After high school graduation, the caps were off and I was ready to take on a new adventure that was college! A new chapter was beginning and I couldn’t believe it. I was very excited, but wasn’t sure what it was that I wanted to study. But the decision was made and I was headed into college with an adventurous and optimistic outlook on my future. The next step had been taken and I was on my way.

As many students around me grew up engaged in the learning process, school never really amused me. I never understood the importance of being tested on your knowledge. What I was interested in was not to be tested on paper. I have always been an avid learner in life, but the standardization of school has never allowed me to express the creativity I have always wanted.

In despite of my creative aspirations, I decided to make a move from Franklin, Tennessee to the University of Florida. Upon my arrival I had many mixed emotions. So many teachers, friends, advisors and family members harp on the question of “what do you want to do?”. All I had known was that I was in college and a decision of a major needed to be made! What was it that I wanted to do with my life? What topic or area of study would I be interested in forever? Questions like these had me overwhelmed for quite some time. What I didn’t realize is the overall picture of life and how college was just another step in the journey…it wasn’t the only bridge to my success!

On my way home from class, I stopped in for a visit at Publix. After playing around on the internet I had found many recipes for desserts that would be good to serve at a gathering the following day. I picked up a few ingredients that I thought were pretty versatile, and headed home.

After many experiments I had mixed together much of the kitchen, made a complete mess of things and failed numerous times. With frustration at its highest, I took a break and realized that maybe this is what it’s all about. Did I need to come to college and fail at a recipe to figure it out?

As students, we sit in class for insurmountable hours trying to figure out that math problem, the reason as to why history happened that way, or the underlying meaning to a statement made in a book, but school doesn’t teach us about the fundamentals of life. I think that waiting for something to happen teaches you more about yourself than any class room activity or test ever could. While finding a career and pursuing a passion in the world is very important, knowing the world and finding out about yourself is first and foremost to knowing how you can contribute to society in a profession. School, while it seems monotonous and pointless at times, has actually been the reason as to why I have a better grasp on the world. I have been exposed to far more than I ever thought I would in the last three years. With only one more year to go I still don’t know what it is I want to do with my life, in terms of a career. I do know, however, that the people I have met and the little experiences, like that of trying new techniques and continuing to try even after failure, teaches you enough about yourself to be able to apply it to any job that crosses your path.

I have hopes to go to culinary school, possibly own my own bakery one day and live out my passions cooking and baking. As many times as I have failed in the beginning, I move on. I pick up the pieces and continue to improve. I think that life is a lot of just that… I don’t know what will happen, or if life will turn out the way that I want it to, but everything works out. One way or another, whether it is what you want or what you thought it would be, everything happens for a reason, and works out in the end. The most important and beneficial thing, for me, is to persevere and pursue my dreams. No one else can do that for me but myself. Help yourself when you can, and bring the world with you. That is why I share this story with you. Life is a journey worth traveling and witnessing, all at the same time.

Sources Photos: Slide 1: www.williamsoncounty-tn.gov/index.asp?nid=685 Slide 2: http://rebeccaheng.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/classroom-wikipedia.jpg Slide3: www.unomaga.edu/…tabs/news/fl/03192009.php Slide 4: www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3W8B http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2007/sep/23/chain_open_store_west_ashley_area16763/ http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2007/12/10/focus1.htmp http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2007/10/01/focus1.html http://assets.bizjournals.com/story_image/98422-0-0-2.jpg Slide 5: http://www.betterbaking.com/viewArticle.php?article_id=197 Slide 6: http://tusm.stanford.edu/2007/11 Slide 7:www.travelblog.org/…blog-121177.html Slide 8: http://www.myspace.com/maltarelief