Since my body apparently doesn't understand the concept of getting over jetlag, I thought I might update you on what happened over my winter break and what kind of thoughts it put in my head.
The big thing that is kind of essential to the rest of the blog post (and which I will come to later, patience) was my acceptance to the Georgia Institute of Technology. Seeing as it is one of my top choices, and in my home town of Atlanta, an acceptance letter made me extremely happy. But I'll get to that.
I spent the first few days of my winter break in the quaint little town of Dexter, Michigan, which is about twenty minutes away from the University of Michigan, which is located in Ann Arbor (also another top choice school). Having heard so many horror stories about the Mid-West from my father who had lived in Chicago a while back, I did not, at all, in the slightest way, believe that I was actually going to like Michigan.
But, as I was quick to find out, appearances can be deceiving, and I loved it. Of course, true to all stories, Michigan is extremely cold, but if you're stupid enough to think you can go out in a t-shirt in the winter anywhere further North than Raleigh...maybe you should reassess your life decisions a bit.
Michigan also has some of the nicest people I have ever met in my life - and this is coming from a gal who is from a region of the US known for hospitality!
So I guess my first point is...go to the Mid-West. Go. People are nice. Don't let other people stop you from doing something because they don't like it!
I spent the rest of my break visiting relatives in Georgia. Now, there are many things I love about Georgia - the red clay, the fact that you can wear shorts on New Year's Eve, my family doing a Jewish Christmas dinner that includes ham, hanging out with my cousins and friends - to name a few.
But the one thing, that for the life of me I cannot stand is the weird looks I get from my family when I tell them what I want to do with my life (as if having an English accent didn't single me out enough, right?)
Ever since I was little, I knew I wanted to do something at least a little more interesting and news-worthy than my parents. Being the 'smart kid' of the Jennings family meant that I was expected to do well, and when, at 17, I finally landed on the gold, and figured out what I wanted to do, everybody I knew looked at me funny.
I'm a novelty among my gender, it seems, in that I like math, and science, and Star Wars, and basically all things pertaining to that realm of the universe. Having grown up in a family where I was both the youngest and the only girl in the entire Jennings clan, the fact that I became a tom-boy shouldn't really have surprised anybody.
Following on from that logic, when I told my cousins that I wanted to double major in some sort of science and aerospace engineering, the look of shock was not really one that I was expecting nor aiming for.
A girl in LSA? Okay, fair enough, she might end up an english major
A girl in physics, math, and engineering? Slow down!
Never mind that I got straight As in Math and Science all throughout high school. Or that I'd been accepted to one of the premier engineering schools in the country.
That's one of the main reasons why I would love to go to the University of Michigan, (which at the moment seems unlikely, as I'm yet to be accepted, and even if I were, my mom wouldn't pay for it) they have one of the only programs that allows you to double major in LSA and engineering.
Still, a girl in engineering. They give out scholarships if you're female and want to be an engineer or a physicist.
Which gets me to thinking. I'm a good student, on a good day I'd hazard to say I'm a really good student. But I am, by no means, exceptional. I know that the fact that I am a good student and I do work hard is the reason why 4 universities have already accepted me.
But still, a girl, in science? That's weird. Weird enough for a university to accept me? Possibly.
I'll make it clear to you all here that UMaryland and UMichigan are the only schools where I could double major in engineering and not have to apply to their engineering program.
So okay, a girl in science, is not quite as out of place as a girl in engineering would seem to be.
But I think it's funny that despite this so-called social equality we seem to have, it still seems out of place for someone of my gender to do something traditionally male. Like math, or physics, or biology, or engineering.
Girls can add too, yknow.
I'm just saying.
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