If you had asked me what I was going to do with my life when I was 18, I had a pretty clear vision for my future. I was a freshman at Kent State majoring in Spanish Translation while debating what to do with a business degree. The options were to do a dual major or to do a business minor (I eventually settled on the minor). The Spanish Translation thing was set in stone because, at that point, I was fluent in the language after having just returned from a semester in Spain as an exchange student. Basically, I tested out of 2 years of college-level Spanish, so I had a fast track to saving a whole bunch of money while earning a degree.
But I knew I didn't actually want to be a Spanish translator. There was never a point where I was like, "I'm going to use all this Spanish in my career!" It was more that I wanted to get a degree quickly and go do business-y things with maaaaaaaybe a bit of a Spanish flare. International business stuff, if you will. In fact, I twice wrote in-depth research papers about marketing to Latin Americans and the ways that American businesses needed to adapt if they wanted to gain market share south of the border.
Basically, I purposely sought a degree I had no plans to use. If I'm being completely honest, I don't particularly like speaking Spanish. It requires thinking and thinking requires slowing down and I'd rather Lorelei Gilmore my way through conversations.
Hi, I'm in Cartegena, Colombia this week. That not speaking Spanish thing is working out REAL well for me. ::headdesk::
But here's the thing that I realized while presenting a bunch of product stuff to a bunch of Latin Americans - ZOMG I'M DOING WHAT I SAID I WAS GOING TO DO.
So that's weird. Still.
I took several through life then sort of did a career change three years ago. That sort of career change evolved into something else and here I am, right back where I started. Which is interesting only because it's so common to tell 18 year olds that they have to be focused on what they want to do and work towards that.
Hey kids, the long way works too. And you still don't need to concern yourself excessively with picking a college major because with a few exceptions, it really doesn't matter. I'll prove it next week when I go back to not speaking Spanish.
