- College Majors... and what I wish someone had told me before:
- When you are in high school, everyone wants to know what you want to do for the rest of your life and where you are going to school. They put so much pressure on making decisions for the rest of your life that it becomes overwhelming. I know, for me, having to make that decision made me look at the reputation, character, and success of people in all the different fields. I knew I wanted to do something in science, but that is such a broad spectrum of topics. It wasn't until I chose to switch schools and find an option that would allow me to experiment with classes, to find what I was interested in, that I found what I love. The difficult part of this was this discovery coming in late in the game. I wish someone had told me that there are options that allow you to go as broad or narrow as you choose with your major. I also wish someone had told me that you don't have to follow the stereotyped ideas of what type of person should do what major. Not just athletes have to do Kinesiology, not just child geniuses have to do some super complicated Math or Science, good writers do not have to do English. I was so stuck because of these ideals that I lost out on initially finding what I love. Long story, short: Finding what you love in college is not necessarily the "ideal" stereotype.
- Thoughts on Graduation:
- I have one full semester left before I become a college graduate (pending getting into my classes). I have been in college for almost 5 years. I have been up here at Humboldt for almost 4 full years. The idea of graduating college is a lot more foreign than how I felt in high school. Graduating from high school is like a way of saying, "Yay! You were able to meet 12 years of standards in order to become a functioning member of society." It was a way to end one life chapter in order to begin another. Graduating from college is a way to show you tried your hardest, stressed a lot, overcame many obstacles, and fought the good fight to fulfill requirement after requirement while still figuring out what to do with the rest of your life. People expect so much more out of you after you graduate from college, they want to know how much you have your life together. Truth is, I still don't know what I want to do when I "grow up."
- When things fall in place, but may not be together yet:
- I am preparing for my last semester of my undergraduate life. I have all my classes laid out and they fit together perfectly, but I still don't know yet if I will get into them. I have been debating about the future, and opportunities keep presenting themselves that would be perfect, yet I still am unsure if they are right. I keep telling myself to just go for everything, but something is still holding me back. I don't know why. I guess I am still getting over the thoughts of the previous two points. I guess I just have to continue to trust that everything will fit together and go exactly as they are supposed to.
- Homesickness (or just missing home):
- I don't know if I can call it homesick, but I miss being home. I miss my friends at home, and my family, and my fluffy things. Talking on the phone and Skype of FaceTime and Facebook are fantastic, and I am so thankful for them, but there is nothing that can match actually being there where I can sit and have dinner with my parents, or spend hours playing with the cats, or catch up with friends that I never get to see anymore because I chose what I thought was best for me in order to grow myself. Thanksgiving week cannot come any sooner.
- School burn-out:
- I don't care what you say, but burn-out is worse than "senioritis" in high school. I have been in school for 20 of my almost 23 years I have been alive (minus the summers I didn't do anything school related). I have worked so hard to get to this point. I feel like I have reached a max capacity of learning for some time, at least at this intensity. As a senior in high school, I wanted to move on to bigger and better things, and the idea of high school grew old. That's what "senioritis" is, wanting to be done with forced education and making your own decisions. I am past that point. I have been so continuously overwhelmed semester after semester that I am full of information and am running out of the energy to keep going. My "life gas light" has been on for a while and I am calculating the number of miles I have left of gas to see if I can make it to the gas station at the end of the education system. (Metaphor brought to you by my brain on school.) At this point, all I can do is wait it out and continue to give it my all.
Well, this is a lot of thoughts. Sorry, not sorry.
Until next time,
Kallie
