I’m a week and a half from finishing my second quarter at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. The past six months have been overwhelming, wonderful, scary, and all around life-changing. My time here has gone quickly, but it has no doubt been the most intense experience of my life. I moved from the farm fields of rural south-central Wisconsin to the thick evergreen forests of the Pacific Northwest and I found this move to be refreshing, I was able to start anew as a college student. My college experience thus far has been a very personal one. I’ve found that I am learning more about myself in coming to college than I ever imagined. Although I have met an abundance of beautiful people and have been greatly appreciating Evergreen’s interdisciplinary curriculum, I think the past two quarters have foremost been a period of self-discovery; of testing the waters and searching for a sense of identity in this very new world. It has been an amazing journey, and it’s not over yet!
Although I am loving college life, I cannot deny my eagerness for spring break. A break from class and hopefully a break from Olympia’s notorious rain. I am more than ready for some sun and a chance to get to know a bit more this beautiful region of the U.S. I have a couple of friends from high school coming to visit and we are hoping to spend time here in Olympia, and then check out some Northwest cities like Seattle and Portland, and finish break off with couple days hiking through Redwoods of northern California. I think we have all had very different college experiences thus far and I am excited to catch up with them and hear about their lives post high school.
Today I attended my school’s academic fair to get some ideas about which program I want to enroll in next quarter. Evergreen’s curriculum is different than other colleges, here students choose one 16-credit program that covers a variety of topics but presents them using an interdisciplinary teaching method. Fall quarter I took a program titled Food, Health, and Sustainability; this was an intense program that covered everything from the history of agriculture to the basics of botany to modern food policy to Mendelian Genetics. After completing one quarter of this rigorous course I knew I wanted to enroll in a program that would allow me a bit more free time so I signed up for a course called Self and Story: Studies in Psychology, Writing and Literature. This has been a very enjoyable class and the workload has been much lighter which has allowed me to experience more of Evergreen’s campus life and I have been able to get to know the city better as well. Come spring quarter I am hoping to enroll in program titled Green Nature, Human Nature which is a class that covers topics such as botany and ecology while sponsoring an off-campus internship at a community garden. I am excited to return to my agriculture roots and get my hands dirty, talking to the professors today assured me this would be a good fit.
The days are getting longer in Olympia, which can only mean one thing: spring is coming, may you all have a beautiful one!