Like Father, Like Daughter

I was one day into my Junior year.  I had already decided that I wanted to study Russian, despite the fact that YSU doesn't actually HAVE a Russian major.  But hey, technicalities right?

Wrong.  It turns out that it would have been a huge nightmare to pursue that path right now, so after my first round of classes on Monday and a bit of hopping around campus to talk to different professors I decided, Journalism it is!

I have officially come full circle.  From Journalism to Professional Writing and Editing to Music to Russian to Journalism.  Not bad for only two years of school!  I have been a busy bee.  I guess it's not so bad though; I'll be graduating on time now.  

Now, now.  I'm not so fickle that I just up and gave up on Russian without even starting.  I'm taking beginners Russian right now and loving it!  In-depth study and fluency will simply have to wait until after I graduate.  So you might be wondering to yourself at this point two questions...Why Russian? and Why not music? 

Why not music?  Because I love music, but I do not love stress or teaching or constantly worrying about whether my throat will be too thick to sing well or if, come recital time, I will be sick or perfectly healthy.  I love to sing, and want to continue loving to sing, so I will leave it as a passion and not a career.  

Now, for the better question: why Russian?  The answer?  I have absolutely no idea!  I was going about my life this summer, looking forward to my third semester of music study, and then all of a sudden I came to the conclusion that I didn't just want to study music.  Last year, from music diction courses and Italian study, I realized how much I really love language and words.  And the best part?  I'm really good at it.  So I said to myself, "Hey, I'll study what foreign language I have time for in my undergrad and then maybe get two grad degrees.  One in music, the other in Italian or whatever."  

As I thought about it more, I became more convinced that I wanted to study foreign language somehow and at some point or another between the beginning of spring semester and July, it had entered into my head to study Russian.  So one day when my friends and I were at a Half Price Books I picked up a little 'teach yourself Russian' book.  Of course, then I got home and realized my father had 8 or 9 different textbooks and reference books from his two and half years as a Russian major and various trips to Ukraine. (Including the one I had just bought.)  So, armed with more material than I knew what to do with, I started by teaching myself to read the Cyrillic alphabet.

After mastering the alphabet, talking to my family about the wider variety of job options for a foreign language major than a music major, and realizing that I have no desire to ever teach music, I dropped all of my music classes and completely changed my schedule.  And that's it.  I don't know what process my brain went through to bring me to where I am now.  It all just happened.  I followed the tide of my thoughts and didn't think too hard about where the thoughts had come from.

What's really funny about the situation is that my dad went the opposite way as I did.  He started as a Russian student and after transferring to the University of Minnesota, ended up majoring in music.  Like father, like daughter.  Both indecisive, but not out of boredom or dislike, but because when you have multiple passions and you're young, you just want to pursue them all.