It seems like spring may finally be here and hopefully we won’t get another blast of coldness. It is a beautiful day on campus. The sun is warm and birds are chirping. The student body even seems to have an extra spring in their step. Maybe it’s the combination of the weather and arriving back to PC after a relaxing spring break. It was great to have a week long break after studying hard for my civ exam. I guess I should explain what civ is all about. First of all, everyone on campus refers to it as civ even though the proper name for the class is Development of Western Civilization. The course is a five credit course, it meets five days a week and everyone at PC is required to take it for two years. I think that this provides for a real bonding experience since we’re all going through it. It is a team taught class made up of four professors: a history, literature, theology and philosophy professor. The class basically starts at the beginning of western civilization and looks at its growth from four different perspectives. You guessed it! We study the history, literature, theology and philosophy of western civilization throughout time and try to make connections among the four concentrations. Most of the lectures are in a traditional lecture hall setting and so once a week the class breaks down into smaller seminar groups to better discuss the material. My seminar professor is Dr. Costello and he is our philosophical representation. Since I’m in my fourth semester of civ (ahh fourth, it goes by so quickly) we are studying mostly 20th Century happenings. We just conquered Freud, World War I and Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. These were all topics on my last exam. Now we’re moving onto totalitarianism and tomorrow and Wednesday we’re focusing on WWII.