So after feeling a bit nostalgic this past weekend, I got to thinking about all the twists and turns that have landed me on the path I'm currently following. And how much has changed in such a relatively short time! I thought I'd put some of the highlights down for posterity - and just to sort of come full circle.
I knew from the age of 10 that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I also knew it was going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of schooling. Most of my friends hated school and studying. For me, it was a means to an end. I wanted to be able to have choices for undergraduate, so I focused on standardized tests and getting my GPA as high as possible (which is sort of a game since we had a weighted level system that allowed you to get higher than a 4.0). I chose to take French as my foreign language - 5 years of it in fact. I chose to take music instead of physics even though I knew I was going to need to take a college level course. I sang in 4 or 5 choruses and several other groups. I had 3 colleges offer me full tuition scholarships - I was accepted at more than 10. I chose Butler University.
Butler had a lot of things to offer. Strong sciences and music for one. The chance to study abroad for another. And still I could be on my own but close enough to drive home if something urgent happened. I chose to major in biology and minor in French. I started dating a French exchange student my sophomore year. This would influence my decision to study abroad my junior year, although I chose to go to Lausanne, Switzerland instead of France or the UK as I had originally planned. I was planning on joining the Peace Corps after graduating from vet school, so it was important to me to try my hand at mastering a foreign language and experience some other cultures to expand my horizons. It was a choice I'm glad I made as I met many dear friends whom I'm still in touch with all these years later.
My freshman year I joined a research project with the psychology department - it's where I learned to love elephants! I got to go to the zoo several times a week to help gather behavioral observations and make recordings of the vocalizations for future study. I gained a footing doing research and found my senior honor's topic all at once...even if I did become known as the elephant woman among friends 🙂
While I was finishing up my senior year, I became semi-engaged to the French student I had started seeing as a sophomore. We went to Athens, Greece for 10 days over New Year's - staying with a friend I had met while studying in Lausanne. He gave me a ring - and while I wouldn't say it was a formal engagement, it was a promise ring at least. He found out that the US did not allow dual citizenship at that time. So he chose to pursue moving to Montreal, Quebec as an alternative. I found out that spring that I was accepted into Purdue's school of veterinary medicine. He helped me move to West Lafayette that summer.
After being involved long distance for prolonged periods, it was nice to be on the same continent and time zone for a change. I had never planned on a long term relationship - I wasn't sure I had enough time to give someone while I was committed to studying for another 4 years (8 years total with undergrad). But we were trying to find a compromise, a middle ground to which we could both agree. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. While I was willing to transfer to a Canadian university like Guelph, he wanted me to move to Montreal to study. Vet school was challenging enough without trying to learn it in a second language. So we weren't going to agree on this point. He was also rather indignant that when he visited me the week of finals, I was so consumed with studying that I had little time left for him. It was then I made the mistake of commenting that my work schedule would also be rather jammed. He was under the impression I would be working "part time" - as many married French women did - and did not even want to entertain the idea that I would want a full time career. And when I pointed out that I had similar earning potential...well, I think his male ego went "poof." A few months later, we broke up. I mailed the ring back since I saw no sense in keeping it - and yes, I had to have a few choice last words. It was then I knew I was destined to be a career woman. And I was at peace.
Funny enough, he called not too long ago to congratulate me (I've long since graduated from vet school and now own half the practice where I've worked for the past 10+ years). It was a voice from the past - but it didn't really stir me like it used to.
More about adult choices later... blogging really is a great way to sort out all the unfocused thoughts jumbling through my mind 🙂
I knew from the age of 10 that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I also knew it was going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of schooling. Most of my friends hated school and studying. For me, it was a means to an end. I wanted to be able to have choices for undergraduate, so I focused on standardized tests and getting my GPA as high as possible (which is sort of a game since we had a weighted level system that allowed you to get higher than a 4.0). I chose to take French as my foreign language - 5 years of it in fact. I chose to take music instead of physics even though I knew I was going to need to take a college level course. I sang in 4 or 5 choruses and several other groups. I had 3 colleges offer me full tuition scholarships - I was accepted at more than 10. I chose Butler University.
Butler had a lot of things to offer. Strong sciences and music for one. The chance to study abroad for another. And still I could be on my own but close enough to drive home if something urgent happened. I chose to major in biology and minor in French. I started dating a French exchange student my sophomore year. This would influence my decision to study abroad my junior year, although I chose to go to Lausanne, Switzerland instead of France or the UK as I had originally planned. I was planning on joining the Peace Corps after graduating from vet school, so it was important to me to try my hand at mastering a foreign language and experience some other cultures to expand my horizons. It was a choice I'm glad I made as I met many dear friends whom I'm still in touch with all these years later.
My freshman year I joined a research project with the psychology department - it's where I learned to love elephants! I got to go to the zoo several times a week to help gather behavioral observations and make recordings of the vocalizations for future study. I gained a footing doing research and found my senior honor's topic all at once...even if I did become known as the elephant woman among friends 🙂
While I was finishing up my senior year, I became semi-engaged to the French student I had started seeing as a sophomore. We went to Athens, Greece for 10 days over New Year's - staying with a friend I had met while studying in Lausanne. He gave me a ring - and while I wouldn't say it was a formal engagement, it was a promise ring at least. He found out that the US did not allow dual citizenship at that time. So he chose to pursue moving to Montreal, Quebec as an alternative. I found out that spring that I was accepted into Purdue's school of veterinary medicine. He helped me move to West Lafayette that summer.
After being involved long distance for prolonged periods, it was nice to be on the same continent and time zone for a change. I had never planned on a long term relationship - I wasn't sure I had enough time to give someone while I was committed to studying for another 4 years (8 years total with undergrad). But we were trying to find a compromise, a middle ground to which we could both agree. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. While I was willing to transfer to a Canadian university like Guelph, he wanted me to move to Montreal to study. Vet school was challenging enough without trying to learn it in a second language. So we weren't going to agree on this point. He was also rather indignant that when he visited me the week of finals, I was so consumed with studying that I had little time left for him. It was then I made the mistake of commenting that my work schedule would also be rather jammed. He was under the impression I would be working "part time" - as many married French women did - and did not even want to entertain the idea that I would want a full time career. And when I pointed out that I had similar earning potential...well, I think his male ego went "poof." A few months later, we broke up. I mailed the ring back since I saw no sense in keeping it - and yes, I had to have a few choice last words. It was then I knew I was destined to be a career woman. And I was at peace.
Funny enough, he called not too long ago to congratulate me (I've long since graduated from vet school and now own half the practice where I've worked for the past 10+ years). It was a voice from the past - but it didn't really stir me like it used to.
More about adult choices later... blogging really is a great way to sort out all the unfocused thoughts jumbling through my mind 🙂
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