When I came to Gonzaga, I declared biology as my major. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew that I loved the earth, life, and animals. I had always been good at science, but chemistry and physics got on my nerves. I also loved journalism and English, but I was unsure if I could get a guaranteed career in that field.
As I started in my first biology classes, I was lost. I had learned most of the intro material in high school, but we were going much more in depth, and I wasn't prepared for the amount of work we had to do. I was used to everything coming easy to me, and it surprised me that I was struggling.
I began to doubt if biology was the right major for me. I was surrounded by a bunch of extremely smart people who seemed to know what they were doing. I realized that this major was not going to be easy, and I wasn't sure if it was worth it. My English teacher told me that I was great at writing, and I thought about switching my major to a writing subject.
But, this semester, as a sophomore, things started to click, and everything fell into place. During my physiology and biodiversity class, my professor told us about these tiny (literally molecular) water bears that can survive in almost any environment in the universe. During genetics, I discovered a bacteriophage that was extremely rare, and is only similar to one other phage in the country.
Although my homework was difficult, I found it cool. The things I was learning about were interesting, and I found myself enjoying what I was doing. Of course, staying up until 3 a.m. to write a scientific paper is awful, but it's not as bad because I was engaged in the material.
There's a moment when you feel your major. It doesn't matter if you're majoring in literature, public relations, history, physics, or engineering. There's a moment when you realize you're in the right place, and you're doing what's right for you.
My moment happened when I was in bed reading my biology textbook. I had just read a little factoid about how birds virtually are able to see the magnetic field of the earth, and use that as their own little compass. I looked over to my roommate and said, "Damn, biology is cool. I love my major."
So, even though I'll complain about having to annotate bacterial genomes for four hours, and I get extremely stressed out during finals week, I have no doubts that I'm studying what I'm meant to.
I love learning and furthering my education, and that's essentially what science is. Every day of my career, I will learn something new about the world, and I think that's the most amazing thing ever. My life will never be boring because I will continue to explore the earth and all it has to offer.
So, thank you, biology. I appreciate the struggles you have put me through that enabled me to see what I'm meant to do with this one wild and crazy life.
You're perfect.
