The Enlightenment Seminar and Study tour to England
In the fall semester of 2014, I had the opportunity to take part in a seminar class titled, “’Nasty, Brutish & Short:’ How the Enlightenment Transformed Our Lives and Gave Us the Modern World.” Throughout the semester, the 14-student course engaged with the original works of Enlightenment thinkers across the 17th and 18th centuries and challenged its students to understand how those thinkers so profoundly changed the world and set it up to become the world in which we live today.
At the conclusion of the course, the class traveled to London, England and Cambridge in order to visit the sites where some of these profound events took place, organizations were formed, and ideas were had. At Cambridge, specifically, we were shown an approach to higher education that varies dramatically from the experience that we each receive here in the United States. Moreover, we were given the opportunity to experience a high lifestyle of sorts that most of us would have never had the chance to experience as college students. I chose to take this course at the recommendation of both advisors and students. After choosing to design my own degree program within the Interdisciplinary Studies program, I was challenged to take this course, as one that I was promised would be transformative to me. It did not disappoint. I was intrigued by the course content, and even further excited to travel abroad for the first time in my life. I was, in fact, surprised by the content we discussed in class. This proved to be one of the first courses in which I was thoroughly engaged and challenged by the content on a class-by-class basis, and the travel component far exceeded my expectations. Placed at the conclusion of the fall semester, it was a truly wonderful experience to travel at a time where I had no additional commitments, and this allowed me to fully intake and appreciate my travel experience. During this experience, I discovered meaning on many levels. First and foremost, the content of this course was absolutely riveting. We worked through some of the great works of the Enlightenment’s greatest thinkers, and it meant so much more to read their original works as opposed to summaries and synopses. Further, I was provided my first experience in traveling outside the US, which was meaningful in and of itself. The ways of thinking and critical analysis that I discovered in this course are ones that I will carry for the rest of my lifetime, and the information I learned will provide a base for my understanding of the modern world. And finally, I was absolutely enthralled by the opportunities in higher education provided at Cambridge University and will most certainly consider it as an option for myself later in life. Our Travel Blog |
Ignotum HeredibusAs a final paper in this course, I was challenged to research and write a comprehensive history that followed a single line of my family history throughout the Enlightenment. Through this experience, I was provided the chance to learn about my own family, but also how the Enlightenment had significant impacts on the everyday lives of people throughout history.
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