Hello! I’m Bailey Murray and I’m a second-year student in the general History MA at American University. Originally I’m from Raleigh, North Carolina and I received my undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Surprisingly enough, my Bachelor’s is in Child Psychology and it wasn’t until a lengthy trip around Europe and Egypt that I decided that History was my real passion. While American University is not the Egyptology and Education degree I soon hope to pursue, it has been an important stepping stone on my ultimate journey as I have gained connections as well as a proper introduction to the Historical field that I missed out on with my science-based undergraduate degree.
Digital history is a subject that I have until now, placed on the back burner because I was blind to the possibilities that were staring me in the face. Simply signing up for a digital history class has allowed me insight into the potential of the digital age and how it affects the way we interact with history. Personally, one of my biggest hobbies is playing video games, and my favourite genre is any game that involves historical fiction – such as Assassins Creed: Origins which is set during Ptolemaic Egypt. Naturally, that means I’m most excited for the part in our class where we discuss gaming, but, as I’ve perused the syllabus several times now, I am also eager to expand my capabilities with resources that may come in handy in a classroom setting to keep students engaged and learning.
Beyond traveling to Egypt in 2019, I haven’t actually done very much in the historical field that doesn’t resemble tourism. I hope that American is the catalyst I needed to begin my time in the historical field and I am eager to see what the future holds! I suppose a bit more about me as a person before I sign off since we will be getting closer as a class over the semester. I love to play games as I said earlier and I believe my project proposal will have something to do with such though I haven’t pinned down my exact topic. I am also an avid reader (I am currently reading Moses and Monotheism by Sigmund Freud), I adore DnD and other roleplaying games, and my secret talent is hand embroidery though I dream of the day I can buy myself a machine to do it for me.