"I'm definitely looking forward to your class. I know just enough about the World Wars to be aware they were covered poorly in high school." It's said with a bit of a shrug--even at 21 he's aware that almost everyone he went to school with (including himself) wasn't equipped with the emotional fortitude and nuance to comprehend the scope of those wars.

"If it's rude to ask what prompted your interest, please disregard the question." The eccentricities of career historians and how they found their era of obsession almost always lead to interesting stories.