my school "timeline"

I was asked yesterday for the first time why I want to go to school for Anthropology (socio-cultural) by someone who hadn’t been along on my journey through interests. I admit, I have changed my mind at least four or five times about what I’d like to be “when I grow up,” as I’m sure most people have. When I was little, I wanted to be a doctor. I told my Grandmom Nancy that I would become a doctor and take care of her in her old age. Although, I did insist that I would still charge her. I assure you looking back on it now, I would much rather not charge my grandmother for my medical services. But I am obviously not a doctor either.

Throughout elementary school and middle school I thought about what I liked to do and deduced that maybe I’d be an author or an illustrator. I actually spent much of my time in seventh grade typing up a story about aliens taking over my town, which I thought would be my first novel. I think I gave up on that project after fifty pages.

Once I got to high school, I was too wrapped up in boys, friends, and drama to really make any major life decisions. I did take a couple of the creative and advanced writing classes, along with some art classes, but I wasn’t very committed. By senior year though, I just wanted to be done and over with school as quickly as possible. I made the decision to take time off after graduating that year. Fortunately, I had the support of my immediate family to do so. I know a lot of people who have been forced to go to college when they aren’t ready or don’t know what they want to do, and end up wasting a lot of money. That topic could take up a whole other blog though, so I won’t go into it further right now.

After a summer of shedding high school from my mind, I had to find a job. I applied and got the job working at one of the billing offices of a diagnostic testing company. I am in no way business minded and was not all that interested in what the company did, but it was a good first job. I met and formed relationships with people I would not have met otherwise, I learned that adults were not as different from myself as I had thought, and I gained some confidence that I certainly hadn’t gotten from my previous eight years of school (elementary school was pretty great).

Eventually after a year and a half of working for the company, I started to become restless in the routine I had created for myself. I felt that I needed to get back into a rigorous learning environment and to figure out what I was doing with my future. I began to apply at some schools with the idea that I might major in Journalism (a form of writing that I thought would actually get me a career), and hopefully minor in art. I got into my first choice college, but they didn’t offer enough financial aid for me to attend. So I started at a community college instead.

Unfortunately my time at community college was cut short due to a nasty break up and a very trying time emotionally and spiritually that followed. For awhile, I had to focus more on figuring out what was going on inside of me than anything to do with school. Once I was more stable though, after thought and much prayer, I formed the idea that I would go to a different school closer to home, for art education. I registered and paid only to find out that the major of art education could no longer be offered because the school had dropped its contract with another art school in the area. I chose to attend the school anyway, hoping that I could figure something out down the road when it got closer to the time of picking a major.

Around the time that I started at this college, I began to have excruciating back pain. I went to a chiropractor and eventually after a month or so, one x-ray, and one MRI, it was found that I had a herniated disc in my spine. I was almost halfway through my first semester at this point and desperately wanted to finish. Between the terrible pain, going to physical therapy, and getting stomach flu twice, there were times when I had to consider dropping classes before I would fail. Thankfully with God’s help I stuck it out until finals and finished well. After that first semester though, I didn’t have enough money to pay for another and I couldn’t put my back through all of that sitting anymore. I gave up school, again.

Fast forward almost two years to now, and I am still dealing with the limitations of the herniated disc. Thankfully, I found a medication that greatly decreases the pain so that I can function much better than after I left college. There have been other struggles as well, including residual problems from my emotional turmoil around the time I was trying out community college. I have not had the easiest transition into adulthood, to say the least. Yet along my unconventional path I have learned a lot more than I may have had I done what I was “supposed” to do, i.e.: go to college right after high school, get a job after receiving my bachelor’s degree, etc.

One of the things I have learned on this path is what I really love to do. I still have interests in writing and art. Actually I have kept up with art in taking various classes at a community art center and am now taking a private painting class. Yet even more than those two interests that have dominated much of my time, I love learning about different cultures. I enjoy learning the differences between my own culture and the myriad of others present in the world today. I cherish those differences and feel that without knowledge of them, my life would be dim and unfulfilled. I want to be involved in bridging the gaps between cultures and people groups. I greatly desire to bring understanding between peoples that may not have the chance or resources to overcome their prejudices towards each other. I also have always felt that I needed to be involved in social justice causes, yet have not felt drawn to studying law. From my still limited understanding of Anthropology, I believe that learning the history of cultures and what makes people who they are today would aid in bringing about real help in cases of injustice.

I’m jumping a bit ahead in my story though. I forgot to mention how I was introduced to Anthropology. During my first semester of college I met a very dear friend, Jesica. Although during the time we were in school, we didn’t really know each other. It was after she graduated and I had been out of school for awhile that we really became friends. We would hang out a lot at the home where she was staying as an international student, the home of one of the anthropology professors from our college. It was a couple of months of spending time together before she mentioned that from her view of my interests, anthropology seemed to encompass them all. She herself had been an Anthropology major and said that even though I had not ever been to school for Anthropology (or without even really knowing what it was), I knew a lot about it.

After doing a bit of research, more conversations with Jesica and her host professor, and bouncing off these ideas about Anthropology with some family members, I really began to see just how much I really was interested in the study of cultures and all that entails. The more I read and look at what kinds of courses are available at various schools for Anthropology majors, I feel confirmed in this decision to pursue the field.

Now, I’m not saying that with the amount of times I’ve changed my mind so far, that I might not change it again. I don’t see that happening with how perfectly Anthropology seems to involve all of my interests, but who knows? I am trusting God to lead me along the path that He has chosen for me, and if that includes going to school for Socio-Cultural Anthropology, I will be overjoyed.