I’ve had a number of revelations since coming to college. That’s not me trying to act like my two months of college so far have made me wise or anything, more that the time I’ve spent here has really put a lot of things into perspective for me as I’ve been thinking about my future more and more.
My most recent revelation came to me as I was between my two Thursday lectures. I had just had a midterm in the first class and was frantically studying for my quiz in the next one when two girls walked by me. Judging by their sweat, duffel bags and tight, clean buns, they were probably dancing majors.
A wave of envy washed over me as soon as I saw them. These girls, along with many other students within the many different performing arts programs that IU has to offer, get to go dance, sing, act, or play an instrument for a grade. They earn credits by doing things that they love and meanwhile I had spent at least 15 hours in the past two days studying and/or panicking about the midterm/quiz duo I had to deal with that day. I did choir and theater in high school so why shouldn’t I be able to pursue singing and acting like these people? That sounds a lot better than taking tests all week. I love my major and all, but I wished I could spend my days doing nothing but what I love to do, which is exactly what those dance majors that I saw get to do.
But then it hit me: that is what I get to do. I’m majoring in Animal Behavior and the two classes that I had worried about so much are directly related to my major and my degree. The class that I had just had the midterm in is a comparative class about chimpanzees. I took it because it seemed interesting and fulfilled my critical thinking requirement, but at the beginning of the semester I found out that it is literally my major. My second class that day was biology, and everything that class offers is the foundation of everything else that is going to carry me through my major and into my future career. Like most people, I spent most of high school just trying to get good grades. I’d study for tests just to try to get an A, but I never actually tried to understand the importance of what I was learning and retained none of it. That habit followed me into college until I realized just how wrong my mindset was. I was blinded from the importance of what I was learning by my need to get good grades and having to “do work”. I realized that my best bet for my future isn’t to just get the grades that will allow me to obtain a degree but to enjoy learning the information that will help me pursue my passion.
I may not be a performing arts student, but animal behavior is my dancing, singing, and acting. And I love that.
