I entered the university as a biology major. I took the Spanish placement exam, and realized I would have the time to complete a major in Spanish, as well. Spanish was, for a long time, the “icing” on the cake. Biology, and then biochemistry, and then political science made up the cake itself. The standards that had been set for me didn’t register “just Spanish” as an adequate use of my time. But when I took time off for various reasons, including the fact that I hadn’t settled on a “cake” and couldn’t waste any more time changing my studies, I also realized that, just as high school was made to be an unnecessarily high-pressure environment, my undergraduate career was becoming a stressful game of squeezing in as many requirements as possible. I wasn’t taking courses I liked. I was taking ones that would “count.” When I returned, I knew that I both wanted to enrich myself and move out of undergraduate in a timely fashion. I dropped my secondary major, and began exploring the depths of the course catalog, seeking out classes that were of personal interest or that would compliment my studies. Continue reading →