Welcome back to my blog readers, I hope everyone is doing well as we draw closer to Friday--it's great that now I can say TGIF tomorrow, whereas at Canterbury all I had to look forward to was class on Saturday! I figured since I am just finishing up my homework that tonight would be a great chance for me to make a post about one aspect of PC that makes the school what it is for the academic in all of us. I am talking of course, about the required course for all PC freshman and sophomores, Development of Western Civilization.

Anywhere you go on PC's campus, you'll find some inkling of Western Civ's presence--whether it is the Juniors and Seniors wearing the famous "Done with Civ" shirts, or listening to most of us freshman being able to reference epics like Gilgamesh and The Odyssey with ease, it certainly makes a big impact for all of us. In case you haven't taken the time to look into what Civ is, here's a basic rundown: it's a required class, like I mentioned, and unlike most college courses, it meets every single day. Four professors run each section from four different departments: history, theology, literature, and philosophy. Each day, one of these teachers will lecture on their personal subject and how it relates to the section of study--for example, on Monday I had a lecture about Sophocles' play "Antigone", Wednesday I had a lecture on the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars and the rise of Athenian imperialism, today we discussed Aristophanes' "Lysistrata" and finally, tomorrow, my philosophy professor is lecturing on the Sophists, along with an overview of Socrates and Plato's work concerning him, "The Apology." In addition, once every week you will have your seminar class, in which a smaller group of students assigned to one of the four professors will discuss things in more depth. This week, my seminar with my theology professor Father Keegan involved us dwelling more on several important topics in "Antigone," and trust me, if you've never seen a Dominican Friar teach a group of sleepy eyed freshman at 8:30 in the morning, it's quite an experience!

There are other elements to Western Civ, of course, but you'll have to research more on your own for that--I heartily recommend checking it out on the other parts of the PC website, or better yet, ask your tour guide when you come visit! Every upperclassman I've met has great things to say about Civ, and it's clear that they have taken a great deal out of it, especially when they still reference it in class up to 2 years later!

I believe that Civ, more than anything else, shows Providence for what it is--a place where yes, students do choose a major and a focus of study, but more importantly, they learn to bring information from very different disciplines together. Not a class goes by that one of my professors doesn't reference something that another has said in the past, and there is nothing better when one of them decides to chime in on a lecture, especially in the wee hours of the morning when I get to enjoy Western Civ. In addition, when all of us take Western Civ, even with different teachers and slightly different materials (ex. some of us read the entirety of Homer's "The Iliad" while others concentrate more heartily on "The Odyssey,") we are all drawn together by the shared experience. No matter whether you are one of the vast majority who falls in Civ, or of the minority that might not enjoy it as much, it is a great experience, and I believe it draws together the class of 2012 than we might be otherwise. It provides a great question to start a conversation, and I can't tell you how many friends I've made when I'm strolling around campus and someone I bump into turns out to be in my class, or working out in the Concannon fitness center the person who's spotting me on the bench press decides to ask me about the "Epic of Gilgamesh." Especially now, when all of us are still getting our feet wet, I think that this shared experience draws all of the Freshman class together in a way that will continue to develop over the years.

Almost all of the upperclassmen I have talked with about Western Civ have said that they miss it--many say that it adds a certain amount of centrality to their schedule, while others miss seeing the same people every day for an entire year. Still others reminisce about how close they were with seminar professors they may have met on the first day, and still others still have funny stories to tell from class. I recommend to any of you who have yet to stay on campus for any classes to see what Western Civ is all about--it is certainly a vital part to the Providence College experience, and if I can say that after only a few weeks, I can only hope it gets even better!