When imagining myself as a college senior, I always assumed I would know exactly what it is I want to do with my life by the end of college. However, no one “ah ha moment” ever popped up during these last four years – instead, many did. I went from being an English major to dabbling in music, anthropology, media studies, and finally, back to English. While I know my exploring isn’t over, it’s time for me to sort out what I could realistically see myself pursuing after graduation, and what is actually a fleeting fancy.

This brings my to my working list of career paths (in no particular order):

1)   Performing arts management. Dream jobs would be to work for the Royal Danish Theater or Lincoln Center, which both host ballet, opera, symphony, and play productions. I grew up in theaters playing violin since I was four, but am not entirely sure what a job in “performing arts management” entails. I just got the contact information of a woman who worked in this field, and hope to get into contact with her this semester to learn more.

2)   Clinical Psychology with a focus on Positive Psychology. I know – seems out of left field, but I’m the daughter of a research psychiatrist father and clinical psychologist mother. I was inspired by my positive psychology class I took this past summer in Copenhagen, particularly because positive psychology is such a new and growing field. Instead of only focusing on how to take people from -10 to 0 in their quality of life, it is the study of how to take people from 0 to +10. This would require a lot more school and plenty of research positions, but there are great programs here in the states (including our very own Claremont Graduate School), and abroad, at the University of East London.

3)   Business. Maybe it’s Scripps’ doing, but I would love to own my own tea-house and host events. This summer I will be working back home in Ann Arbor at Café Zola, a café/tea room that showcases different tea traditions from around the world, and doubly acts as an art gallery. It would be amazing to own and run a place like this someday, but of course, this requires money and business-smarts – two things I sorely lack at the moment. For now, I’m happy to work as a waitress in such a vibrant establishment. This one was left on the list for dreams’ sake, and who knows, maybe I could land an internship at Laduree…

4) Wandering mariachi. I mean, I’ve had four years of experience?

Clearly I have a lot of thought and research to do this semester, but I realize it’s best to tackle one thing at a time. For now, I’m waiting to hear from a gap year application I’ve sent out. I hope to explore and narrow down these options while abroad on a gap-year, and decide what it is I’ll study in graduate school…or run away to Mexico.