After the first week of this course, I remember my curiosity was high, alongside my feelings of displacement and not belonging. There have been a few opportunities where I’ve previously reflected on how little I knew about ancient Greek and Roman society and culture, as well as myths. Many people in this class seemed to have a decent background, or at least a very vague understanding, of the most prominent mythical figures from required readings of The Odyssey or The Iliad. Some of my peers’ knowledge came from reading the Percy Jackson series. Yet I came in with close to no academic foundation of the content, eager to explore and learn but inevitably a little bit daunted. 
Throughout the quarter, I found myself feeling less restricted by my doubts the more I engaged in our group assignments and asked questions. The first time I attended office hours, I vividly remember feeling so accomplished and supported, and that’s when I knew that everything would be okay- that despite the struggles I might have in filling in gaps of information that others already know or not understanding references to Homer’s work that others might catch, it didn’t matter as much as my own academic journey. In fact, coming in with such an untouched palette meant that every single detail of content I absorbed was new information- I learned so much in this course because I knew so little coming into it. And, additionally, I became a part of a really beautiful group of people I may never have gotten the experience to work with had it not been for this class. I think it’s quite normal in classes with this sort of intimate setting for people to settle into their own small groups of people they tend to work with and, while I absolutely met some wonderful people outside of this regular group, the routine of looking forward to the same dynamic every session was comforting. 

Of all the things I learned in this course, a few things that stick out the most are relationships, the medical regulations enforced on womanhood, and the resonation I had with my term project. I sort-of knew there were instances of homosexuality in ancient societies but assumed that the typical relationship situation was heterosexual. However, what I learned is that in its most basic from this was true- depending on the time and society, relationships were for the sake of reproduction or community and it took a long time for relationships based on affection to be a primary factor- but there were all sorts of instances defying heterosexuality that were both normalized and frowned upon. Just to briefly mention a few concepts, male same-sex relationships were often quite open and penetration/dominance was significant in how that relationship was viewed (e.g. older men were supposed to be dominant). Additionally, female same-sex relationships were not heavily regulated so long as they did not interfere with her marriage. Furthermore, I was engrossed and perplexed by the medical procedures enforced on women. The idea of a ‘wandering womb’- that if a woman’s menstruation is irregular, it may be because her womb has been misplaced and in order to reset it, pleasurable scents must be used on her lower half and vile substances must be inhaled. One form of contraception relief on the ingestion of lots of beans, which I found humorous. Similarly, the vulgar nature of Dionysus’s festival celebrating phalluses and fertility brought a lighthearted liberating tone to the learning of Greek festivals and rituals. There is so much material that will stick with me from this course and many fun facts I can’t wait to pride myself on knowing when they come up in conversation, but, finally, I really enjoyed the way I could integrate my learning of the Greek poet Erinna to something I am passionate about outside of class- Taylor Swift’s music. This final project allowed me to incorporate personal interests into class content, along with other research, to create something meaningful to me. Here, you can find my final product: