Or at least, the last of me in school.
It's true, this is my last year of college, and I'll be graduating in a week. A WEEK I TELL YOU! Yeah, I'm pretty shocked too.
For the past five years, I have gained higher education at Brigham Young University. For the first two years of my college career, I worked towards getting into the Advertising department here. My application was rejected, and I realized that I didn't really have the time to try and apply again. I switched my major from Pre-Communications to Anthropology and I realized that I should have probably started here from the beginning.
My first class was Anthropology 101, and I just feel in love with learning about so many different cultures, lives, and just realizing that while I thought I had an open mind before, it'll be nothing compared to how wide my mind is open now. I also realized that I needed a job, and my TA, Stefanie, suggested that I apply to be a Anthropology 101 Teaching Assistant. I did, and it was suggested that I wait for one more semester before applying again. I did so for Fall Semester 2013 and I got the job. And it's a job that I've had and loved ever since.
I then started to prepare for my field school. I knew that it was something that I needed to accomplish
in order to get my degree, but it wasn't something that really hit me till Winter Semester 2014 when I started to getting ready. I would be leaving my husband, my home, and my country, for three months to study cross-caste marriage in Visakhapatnam, India. Richard would be recently graduated and looking for full-time work and I would be leaving him. Not only was it hard for me to do, but it was also something that I realized that I can do. I can live outside of the country, and I can do what I'm supposed to do as an anthropologist. I can do what it is that I have been training to do for the past year!
I came back to realize that I only have a year of school left. A year left before I would be done at BYU. I analyze my data, and start to get everything ready for my senior thesis. This time is now...I'm finishing up my senior thesis, and I realize that these past five years have been all for this moment.
This little moment where I will walk across that stage at 8:00 in the morning and receive my diploma (cover...actual diploma will be delivered in 4-6 weeks in the mail @.@). It's so strange for me to think that just a few years ago I was getting married, and just a couple of years before that I was just graduating from high school and heading straight to college. I really can't believe that I'll be graduating in just a little over a week.
This has been a whirlwind ride, but it's a ride that I would do over again. I love going to school, I love learning, and I there are things that I never would have been able to do, unless I went to BYU and made my major Anthropology. I never would have gone to India, I never would have presented my research in UCUR, or the Utah Conference in Undergraduate Research, and I never would have discovered my love of teaching.
I have loved my time here at BYU and if there's one thing that I can say to upcoming students is take advantage of all that your college allows you to do. But most of all, enjoy your time at college to grown and figure out just a little bit more who you are. This is a time to learn. Why not learn who you are inside?
Talk to you later,
Ashley
It's true, this is my last year of college, and I'll be graduating in a week. A WEEK I TELL YOU! Yeah, I'm pretty shocked too.
For the past five years, I have gained higher education at Brigham Young University. For the first two years of my college career, I worked towards getting into the Advertising department here. My application was rejected, and I realized that I didn't really have the time to try and apply again. I switched my major from Pre-Communications to Anthropology and I realized that I should have probably started here from the beginning.
My first class was Anthropology 101, and I just feel in love with learning about so many different cultures, lives, and just realizing that while I thought I had an open mind before, it'll be nothing compared to how wide my mind is open now. I also realized that I needed a job, and my TA, Stefanie, suggested that I apply to be a Anthropology 101 Teaching Assistant. I did, and it was suggested that I wait for one more semester before applying again. I did so for Fall Semester 2013 and I got the job. And it's a job that I've had and loved ever since.
I then started to prepare for my field school. I knew that it was something that I needed to accomplish in order to get my degree, but it wasn't something that really hit me till Winter Semester 2014 when I started to getting ready. I would be leaving my husband, my home, and my country, for three months to study cross-caste marriage in Visakhapatnam, India. Richard would be recently graduated and looking for full-time work and I would be leaving him. Not only was it hard for me to do, but it was also something that I realized that I can do. I can live outside of the country, and I can do what I'm supposed to do as an anthropologist. I can do what it is that I have been training to do for the past year!
I came back to realize that I only have a year of school left. A year left before I would be done at BYU. I analyze my data, and start to get everything ready for my senior thesis. This time is now...I'm finishing up my senior thesis, and I realize that these past five years have been all for this moment.
This has been a whirlwind ride, but it's a ride that I would do over again. I love going to school, I love learning, and I there are things that I never would have been able to do, unless I went to BYU and made my major Anthropology. I never would have gone to India, I never would have presented my research in UCUR, or the Utah Conference in Undergraduate Research, and I never would have discovered my love of teaching.
I have loved my time here at BYU and if there's one thing that I can say to upcoming students is take advantage of all that your college allows you to do. But most of all, enjoy your time at college to grown and figure out just a little bit more who you are. This is a time to learn. Why not learn who you are inside?
Talk to you later,
Ashley
