Early last semester, I sat at a desk in the Washington Square News room, editing an article about the various 2-credit electives students could take. I was three hours deep in the editing process, counting down the minutes until my shift was over when I stumbled upon this article. School was going well—I loved my classes and was really interested in what I was studying. However, things had already gotten stuck in a routine, and I didn’t like the repetitiveness. College was supposed to be exciting and spontaneous, so why did I feel like I was in high school?

I think it was the fact that the classes I was taking simply fulfilled a requirement. I had to take them to graduate, which takes the fun out of learning, sometimes.

So, finding this article was like finding buried treasure (that may be an exaggeration, but you get the point). There was a food studies class, a photography in the city elective, a writing elective, etc. All the classes were 2-credit and didn’t require the same commitment I had to give my required classes. The classes were quirky, met once a week, and were small enough to focus on discussion.

I quickly emailed my advisor to see if I could make it work. After some back and forth, I found out that some classes were only open to certain schools and majors (drag), but the others were totally doable! I settled on The Travel Habit, a fun Gallatin elective that focused on the literature that arose out of the Depression.

I have to say, the structure of the class was perfect for me. It met for three hours every Friday when I had no other classes, and the class sat at a long, round table that was perfect for thoughtful discussion. My professor was laid back and caring, bringing food from the local farmer's market every week because the class ran during lunch time. We would contribute two blog posts a week to the website he built and spend our class time discussing the readings and one another’s blog posts over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apple cider.

The class got me out of bed on Fridays, which were often used to sleep the day away rather than be productive, and provided me with a lot of insight into the Depression. Even though it didn’t count for my elective, which would make some people say it was “useless,” the information I learned opened my eyes to aspects of the Depression I had never thought of before, while introducing me to a ton of great authors.

Also, the class was made up of a diverse group of people from a variety of majors and schools at NYU. A Stern student, for example, would bring in the financial aspects that influenced the Depression while a Political Science major would talk about the shift in meaning of the word “liberal” during those years. My classmates had traveled to other NYU campuses in their time at NYU and spoke many different languages. It was intimidating at first—me, a little freshman, discussing literature with these highly accomplished students—, but I learned to appreciate our common interest in this class.

Even now, months after the class ended, I remember the nights I spent reading obscure novels in preparation for our weekly discussions. Sometimes, a little fact would stand out and I was able to integrate it into my other classes, making connections to the material I was learning for my major. I love the fact that I now know so much about the Great Depression, and the class was totally worth giving up my Friday afternoons every week.

So, if you are feeling stagnant or bored in your required classes and want to study something purely out of interest, I encourage you to look into your school’s electives. Oftentimes, you’ll find something that will pique your interest and make you look at other areas of your life with a new perspective. And who knows, that one little class may change your whole life course and send you to a career you are truly passionate about. Even if is just something fun and random to break up the routine you’re currently in, why not give it a shot?