MSU Tour & Future Plans

Sparta Statue

So this is my first post.
And I'm going to start right into it.

Today I went to the MSU (Michigan State University) Campus with my school. It was quite a neat experience, and I have to say that I was fairly impressed by the size and pretty much the whole campus. It took us a little more than 2h to drive so we arrived at Snyder Hall around 9h30. We were lead through the building to a room where three representatives gave us a little presentation about each of the three residential colleges (James Madison, Lyman Briggs, RCAH). Throughout the whole time, you could really feel the college spirit and a feeling of how it feels like go to college and to be a part of the campus community.

All my life I've been asking myself: "Where am I going to be at the age of 25? What will my job be? Where and what am I going to study?" I've been going through a ton of ideas; from becoming a doctor without borders to being a nurse for the elderly in Paris (?), from studying in the United States, another foreign country or in Germany, I also thought about moving to another country to live there, and maybe be a translator or German teacher, but nothing really sounded like I would really really want to do it.
But I told myself that it was okay. I don't necessarily have to have this planned-through, straight and perfect line I want to pursue in my future. I still do have some time to decide. And even when I start studying somewhere, or even if I don't, it doesn't have to mean that this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life.

Spartan Stadium

But since I've come here to America, and I've seen everything from a different perspective, I kind of gained a new idea(s) for my future. The way I eat at home versus the way people here in the US eat, and my passion for sport and the science of nutrition has brought me the idea of becoming a sort of personal coach. I talked about it with the College Adviser at my school. She told me that, if I want to study something in that direction, the best Major would be Dietetics. But when I looked at the classes I have to take to get that degree, I immediately got rid of that idea. I'm not that much of a chemistry/biology/anatomy person. I also (sort of) got rid of the idea of studying in the US, after taking a close look at the cost of college and the super high tuition costs. If I can get a free college education in Germany, I would chose that over a life-long loan from studying at an American College.

Another idea that I've had for a long, long time, and never got rid of, was to become a writer. I've always wanted to write fiction. But I had to face the facts: There are soooo many unsuccessful, good writers out there that can't get their book published. There's so much competition and the success depends on the public. And I don't want to spend 4 years of my life studying Creative Writing, and ending up sitting at my desk, trying to get past writer's blog while taking some antidepressiva and trying to figure out how to pay the pay checks. Not saying that it has to be that way, but I just feel like that would be a risky step. If I pursue something else, I can still write a book and see if it works out along the way.

So during the presentation at MSU today, I looked at all the Majors they offer, and I just circled every Major that could be even the smallest possibility.
The results are: Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Education, Food Industry Management, Food Science, Nutritional Science, Apparel and Textile Design, Film Studies, Professional Writing, Spanish, General Management, Human Resource Management, Marketing, Comparative Cultures and Politics, International Relations, Social Relations and Policy, Environmental Sciences and Management, Global and Area Studies - Social Science, Urban and Regional Planning.

We ate lunch at the MSU cafeteria, and it was soooo freaking
good! You could as much and whatever you wanted, and
everything was just super good! Well, for such a high
tuition costs, I guess you can expect some quality.

So those are pretty much ALL Majors that sounded good to me. Disregarding former thoughts about writing and all that stuff. Just every Major that I could possibly want to take, even if I'm not really good at it so far, like Apparel and Textile Design.  But this gave me more of a perspective about my future plans.
I especially liked the James Madison College Programs (Comparative Cultures and Politics, International Relations, Social Relations and Policy), because I'd really like to work in something that's international. That's something I'm really interested in. Those Major sounded the best when the Rep's told us what students learn about when studying those Majors.
If it wasn't for the cost, I would probably apply to James Madison/MSU after graduating back home.

And now for the near future. After I return from my exchange year, I plan on getting my Abitur (the degree I get after graduating from my school that allows me to study). I don't really want to break down the whole German School System right now, but there is a problem with the "program" I was in when I left. I would have to repeat my 12th grade when I come back, because you already start collecting points to get your degree at the end of my 13th grade in 12th grade, and I obviously can't do that from America. So I was in a language profile, which gave me a certain amount of hours of certain classes (total amount of classes: 13), especially concentrating on languages (English, French, Latin). French was my "core subject", English my "profile subject", and I would have to take finals at the end of my 13th grade in both of them. The problem is, that in the class beneath my former class, I can't do that anymore. I can't take French as my "core subject" which pretty much screws it all up. I really DO NOT want to take an super important final in Latin. And I really do like French. And I want to take advantage of my three months of being an exchange student in France.

So either I would have to switch profiles, or the school. Switching the school would be a pretty big deal, because I would either have to take the train for 30 minutes or the bus for 45 minutes in order to attend a school that offers me what I want. But I really thought considered doing that, because I really wouldn't feel comfortable in a different profile.

And then, there's the big "WHAT NOW?". To make it short: I would really like to travel for a little while and maybe get some work experience too (and some money), so I thought about combining a volunteer work program with a little bit of travel in another country. My first choice so far is Costa Rica, but I also thought about Columbia or Australia. But it's nothing I'm a hundred percent sure about.

About studying. For now, there's just a big question mark. But that's okay, I guess. But right now, my favorite idea is to study in Odense or Copenhagen (Denmark), because it's not too far away from home, and when I went to Copenhagen last year for a couple of days, I really fell in love with the whole city and everything around it, including the culture, mentality and people. Just an idea. Maybe a bachelor in modern languages and intercultural communication. I looked at some websites and found a couple of useful ones (https://www.daad.de/en/, for Germans who want to study abroad and for foreigners who want to study in Germany, with a lot of Scholarship opportunities, plus, remember: we don't have any college tuitions!!)
But that's for now, and there are probably going to be a lot of changes in the next time, but for now, I really like what I see in my future.

¡Hasta luego!
(I'm learning Spanish for the first time right now)

Helena