could. There were tests I would get A’s on, and tests I would fail. But finally by the end of the year, I learned to let whatever happens happen as long as I tried my hardest.****
Over this past year, I know I have truly changed as a whole. I used to be so insecure, and the things that used to be so important to me before are completely irrelevant now. I remember the struggles I had when I was a freshman, not my best time. I was doing horribly in school and no matter how hard I tried, my grades continued to tumble. I remember sitting there with my friends after first semester was over having ended with a 2.8 gpa, and one of my friends was claiming it to be the end of the world because she had one A- along with the rest of her A’s. I was so embarrassed knowing I was by far the dumbest one in that room, I remember sitting there thinking could I quite possibly be the stupidest person in our grade? I feel like Sage is the complete opposite of the typical stereotype of highschool, that if your not smart at sage your a loser. I just always felt people thought I purposely wasn’t trying when I want nothing more than to have good grades! And then theres the annoyance of people who don’t try at all and get perfect grades while I am studying as hard as I can to only do at best mediocre. For example, my friend and I both had a science test the next day. I had been sitting in my room for ours studying the material ready to have a nervous breakdown when I get a call from that friend asking if I want to go to dinner and the mall that night. When I ask her about the test, she said she hasn’t studied yet and shes just going to fail. Next day, I get an 80 and she gets a 98. This is so frustrating to me and when I am at my worst it seems like the most unfair thing in the world to me. These thoughts and frustrations continued to fluster my mind for the rest of freshman year. I constantly put myself down and was always severly stressed out about my future. Hearing all of my friends talking about all of the extracurricular activites and community service they already have as freshman when I had none. I had very overdramatic days when I honestly thought I would not get into college.
After a long summer break, going into sophomore year was a way easier transition than I thought. Everything that I was constantly worried and stressed out about freshman year never factored in and I still don’t know why. I have been trying my hardest and for the most part, it has proved to be successful! Not going to lie, I feel a lot better about myself when I hear my friends saying how they think sophomore year is a lot more challenging than freshman year when I feel that I am doing okay! I do not mean to downplay it, however. Sophomore year is slightly less challenging, but its still not easy. And I don’t think that the