Nostalgia

Odysseus was longing to return home to his wife, Penelope. Through nymphs, Calypso, Helios, the Sirens, and a small army of suitors and many others stand between him and his wife. Nothing defines the Odysseus more than his ingenuity as well as his eloquence with words, but when enraged, Odysseus can show that at times he can show self-restraint.

Nostalgia, a word that resonated through the lecture today is certainly a powerful feeling for Odysseus. I would not even begin to imagine how it would feel to be away from one’s wife and home for twenty years, during the summer, I was wrought with homesickness after being away for two months, nowhere as close to 240 of them!

I share a fondness with our guest lecturer today, that of the great war poems, especially that of Odysseus, but not of the same level of passion. When hearing the lecture I was reminded of a computer game I played four years ago, called Tradewinds: Odyssey. The game involved sailing across the Aegean Sea and within the game, I was able to sail around and follow the travels of Odysseus and help him return to Ithaca.

In a way that memory can be seen as a way of linking up myself from back when I was finishing Seventh grade to where I am now. After playing the game for many months, I gained much interest in Greek and other classical civilizations, and continue to pursue my passion for history. That same passion brought me to graduate a year ahead my peers, and bring me closer to my dream of teaching it as a professor someday. It is passion and nostalgia that links me to Toph Marshall, as well as Odysseus himself.

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