...reflection on my mid-term paper

I was really impressed when my teacher Sarah gave me the evaluation grid with her comments on my mid-term paper. I know I spent some time reflecting on my learning process and I tried to give my best while writing it, but I couldn’t imagine somebody would think it was “excellent”.
I went through it and I noticed that there were few errors but a lot of things I could have written in a better way. As the teacher pointed out, my style was quite informal. I’m aware of this, because I wasn’t expected to write it like it was a formal essay. At the same time, I’m aware that I often tend to write things down informally, so this is something I need to improve. I noticed some mistakes about punctuation (especially commas) and some related to vocabulary.
Two comments were identical: they said that it’s not good to start a new paragraph with a linking word that strong links to the previous sentences, because it indicates that I was continuing on with the same idea, instead of proving my will to start a new paragraph.

...exchange Italy-USA

Last week we started our exchange with Dickinson college. I remember that day for two basic reasons: first of all, an awful weather! The day before seemed a spring day: it was quite warm, sunny and my mood was positive (allergy apart!). But, the following day…my God…it was so cold and windy! Moreover, it was raining and I couldn’t keep my umbrella open for the wind, so I walked around Padua searching for the lab and I got there all wet! Consequently…a little bit of fever and a crazy headache for the next two days!

Secondly, we started this exchange through skype. That day my peer was a nice sweet girl from L.A., California with Chinese origins. Well, for both of us it was our first time doing such a thing, so we were a little embarrassed at the beginning, but then we chatted for about an hour.
Although we were asked to talk about education, we needed time to introduce ourselves, so we just talked about the campus and the opposite situation we have here in Padua, where all the university buildings are among those of the city. We talked half in English and half in Italian. I noticed we had more difficulties in talking in Italian, but I think she was good, because she told me she has studied Italian only for a year and a half. I tried to slow down and I think we managed to understand each other, technical problems apart. Nice experience!