These Three Classes Shaped My Fall 2025 Semester

By Dania Muhsen (GU-Q‘28).

This story is part of the Desert Hoya Blog, written by GU-Q students about their experiences and life as members of the Georgetown community in Qatar.

Every semester at GU-Q feels like opening a new chapter, but Fall 2025 feels especially meaningful to me. The first thing I thought when I stepped onto campus on the first day of class was “Oh my god, I am actually not a freshman anymore.” As scary as that is, it’s also extremely exciting. I’m taking a few classes that have really scratched my brain in all the right ways, let me tell you all about them!

One of the classes I’m most excited about is Culture and Politics of Play taught by Professor Victoria Googasian, Assistant Professor of American Literature. This has quickly become one of the most surprising classes I’ve ever taken. Before this course, I never thought of games as political or as cultural texts worth studying. Now, I find myself seeing play everywhere; in our daily routines, in social systems, even in the subtle ways rules shape our choices. We read everything from classic play theory to modern critiques of gamification, and we even get to design our own games. It’s a class that challenges me to take fun seriously and to rethink what play reveals about the world around us!

I’m also taking International Relations. In this class, I am able to build on the core concepts in global politics that I was first introduced to in my Comparative Political Systems class last semester. What I love about the course is that it doesn’t limit us to the usual Western theories; we actively dive into Global South perspectives and alternative ways of making sense of power and conflict. It is taught by Professor Lynda Iroulo who never fails to make the class engaging and fun, even at 10 o’clock in the morning :). 

The third class I’m enjoying this semester is Introduction to Creative Writing: Poetry & Prose of Resistance and Survivance taught by Professor Mysti Rudd, Associate Teaching Professor of English Composition and Rhetoric. In this class, I am given the space to make my writing both a personal and political act. We’re able to workshop our pieces in order to get feedback, and as daunting as that sounded at first, I was so grateful when I finally workshopped my piece. It was nerve-racking to present something so vulnerable to my classmates, but I really did feel empowered after doing it. It’s a class that is emotional in the best way– the kind where you learn as much about yourself as you do about literature. I’ve never been in a classroom where the writing process feels this communal or this brave.

As the weeks go by (and the semester almost comes to a close), I’m realizing that this semester is quietly reshaping how I see myself as a student, a thinker, and even as a person moving through the world. Each of these classes pushes me in a different way: to question what I once took for granted, to slow down and look inward, or to speak up even when my voice shakes a little. There’s something grounding about feeling myself grow in real time, like I’m slowly stepping into the version of myself I used to only imagine during freshman year.

Walking around campus now, I don’t feel like I’m pretending to belong anymore. I feel rooted– still figuring things out (obviously), still nervous sometimes, but more certain of the kind of learner I want to be. This semester feels like a reminder that the most meaningful academic experiences aren’t the ones that come easy; they’re the ones that stretch you, that ask you to rethink, to create, to participate fully. And honestly? I’m grateful. Grateful that my classes challenge me, grateful for professors who care about how we grow, and grateful that every week at GU-Q keeps opening doors I didn’t even know were there.

If this is what not being a freshman feels like, then I think I’m finally ready for whatever the next chapters hold!

“The posts and comments on this blog are the views and opinions of the author(s). Posts and comments are the sole responsibility of the authors. They do not represent the views, opinions or policies of the University.”