At work the other day, a customer asked if I was in school and what I was studying -- ordinary small talk. When I told him that I planned to major in biology, he asked how I grew to love it. The question struck me as peculiar; I knew I always loved science, but I couldn't pinpoint the origin of my fondness. After a great deal of soul-searching, I realized that it all started with sharks.
I was once terribly afraid of sharks. However, after watching "Shark Week" on the Discovery Channel as a little girl, I became obsessed. In the bathtub, I used to play with my favorite toys: miniature shark figurines. The species name of each shark was lightly engraved on the belly of each tiny creature.
After I memorized their names, and after I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair, I would climb into the rich leather computer chair while snug in my bath towel and waste away hours researching the differences between tiger sharks and nurse sharks. I Googled where they lived, what they ate, where they migrated, what their bones were made of. It all started with sharks.
Marine biology is no longer my passion, but it ignited a lust for knowledge. I grew to love the intricacies of the nervous system, the grandiose stature of the left ventricle, and the delicate fossa of bones. I developed a respect for the taxonomy of invertebrates: the phyla lepidoptera and hemiptera.
I view the world as a biologist. My heroes are Roslind Franklin and Frederick Griffith. I love that I understand anatomy, physiology, and even the life cycle of zygomycota. I could not see myself happy in any other field of study because biology's mysteries wholly captivate me.
I had a professor tell me that nothing smaller than a whale is interesting to look at, but he didn't observe a microscopic cat ovary or the spongy mesophyll like I did. He didn't memorize the beautiful patterns of alveolar connective tissues. He didn't examine a simple peanut for his first collegiate dissection; he didn't notice the tiny embryo or the nutty cotyledons enveloping it.
As a premed student, a lot of my biological science classes won't relate to my clinical work, but it's still a privilege to learn about population ecology and zymurgy.
Biology class lectures resonate so deeply in my daily life that I sometimes think about the blissful release of oxytocin I experience when I kiss my boyfriend and I consider the ecological diversity of organisms when I walk across the beach. I once, while celebrating after finals, sang a song about bacteriophages in my friend's apartment.
I fall in love with biology every day. Some of my best college memories even involve studying for practicals. I crave the faint smell of preservatives in lab rooms. And god, I cannot wait for my studies to resume.
