At the end of a two lecture, after eleven pages of notes, there was applause. Certainly I have attended lectures that have been concluded with applause, however, it had less meaning then than it did tonight; usually it followed a guest or T.A. lecture, and as such was less to praise elocutionary brilliance or moving sentiments than to give credit for a worthy effort, or in gratefulness of a respite from the boredom that comes from listening to the same professor's voice for a cumulative amount of some fifty odd hours. As I said, though, tonight's applause was different.
Although it felt strange to be clapping at the end of an "ordinary" lecture, it also felt right because the message contained therein was so inspirational. During his first lecture, our professor, Prof. Bartlett stated that his one hope for the course was that it would enable us, the students to pick up our newspapers and to read the events described within them with a bit of an understanding of the background that led to them. He repeated this desire, after speaking about the changes taking place in Europe and in the world and what they would mean to our generation, and it made an impact on me, when it had not the first time round, because, after being inundated by the history of Europe for two hours every week for eight months, I could see the contrasts between the Europe of the past and the Europe of today. I could see how the seven hundred years of European history had been based on the idea of the nation state, how this nation state ideology led to war after disastrous war, and finally, how the break from this ideology had to happen for the sake of saving humanity. If it seems a lot of content for one quarter of a lecture, let me assure you that it was.
This "enlightenment" wasn't the result of that single lecture, as powerful and thought-provoking as it was, but rather, it was the result of an entire year's worth of education in the truest sense--and not just from the European History course either, my East Asian History course contributed a great deal to my willingness to question the concept of the nation state. Still, leaving that lecture I was reminded of my purpose in entering university: to learn.
After picking up the course calendar for next year I immediately began to worry about the choices I should make, not only for next year, but for my entire university career. Wanting to complete an English-East Asian Studies double major as well as a history minor, I started thinking about the sacrifices I would be willing to make in terms of taking courses as requirements rather than out of interest. The lecture tonight reminded me of all the times that I left a class discussion or lecture feeling energized and "enlightened," and most importantly it reminded me that university is not about the degree that you receive upon leaving it, but the mind broadening experiences, the education that you gain while in it.
