The Scientist (?)
So, Friday morning I have to be at the church at 4:30. AM. Blegh. Then I get to ride for 12 hours to Boston and give three different concerts with the handbell choir. We do get to spend one day in Boston, which will be fun, but it's an awfully long trip for not much time there. Oh well, I'm bringing The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide with me...that will provide much amusement. Speaking of Hitchhiker's - the third trailer is absolutely awesome, watch it NOW! (I'm so excited!) And it comes out the day after classes end! Yippee!
liberalnun got me thinking about majors. Er, actually I've been thinking about it for a couple weeks now but I've been kind of scared to admit it to myself. I've wanted to major in chemistry since I took it sophomore year of high school and decided that architecture was a no go for me. I loved sophomore chem and loved most of AP chem (except for acid/base chem which I still struggle with). First semester here at W&M was interesting and although the problem sets were more challenging than I was used to, I liked the fact that they made me use cumulative knowledge - they were sort of like logic problems. Research lab was...well, I have to admit it was quite what I'd expected. This semester is a little better; I have a little more knowledge of what's going on, but I still get nervous before I go each week...and I get nervous when I have to do stuff by myself...and it's almost like I can't think on my own, at least with stuff that has to do with chem. Maybe it's because a lot of the stuff we're doing I haven't learned yet or maybe it's because I'm not extremely interested in the research we're doing. Next semester I think I'll become a chem slut and maybe try a different research lab.
However, lab is not the only thing that's bothering me. Orgo is hard and I'm fast becoming very lost in lecture. This weekend on the way to Boston I will be spending much quality time with my chem book and hopefully that will catch me up enough to go get help from my professors. But both the lab and lecture are starting to make me wonder whether I actually have the right type of thought process to be a scientist. The thing is I don't know what else I'd major in. I'm interested in a whole lot of the courses W&M has to offer, but only in rather small doses. And I still like the idea of chemistry, I find at least the non-organic stuff interesting...but I'm not sure if I'm just clinging to the idea of "oh cool, I'll be a woman in science!" I guess I've mainly been thinking of the big picture and I've failed to consider the details of what it means to major in chem and do it for the rest of my life. Now that I am considering the details and how they mesh with my intelligence and skills I'm starting to be very afraid that they don't match up very well. Any suggestions?
On the bright (hopefully?) side tomorrow I find out whether I can spend next spring in St. Andrews. Here's hoping for another visit to the Chariots of Fire beach!
liberalnun got me thinking about majors. Er, actually I've been thinking about it for a couple weeks now but I've been kind of scared to admit it to myself. I've wanted to major in chemistry since I took it sophomore year of high school and decided that architecture was a no go for me. I loved sophomore chem and loved most of AP chem (except for acid/base chem which I still struggle with). First semester here at W&M was interesting and although the problem sets were more challenging than I was used to, I liked the fact that they made me use cumulative knowledge - they were sort of like logic problems. Research lab was...well, I have to admit it was quite what I'd expected. This semester is a little better; I have a little more knowledge of what's going on, but I still get nervous before I go each week...and I get nervous when I have to do stuff by myself...and it's almost like I can't think on my own, at least with stuff that has to do with chem. Maybe it's because a lot of the stuff we're doing I haven't learned yet or maybe it's because I'm not extremely interested in the research we're doing. Next semester I think I'll become a chem slut and maybe try a different research lab.
However, lab is not the only thing that's bothering me. Orgo is hard and I'm fast becoming very lost in lecture. This weekend on the way to Boston I will be spending much quality time with my chem book and hopefully that will catch me up enough to go get help from my professors. But both the lab and lecture are starting to make me wonder whether I actually have the right type of thought process to be a scientist. The thing is I don't know what else I'd major in. I'm interested in a whole lot of the courses W&M has to offer, but only in rather small doses. And I still like the idea of chemistry, I find at least the non-organic stuff interesting...but I'm not sure if I'm just clinging to the idea of "oh cool, I'll be a woman in science!" I guess I've mainly been thinking of the big picture and I've failed to consider the details of what it means to major in chem and do it for the rest of my life. Now that I am considering the details and how they mesh with my intelligence and skills I'm starting to be very afraid that they don't match up very well. Any suggestions?
On the bright (hopefully?) side tomorrow I find out whether I can spend next spring in St. Andrews. Here's hoping for another visit to the Chariots of Fire beach!