Honors at Swarthmore (or, more academic solipsism)

Swarthmore is an intense academic environment. Don't take my word for it... witness these shirts (ego-stroking at its best) and the history department's senior gift: a gym bag that says, in simple block letters, VARSITY HISTORY.

Nothing, perhaps, is more intense (read: intimidating) at Swarthmore than the Honors Program. You can read all about it in this press release. Students (like me) have the opportunity to discuss their coursework with scholars in their field as a culminating experience to their Swarthmore career (read: students stress out while being tested by people a whole lot smarter than them to see whether they get to graduate).

I will spend the next week preparing as best as I can to make positive impressions on the following external examiners:

Carol Bresnahan, who will be testing my knowledge of the Italian Renaissance.

Ioana Chitoran, with whom I will be discussing the sound changes that took place in the development of Gascon from Latin.

Larry Horn, who will grill me on my thesis.

Pauline Jacobson, with whom I'll talk about the semantics and distribution of relative clauses.