by Amalie Little
The summer before my freshman year, I spent hours poring through WesMaps with an excitement so palpable that I can almost feel it tingling in my hands now, four years later. I remember, my grandmother brought me chocolate chip cookies for sustenance because I sat at the computer for so long. How could I not? WesMaps glittered with hundreds of courses across innumerable enticing disciplines and departments, though I harbored not a lick of certainty in what I intended to major in. Paralyzed in a state of great anticipation, I marvelled at the potential paths of my future stretching out in front of me—almost unfathomable that in one click I could start on becoming an anthropologist or a musician or bilingual.
On a whim, I enrolled in RUSS101, the introductory Russian language course. For almost no reason other than that I could, I wanted to challenge myself and study something out of my comfort zone. And it was hard—a new alphabet, new sounds, new grammar… yes, it was difficult, but it also was exhilarating! The first day of class, our professor Natasha Karageorgos greeted us in Russian, and the unfamiliarity of the situation was at once hilarious, confusing, and thrilling.
Fast forward four years and one degree, and I studied abroad in Kazakhstan, wrote a thesis, and am back after graduation to do a fellowship at the Fries Center for Global Studies. Through my language study, I didn’t just become fluent in a second language, or see the world, or study under some of our best professors, I also uncovered a deep and abiding academic interest that I’m certain will guide me into my future studies and career. For me, that’s how humans connect and communicate across linguistic and cultural boundaries.
That’s my story, but I have countless friends whose language studies have changed their lives in other ways—students who studied abroad, students who took Italian just to watch old films, students who took sign language for fun. That’s the best part of Wesleyan, I think. You have incredible resources at the tips of your fingertips, resources which we as students forget aren’t par for the course at a university, and take for granted. You can take an ethnomusicology class and deepen your studies in global music, or you can take an ethnomusicology class and simply enjoy it. Your interests, dreams, and fears are bound to change as you grow and mature as a student, and as a person. It’s equally important to take advantage of Wesleyan’s open curriculum and outfit your schedule with as many attractive classes as you’d like, pushing your academic comfort zone, as it is to humble each of your choices with the knowledge that one class does not determine your future. Rather, you pursue your future on a foundation of those choices and your own developing passions.
Merriment will be more accessible here in your four years than anywhere else—be it academic or personal. Languages are particularly hard to learn outside college, so take advantage of it and find joy in another language. Learn Swahili! Learn Japanese! What do you have to lose?
