a twist in the road

I came to graduate school dead-set on studying Nazi Germany. I had spent the previous year beginning to study the German language and was so excited to take classes on Modern Central Europe.

I got here, and suddenly everything changed when I was informed that the Central Europe professor retired last spring. The entire purpose of me coming out here=gone.

Although I am on one level disappointed and rather conflicted, I cannot say this disappointment is profound. After all, one of the reasons it was so hard for me to make the commitment to grad school in the first place was that I have such broad interests. And so I find myself starting from scratch, attempting to decide to what I want to devote my life's studies.

What are my options, you may ask?

1) the American Southwest. I did a little bit of research/writing on cultural history in the American Southwest during my undergrad. It was interesting. At the time I didn't feel as if it was something I wanted to continue studying indefinitely, but it is always something I can fall back on, especially since I already know Spanish.

2) Along the Spanish lines, I could always go with Latin American history. Honestly, though, I don't think I will be doing this - I simply don't have the background to inspire interest in anything specific.

3) I could go with some variation on Jewish history. This would intersect nicely with the Holocaust, although in a slightly different way than I had imagined at the outset.

4) Then, of course, there is my long-standing fascination with early American history. Colonial America is fascinating to me, and early American history, particularly the antebellum South.

5) 16th and 17th century Europe. Witchcraft was particularly fascinating to me when I took a class on Modern Europe in college.

I do know that I find myself particularly drawn to religious history. No matter what geographical area or time period I find myself in eventually, I do know that religious history will be my focus.

So, basically, I'm slightly conflicted, but in a good way. I have a lot of options. I just need to start talking to the professors here and find out what they have to say about these options. :)