During second and third periods, I learned that when I get back to my old life, if I ever get back to my old life, I should stay away from organic chemistry. And during fourth period, I learned that I don’t know anything about the Hapsburgs. The teacher, a reptile-faced man with two tufts of gray hair on either side of his otherwise bald head, passed out a four-page test packet labeled, “Mr. Koch’s History of the Hapsburgs.” “1) Name three domestic policies of Joseph II,” read the first test question. “I can’t even name one,” I wrote in pencil, then quickly erased it. Instead I guessed and wrote, “Religious Freedom. Social Reform. Centralized Government.” Monarchs are always centralizing things, right? “2) What two countries gained their independence as a result of the Peace of Westphalia?” The Peace of Westphalia? Why hadn’t I heard of any of this?
