I Made Some Changes (shocking, I know)
Originally published on November 23rd, 2019
Hello and welcome to this installment of “Claira doesn’t really know what she wants to do with her life and even though she technically knows that’s okay, she’s really freaked out about it so she’s changing things again in order to feel a little bit more in control.” It’s a fun time, over here at KeepsUsStargazing, I promise. This month I changed a couple things around. I’m still living in the same place, and I’m still majoring in Global Communication with minors in drama and psychology. Still, in keeping with my schedule of changing a least one thing every quarter (a system I hope changes soon), I had to move something around. So, without further ado…
I got new glasses.
Ha, just kidding. I mean, I did get new glasses, but that’s not the main thing I changed this month (actually, this week). As I’ve mentioned before, I am a Global Communication major and part of that means I choose an emphasis in either Spanish or French, spend at least a quarter in a country that speaks the language I choose (Spain, Argentina, or France), and then take classes and directed reading courses taught entirely in that language back here in Walla Walla. Back in May, I chose to emphasize in Spanish. I wanted to (still do) be a Drama Therapist, and the goal was to work with immigrant children. I still want to work with children who have been exposed to chronic trauma, I’m just choosing to broaden what that looks like.
I still care deeply about what’s happening at the US/Mexico border right now, and throughout the country. I still want to do whatever I can to help, and I know that if in the future I get an opportunity to do drama therapy with a bunch of kids whose language I don’t speak, I’ll figure it out. My end goal is and always has been (since I was seventeen) to own a theatre where I teach, act, direct, and create for a living. I’d love therapy to be part of that. There isn’t a place anywhere that lives in the overlap of theatre, therapy, and education, and the further I go the more convinced I am that this is a good idea. I’m not saying French is going to help me get there. In fact, I don’t really have a career-oriented reason to switch.
There aren’t a lot of reasons why I chose to switch my emphasis to French, but there are a couple. I still find it odd that I managed to test out of French 101 without any prior classes back in September of last year, but that fact has paid off now that I’m jumping into French 102 next quarter. I’m also trying really hard to stay in one place for three years, and I can’t do that if I stick with Spanish. Why I’m trying to stay in one place for three years is a conversation for another day, but it’s a big reason why I switched.
As odd as it may seem to hear me- a very detail, career-oriented person- say it, one of the biggest reasons I switched was simply so I could learn language I’ve always wanted to learn and spend some time in a country I love. Also, this means that when my mom and I return to France someday, I can do all the talking this time and she can take all the pictures and eat all the crêpes she wants.