A Few Things I Learned From College

      

So, today I walked in my first ever graduation ceremony.  It was cool.  Kind of weird walking around in wizard robes, but hey, cool to do it at least once, right?

I just wanted to take a second and write down a few things I learned from my years in college.  Sure, I learned “a lot” if you consider all the geological terms and the new Russian words I now have in my head.  But really, there are only a few BIG things that I took away.  In fact, I want to focus on only three.

WORK HARD.  PLAY HARD.

College course loads are heavy.  There is a lot of work and a lot of stress that comes with it.  And if you are serious about your education, gear up for some long nights in the library!  That’s just how it is.  You have to WORK HARD.  However, I feel like a lot of people miss the second half of it all – PLAY HARD.  If you aren’t serious about getting your play time in, then your soul can get seriously out of whack.  If you spend too much time in the library, sure your brain will be full of all the facts you need for the test, but you run the risk of become a miserable trivia-regurgitating robot.  You have to get out and play!  Do what makes you feel happy and free and DO IT OFTEN!  It is all about balance (slackline pun definitely intended).  If it comes down to missing a few questions on the next day’s quiz or to stay in and go insane, just miss the few questions!  It’s okay!

DO WHAT YOU WANT.

When I first started, there was so much talk of “what are you majoring in?” “what will you do with that major?” “what is your career path?” “what are you going to be when you grow up?!”.  It kind of drove me nuts!  I spent a lot of time in intro classes trying to decide what I wanted to DO.  My problem was that I seemed to like MOST of these intro classes!  (I say most, because I couldn’t stand psychology haha)  So after a solid two semesters of taking different intro classes, all I knew was that I didn’t actually want to be a conservational biology major and I wanted to study Russian, geology, Arabic, and business/non-profit.  SO, since I couldn’t do them all, I dropped bio as my official major, and then picked up geology and Russian as a declared double major.  Then I added Middle Eastern Studies as a minor just for fun.  People would ask me all the time, “why did you pick this combination?”  And I would just say, “well, I just like it all!”  And I can really say that I have LOVED my education.  I enjoyed every bit of it!  So when it comes down to deciding what you will “do” in life – make sure it is something that you WANT TO DO.

BE A KIND HUMAN.

I truly believe the whole idea of this life is to learn how to coexist with other humans.  College has reinforced this. There are so many opportunities to meet new people – some people that are just like you, and then some people that are completely different.  And for whatever reason, it seems that when people are different, getting along becomes more difficult!  But I don’t think it has to be this way!  In fact, different personalities, hobbies, interests, beliefs, study habits are the very things that make life INTERESTING.  If we can embrace these differences in others, our horizons will be infinitely broadened.  If we focus on helping others feel good about themselves and do our part to make sure people around us are comfortable, our world will be better.  Be kind and learn to coexist.

Take it for what it is worth.  I loved my studies in college.  It was a great chapter of my life.  And I am VERY excited to see what I learn from this next chapter!