I should not be awake past 11:30

I'm staying up late tonight to register for classes.
I should probably be up until midnight every night doing research, but alas, it is so difficult for me to function on such little sleep. You would think I could make an exception since I have a rough draft due next week, and I do not know what my thesis is yet. Naturally I would stay up late every night searching and searching to come up with something. Nope.

I just realized that if I had not chosen to double major, or even minor, in German, I could be done with my art history degree next semester. After three years of college, I would have a degree. Needless to say, my mind is blown. I literally only have eight classes left to take for my undergraduate degrees. This is so weird, and it's not even my last semester yet.

But the end is in sight; I can glimpse the proverbial flickering light at the end of the tunnel.

And I just want to sleep. Why must I pick classes at midnight.

Epiphany

I had an epiphany this morning about why I love art history.

I've been thinking about it a lot lately, trying to discover what it is that I find so fascinating about it, and it dawned on me this morning: There's more than meets the eye.

John Constable once said "We see nothing until we truly understand it."

I think this statement is true on so many levels. We do not see people, places, cultures, or paintings until we truly understand them. We can get the gist, we can glance and skim; but to fully appreciate all the beauty that is there before you, you must seek to understand, you must put forth an effort to see beyond the surface. And I love that this profound truth is the same with people, not just works of art. I love forging that path to understanding and seeing people, cultures, languages, and works of art in a genuine sense. So this is why I study art history: I want to see the world around me in all its glory and bask in the wonderful complexity that is simply life.