Monday, February 28, 2005
Do I need this? I asked myself, holding The History of Medieval English Literature my hand had happened across as I browsed the poetry shelf within the student bookstore. Yes, yes, I do! my mind replied to itself: It's really thick and intellectual in appearance. Even if I never read it entirely, it will look really good on my shelf between Dorothy Parker's Not Much Fun and Isaac Asimov's The Foundation Trilogy. Thus I walked confidently to the counter and paid a whopping sixty-five American dollars for something I probably won't get around to reading anytime soon.
I am at the library wearing a black tank top and drinking a Starbucks mocha frappuccino: rarely has the fact that I am a college student, and little else, been quite as perceivable. It makes me feel dirty.
I visited with Dr. Larmour, the Greek graduate professor, who informed me of little more than I know already about the graduate program except that it pays for itself through student teaching. I decided not to mention I hadn't contemplated earning the M.A. through Tech (four years in Lubbock is tortuous enough), because my stance could change in a year. But I would rather receive the M.A. and doctorate from the same university, which would not include my current school because its Classics program isn't large enough even to offer a doctorate- it barely grants the M.A.
Currently the goal is to master the languages- that would provide a solid, competitive base for post-baccalaureate study. Many students graduate not having realized the importance of competency in Latin and Greek, as well as requisite fluency in German and French. Knowing German before I entered a doctoral program will have been advantageous, as I could devote time to learning French instead as well as build upon the two years of Italian I plan on having taken by then. If humanly possible I would like to audit Turkish the last couple of years as I finish my bachelor's degrees: then I would know some Turkish for when I travel to Turkey and Greece for site exploration/excavation/general-looking-at-for-fun.
However, if I am to ever become proficient, I must quit dicking around on the computer and go study, like a good egg.
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 2:29 PM]