The arts, medicine, law, education, business... the list goes on and on with majors and careers that any student or parent would be proud of. However, many college students, like myself, have a problem when it comes to choosing what they want to do with the rest of their lives. No one wants to choose something they would be miserable doing. The dilemma of never knowing if that choice was the right one can be a scary thought especially when college comes with such a substantial monetary factor. I've flip-flopped from one area to the next as I've grown up. If I could have my way I would choose to travel the globe until I die, but as my parents always say, "Money doesn't grow on trees." Even with all the flip-flopping, I am still right where I started with no clue what I want to do. Being a princess isn't very practical, being an astronaut terrifies me, being a doctor involves far too much blood and being a lawyer isn't really my forte.

I graduated high school as an Exceptional Student Education major going to a college no more than an hour away from home with a dream to change lives and help people. This new stage in my life was getting to a great start and I felt like I had found the answer to the daunting question, "What do you want to do after college?" Little did I know that with this new college experience came a boatload of things I had never seen, done, or heard of that changed my entire outlook. Somehow I became a member of my college cheerleading team (which I had no experience in), joined a sorority, got a job, entered a relationship, met a lot of new people and literally could not keep it together. My first semester in college was just as brutal and stressful as all the stories you hear from teachers and parents in high school. I didn't know how to get back up. Things needed to change and some things needed to be let go, but these experiences I have had so far have changed me and introduced me to so many new things.

While working in the Career Development Department at my university (ironic, I know), I have met people with varying majors and aspirations. Some majors I had never even heard of like cardiovascular sonography, which showed me that not everything is as black and white as being a biology major, an art major or any other popular major. There are so many options to choose from! Sub fields to larger fields, new fields to fun fields like event planning or zoology and so much more. All of these discoveries opened my eyes and have allowed me to become more open-minded when making my choices. I thought, maybe I could still live out my childhood dream of working at a zoo with the otters.

Another factor, which flipped me sideways, came about while searching for a summer internship. Of course, still set in my ways, I was looking in to summer camps, and summer schools to work with children, but I encountered new options that I was also qualified for, which had nothing to do with education. I found myself gravitating towards these other internships rather than the summer camps. I came to realize that maybe education wasn't really what I wanted to do either. My passion and drive I've had for teaching and helping children is still there, but my mind has been opened to realize that I have other interests that I seem to like more. A new class I took, in the second half of my winter semester, Intro to Anthropology, stirred my curiosity for culture, people, how we all came to be and how our cultures affect us. I truly felt a pull towards this field and I can truly say I have found myself in another rut.

After this whirlwind that was my first year of college, I'm thinking about switching my major, I've quit the cheerleading team, I'm transferring schools, I'm leaving my job, I've fallen in love and yet I still cannot seem to get my life together. But, from one unsure college student to another, who's to say that's a bad thing? Transitioning into adulthood is a struggle within itself where you face multiple challenges and learn to be your own entity. College is where you explore and find yourself, you start to understand who you really are and what you are really interested in. So even if your journey to finding your career is a little longer than others, just like mine, sit back and enjoy the ride because your experiences and the joy you feel after the fact will be more than worth it.