I remember the day I decided to take Humanities Core- during the first day of my freshman orientation. Professor Lazo had just walked on stage, and we had just received flyers about this year’s Humanities Core theme. At first glance, my heart flew at the sight of “Empire and Its Ruins,” and although I excel in the sciences, there was no way I wasn’t going to take this opportunity to show my love for writing. Signing up for this course as a Biological Sciences major, all I could feel was apprehensive, nervous, and even anxious due to the oncoming course load. But as I write this last blog post, I know that I made more than the right choice.
One of the most valuable takeaways I have from this course was learning about myself, growing from new experiences as a college freshman, all while forming and voicing my own opinions on very real, humanistic topics that I would have never thought to discuss. I feel more mature, and I feel as if all the insight I have gained from this course’s readings and assignments has truly shaped me into an individual that understands more of the world, and what is considered human.
And towards the end of the course, being able to research a passion of mine (videogames) and how it relates to empire and the topics we have covered in humanities, it had allowed me to fall even more in love with it. It has made me truly happy to know that there are professional scholars out there studying videogames as passionately as gamers play them. It feels good to be understood, relatable, and able to explain the identity development prominent in the world of videogames.
As summer approaches and the rest of my college career looms, I look forward to encountering things in the real world that, because of the insight I have gained from this course, I can actively question and discuss in depth with those around me.
Empire and Its Ruins 