An interesting degree: Letters.

It is basically what you would have studied had you went to college in the 19th century: history, philosophy, literature, one modern language (German), and one ancient language (Greek). It leaves room for tons of electives that I have chosen to fill with another language (Arabic), an intro to Latin (which I haven't taken yet), and just about every Classical Culture class the university offers. I tend to stay away from most literature classes as (to me) analyzing the hidden psychological meaning in the number of times a character utters a phrase or doesn't utter a phrase is pointless and takes away from the actual literature. Our Classics department is great as when we study Homer or Herodotus they let the authors (or in Homer's case, singers) speak for themselves and we pay attention to what was written and not some esoteric "meaning" behind the words.

One of the reasons I chose it was to learn about the foundations of Western civilization while learning (through the languages and various history courses) about other cultures and civilizations.

I'm a Marine and having a firm basis in my own culture and that of others is a very important skill in my opinion. How are we supposed to convince people in other countries that democracy and the open expression of ideas is a good idea if we can't explain where it came from and why it's important? Anyway, I've rambled on enough about this, but, as you can see, I'm pretty passionate about this stuff. ;)