The Beautiful Girl and the History Class

J. Passepartout: That'd certainly be a logical explanation for her cold, yes

Hajji Giray I: Amusing idea, but I don't believe that's likely. Thanks for the well wishes! I'm hoping to get an update in Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday this week, but I make no promises.

GhostWriter: That gave me a laugh. And thanks!

Llywelyn: haha no, nothing like that.

GRE tomorrow. High noon. I'm damned nervous.

JimboIX: I haven't had math in about 10 years and I wasn't much good to begin with. Good luck to your wife and thanks!

Hajji Giray I: :rofl: Oh man, that literally had me laughing for a good fifteen minutes. Thanks, I needed that I'll be chanting Zulu, Zulu! in my head as I walk into the testing center in a couple hours.

I did pretty well on the Verbal portion, enough to place me in the ballpark of the top third of English majors and in the 90th percentile of all test-takers in an average year.

My Quantitative section was below average, but I knew that was going to happen.

I'm pretty sure I sucked on the Analysis portion, but I don't have the scores for that one yet obviously.

So a mixed bag.

If anyone wants to know the specific Verbal and Math scores and to give their own assessment of how I did, they can PM me.

I sent my scores to Florida, San Diego State, Purdue, and Virginia. I'll be sending them to Arizona as well, since they like to see the scores if an applicant takes the GRE even though it's not required, but there was only room for four schools to send scores to.

JimboIX: Thanks Yep, the Verbal and the Analytical too, since that's writing as you know. Unfortunately I think I flubbed that section Oh well, I'm not retaking it. It's a decent test score overall. What major/grad schools is your wife looking at?

Hajji Giray I:

Purdue has the biggest chapter of my fraternity, isn't all that far away from home relatively speaking (If I'm going to be stuck in the Midwest, I want to be somewhat within driving distance of home), has a good program and is a Big Ten school.

That being said, I'd rank my school preference right now as Virginia first, Florida and San Diego State tied for second (Florida would be #2 by itself if they had a chapter of my fraternity), Arizona fourth, and Purdue fifth.

Virginia's my #1 choice, but it'll be tough to get into. Although the primary emphasis is on the writing sample, the average GRE score for all grad students is 1300. Combine that with the fact that their Creative Writing program is in the top 5 nationally and they get 500 applications a year and it's a long shot to get in.

Zeno of Cyprus: It certainly looks it. Gorgeous campus, too.

Hajjii Giray I: Thanks! I don't believe Rice does, no, but then again I didn't look at the Texas schools. Do tell this story! I'm Delta Sigma Phi myself.

JimboIX: I'd say uncle-in-law exists, yes. It's funny how many people I know who either have gone to Purdue or know people who have gone/taught there. Which sorority out of curiosity? As for the South, while I'm not fond of the Deep South unless it's Florida, the Mid-Atlantic South (of which I'd include Virginia and North Carolina) is awesome in my experience, but then again I'm partial to the East and Pacific coasts and will probably be moving to San Diego when my schooling is done (at whatever level).

I'll do my best to get an update in today to blow off some steam and relax before I delve into actually getting down and writing the 15-20 page paper for my capstone course that I have to be present Monday. I go first, which sucks, but what can you do?

We're all in anticipation this Friday morning, waiting to hear how this war turned out.

Prof Morengay's grinning as he puts his map up on the overhead.



"What we have here is the continental situation between Italy and Germany during the Lombardia War as it came to be called. Both kingdoms were made up of disconnected power centers, making a swift conclusion quite difficult. You'll notice that Sicily is not on this map.

With claims on Lucca, Ferrara, and Mantua in hand, King Louis I declared war and battle was joined. After a series of initial promising victories, the Italians were dealt a terrible blow in Cremona and Bologna, as the bulk of the continental Italian forces were crushed by the German menace. Left with no choice but to call up the Sicilian reigments, Louis did so with a heavy heart and also requested aid of certain of his vassals, which they readily lent. These vassals were able to secure several important victories in German royal possessions, but the September 1094 Battle of Modena resulted in Louis's Sicilian regiments being crushed by Duke Magnus Billing of Saxony and Brunswick, an annihilation nearly as brutal as the whipping the Duke of Alsace gave Louis in the Battle of Cremona some months before.

Despite the difficulties, Louis managed to scrap together enough troops from his remaining vassals and the reserves from Siracusa to engage in another series of quick conquests of King Friedrich's personal domains. By late May 1095, most of the German king's lands were in Louis's hands and a valiant assault by the remnants of the Palermo regiment along with the Siracusa regiment freed Bologna and Modena. Sensing war weariness on his opponent's part and knowing that he would never be in a better position against the Germans, King Louis sent an envoy to Friedrich in Modena offering peace in exchange for Lucca, Ferrara, and Mantua. Friedrich, wishing to hurry back to his capital province that was under siege and deal with other wars, quickly agreed.

And so in one sense, the Lombardia War was a success. The Kingdom of Italy gained three very valuable new territories in their quest to consolidate their northern Italian core. But the treasure was over 1,600 florins in debt, which at that time was a monstrous sum, in the several hundred millions, possibly even single billions by today's standards. The rest of Europe also looked down on Louis for grabbing those domains when they felt he didn't really deserve them. The war also failed in its original intent, to save the Duchess of Lombardia, who died without heir before the war ended. What will be important to remember later on, however, is that King Friedrich of Germany did not keep the land when it reverted to him. Instead, he named a new Duke of Lombardia and Count of Grisons.

Of course, despite the fact that there was a massive war debt, it must be remembered that the Kingdom of Italy was, in fact, extremely wealthy, so that by early fall 1096, roughly half of the debt was paid and another year or two would be sufficient to bring the kingdom back to solvency, provided no other conflicts broke out. Louis's reputation was also on the mend. While still regarded with some suspicion by his fellow monarchs, their trust was gradually coming back.

Two other important things happened that autumn. First, King Louis, who'd done so much for his family and had made the kingdom of Italy what it was, fell ill. Second, he discovered the territory he wanted to conquer next and resolved that when both he and the treasury recovered, he would go to war to get that piece of land.

But that... will come Monday! Have a good weekend!"

As I walk out of the room, I glance at Melody's empty seat. Guess she was telling the truth about being sick.