So, with college coming to an end, I've spent a lot of time reflecting on my educational experience. What I've come to realize is that, well, Political Science is not an easy major. I don't mean in terms of difficult in the way math or physical science is difficult, but in terms of living with what you learn. Here, let me explain.

On any given day this quarter, I've spent hours learning about civilian casualties in warfare, socializing soldiers to become killers, the tragedy of the Great Leap Forward, or US-Soviet Union nuclear build up. We spend hours discussing genocide and atrocities committed around the world, the ramifications of a nuclear conflict, and other real upper topics. You literally go from watching a video about Slobodon Milosevic to suddenly being on the corner of Fullerton and Sheffield, going to Dominicks for a salad before your next class. It creates this really weird double reality, where you have to balance this life as a college student in Chicago with this unbelievably heavy reality of political complexities. It's not like, say, English, where you close the book and walk away. Political Science is literally always with you in one way or another, even if it is just in the back of your mind.

I love Political Science. I really, really do. There is no other major that I would enjoy this much or take as much from, besides maybe History, which is essentially the same thing. Politcal Scientists and Historians are, really, a lot a like. Historians just use the past to explain the past, while Political Scientists use the past to predict the future. Either way, I am so glad that I decided to do Political Science, and the fact that at night I'm occasionally haunted by the idea of Rwanda or chemical weapons being used against civilians doesn't change that. I'll gladly take the occasional nuclear nightmare as long as I know what I'm learning is important, and I can think of nothing as important as the world.