This is a Post About My Major and Hell Week (Part 1 of Many)

Two weeks ago I had an amazing week, the type of week that makes it impossible not to smile. It was actually really luck that I had that week, because the next few weeks would hold a lot of stress for me, so it’s good for me to look back now and remember that feeling. It all started when I met with one of my favorite professors. She’s done a lot of the types of therapy and research that I hope to do one day, so it’s good that I asked her to be my major advisor. Maybe one day one of my journal articles will cite something she wrote. We’ve met several other times, but this meeting was particularly special – during this meeting, I declared as a psychology major. I’d been decided for a while, ever since this summer when I earned the opportunity to work at a vocational education facility for individuals with intellectual disorders. I worked with a variety of kids and teens with a wide range of disorders. It was one of the funnest summers I’ve ever had. It was also, however, a huge challenge. There was a steep learning curve for how to troubleshoot problems I ran across in the classroom. As most of the kids required one-on-one attention, I worked individually with a child for most of the day. This meant that I got to make an incredible bond with a few of the children. It also meant that I got to watch the development of a few select kids over the course of a summer under a particular behavioral plan. It was at this point that I realized my life dream. I don’t just want to carry these behavioral plans out; I want to write them. I’d like to write individualized therapy plans for clients from a very young age, but also do the research on therapy strategies, and write the guide to the therapies I put in the therapy plans. So I declared my major in psychology and set myself in a direction I can’t wait to go in.

I couldn’t keep a smile off my face for the rest of the week, but it wasn’t just because of declaring my major, because I have some other pretty exciting news………..I GOT A HELLEE!!!!! I was SO EXCITED, almost to the point of scaring her off. Almost, but not quite. She is the sweetest ever; she made a beautiful fortune cookie for me, and written on the fortune was her request for me to be her heller. It was as if the two best things about being a sophomore had happened in one week, but I know that the real best thing about being a sophomore will come in February, when I get to watch her do all the crazy tasks I think up for her.