I’ll probably hate myself for saying this later, but I really can’t wait to get back to Austin. I’ve been letting my lazy side run free for about three months (six weeks of which I worked and worked hard, mind you!), and I really need to sit down, slap myself a couple times, and hit the books. I have a thesis to start preparing for and two majors to finalize. Granted, there will be quite a few Hulu breaks, especially since I’ve started watching Haven which is basically X-Files set in small-town Maine, David Duchovny stand-in and everything. Before I start fawning uncontrollably, I thought I’d explain something.

An explanation…

When I say I’m studying Classics and Linguistics to people who for a variety of reasons have never heard of it, everyone assumes, for reasons I cannot fathom, that “Classics” means “that girl reads a lot of Dickens and Hugo.” Which is totally true, but besides the point. Classics is the study of ancient Greek and Roman civilization. It combines history, literature, drama, politics, geography, languages, art — everything. The breadth of this field, both in terms of subject areas and sheer timespan, is the reason I chose it for my primary major.

Linguistics, similarly, does not mean I just learn a lot of languages (although this ls also true). It means that I am studying the science of language, the mechanics. It does help to know many languages to be a linguist, but you don’t learn them through the major. There. That settles things. For now…

…And a defense

It’s not even that people don’t understand what I’m learning. I’m starting to figure out a few people don’t value it. Sometimes it startles me who I hear it from: people who I thought valued education and culture. Now, there are some pretty silly majors out there, but far be it for me to tell someone that what they studied is worthless. At some point, one should be allowed to acquire an education for education’s sake, and that means study what you love, whatever it is. Some of us (ahem) love the past, and it will never be enough for me to sit down and read a Wikipedia entry about ancient culture. How could that possibly be enough? What does that teach me but the bare bones of these people and civilizations? It’s the same for History, English, Classics. Hell, it’s the same for all of the Liberal Arts. To know enough about your field to call yourself “educated” demands more than any casual research will ever give you. It demands an education. It demands mastery, and that’s something that anyone in any field should agree with.

I am not a classicist. Not yet. Not for several more years, until I’ve mastered the languages, read the works, poured through the history, thrown myself completely into my field. After two years, I have barely dug a hole two inches deep. The amount of things I’ve learned, however jaw-droppingly huge to me, is only a fraction of what I must one day master. It will take a lot of education to get to that point. In three weeks, I get to dig a little deeper. The only feeling that comes to mind is this: bliss.