Part
1
When I
arrived at MHC during the fall of 1999, I had every intention of
majoring
in history. I *heart* history. I had taken four years of it
in high school, and I loved every minute of it. There were
thoughts
of majoring in other things, but none of these thoughts were ever too
serious.
And I never thought I would ever end up majoring in a science.
That
was just not a possibility. I hated science so much, and had such
bad experiences with it in high school, that I only took three years of
it in high school.
Anyway, I digress.
Mount
Holyoke
has these wonderful graduation requirements. They say that you
have
to take two classes in the math/science "realm", so to speak, in order
to graduate. I loathed the thought of completing this particular
requirement, but I figured I would simply get it out of the way as
quickly
as possible, and just hope I wasn't too miserable in the process.
I took introductory
astronomy my first semester in college. I thought it was okay,
but
nothing particularly special. Second semester, I decided I would
take introductory geology to finish the requirement, since it seemed
relatively
interesting, manageable, and perhaps, oh my, could it even be
fun?
I remember thinking, that first day, that when that class was over, I
would
*never* have to take another science class *ever* again. I
couldn't
wait.
Three
months
later when I took the final for that class, I knew I didn't want it to
end. My conversion had begun. I loved geology! I
decided
that there might be a geology minor in my future, so I took
oceanography
during the first semester of my second year.
That
October,
the conversion continued. I loved learning about oceanography,
and
about everything Earth science and geology. I was torn. I
wanted
to major in history. I loved Spanish too. And I *really*
loved
geology. Something about it just clicked with me. It made
perfect
sense in a way science never had before. And there was also a
wild
card - I wanted to go abroad. I was completely conflicted.
::cue melodramatic music:: One fateful day, I went to my
roommate,
angst-ridden about my predicament. And a funny thing
happened.
We were talking, and within the same second, she said "why don't you
*major*
in geology?" and I thought the exact same thing. This might not
seem
like such a strange occurrence, but believe me when I say that,
considering
that I had never seriously entertained the the thought before, it was.
I
pondered.
Could I really go from science dolt to geology goddess?
Considering
my track record in science classes, I had my serious doubts.
The week
after the cosmic experience I shared with my roommate, I went on a
field
trip with my oceanography class. We explored the coast of Maine
for
a weekend. We got up at 6am to go watch the sun rise over the
ocean.
We played in the mud. I tried to save fish. I found a
strange,
random world underneath a microscope that I had never really understood
before, but was somehow fascinated by. We played with sea
cucumbers.
And I fell in love with science.
When I
got home after that weekend, I told my roommate that I couldn't hold it
back anymore. I had to major in geology.
Part 2
Even
though
I had decided to major in geology, I still wasn't able to let go of the
history major. I had the *brilliant* idea that I would double
major.
That way, if I worked towards two majors, I was bound to get at least
one,
right? At that point, I gave up all hope of going abroad.
But
that didn't last long. My wanderlust was too strong, and
eventually,
I decided that I had to go abroad. I would somehow figure out how
to double major and spend my Junior year away from MHC. It would
work somehow! So I began researching schools that would have both
geology and history. Eventually, it came time for me to talk
classes
over with the head of the history department, who shall remain
nameless.
Suffice it to say that I was crushed when I left his office. My
carefully
balanced plan crashed down around me when I was told that I needed one
more 300 level history class than I had previously thought, and that I
wouldn't be able to get 300 level history credit for classes I took
abroad.
Needless to say, this made it virtually impossible to double
major.
I left that office that day knowing I was dropping the history
major.
I spent most of the rest of that day crying about it.
And then, the next day, I
got over it.
Early this
past October, I got word that as of the end of the Fall semester, I
would
be done with my major. And as of May 12th, I knew that the
project
I had been putting so much energy into all year had been accepted as a
thesis. The funny thing is that it all found me. I never
searched
out a new major. I never planned on writing a thesis. It's
been a whirlwind ride that in many ways has been out of my
control.
I'm not complaining, though. It's been a great 4 years.
I am a fighter.
(Background image borrowed from:
http://jon.luini.com/photos/desktop/kalalau-rocks.jpg)
