My name is Eric and I am a third year History and Economics joint honours student.

I first came to University of Waterloo and enrolled into math faculty with the plan of studying Actuarial Science. Prior to entering university, I had no idea what I actually wanted to study or wanted to become and just followed my friends and program they chose. I wasn’t exactly sure what Actuarial Science major do for living but when I heard they make lots of money, I decided to apply for it.

To no surprise, I eventually got tired and had no motivation to continue studying math. Although many people would decide to just continue and finish the study after studying it for three years, I did not want to since I couldn’t picture myself  working  as one for rest of my life. I eventually decided to change my program to be a History major.  The biggest obstacle to changing was not the courses and marks required for transfer but my Asian parents. They did not approve of it at first, but with some convincing they agreed to let me change with the condition that I study economics with it.

I am interested in studying social, political and economic history. I am very curious about how different policies or changes, whether they were small or big, impacted and altered the lives of people living in that time period. I like to believe that every single decision made in the past is significant because it shows evolution of humanity and  it is also fascinating to see the accumulation of changes and decisions which shaped the society that we currently live in.

I decided to take this course initially since it fit my schedule very well and course description made it sound interesting. I wanted to see how technology have now changes or evolves the way we study and look at history. After attending the lectures and learning about what we will do, I came to see that the tools we will be learning in the class are not only interesting but might actually come in handy later on.

I hope this semester goes well for all of us and I look forward to spending time with you all.