College..the later years...

After the glow of Freshman year wore off, it was time to get down to business.  I needed to pick a major...Sophomore year, I took some more gen eds, continued to socialize, and drink beer...worked at the potato salad factory the following summer..and before I knew it: Junior year aka the half way point was upon me.  By this point I had done the following majors: Theatre, Education, Business...and by now my parents were on high alert because I was not showing any real interest in any one major...so I had to pick something, and pick it fast, otherwise I was not going to graduate on time, (which I had to do an extra semester anyway, but we'll get to that) and I was going to really piss Ma & Pa Radke off.  So, I thought long and hard about something I would be good at, or classes I had taken thus far, that I could do forever.  I really liked the Education classes I took, and could see myself teaching high school students...Okay, what would I teach high school students??  Math?  No, can't balance my check book, can't teach that class...Social studies?  Maybe...Speech?  Definitely, but let's face it, schools are more likely to cut that class than the basics come budget time....I know!!  English.  I loved to read, write, and talk about what I would read.  This was clearly the major for me!  And thus, my English Literature major was my final major of choice.  The school I attended has a phenomenal Masters program in Education, so my thought was to finish the English Lit major, then do their year intensive Master's program in Education and teach when I was done.  Well...I did half of that....(Oh, and every time you read 'English Literature', please imagine me saying it in a bad British accent.  It makes the major that much useful, and funny.)

To say, I fit well into the English department at my college would be completely incorrect.  There were professors that tolerated me, professors that loathed me, and there was one, and only one professor that told me I had talent, and could write some day if I wanted to.  There were a few faculty members in that department that were under the impression they were working at an Ivy League college.  When I didn't like a novel we got done reading, and expressed that opinion in class, they looked at me like I had 3 heads.  Sorry, Russian Literature makes me want to blow my brains out.  It is depressing, long winded, (much like this blog, so you would think I would love it) and in my world, served no point other than to get me a few credits closer to getting out of that department.  What I loved was British and American Literature, but those classes were few and far between the Russian and Romantic periods, ugh.  I found myself in classes where the professors didn't take my opinion seriously, or destroyed my papers because I shared a view other than theirs...I dreaded those classes, and I had at least 2 courses a semester like that.  I began to get behind on reading, writing papers, and not participating in class because they made me feel like my opinion was worthless.  It was a real struggle, I knew I needed to finish college, and at that point I just wanted a degree behind my name to put on a resume, I knew that if I walked into any interview, I would get hired.  I work hard, I catch onto things quickly, and there was no way they wouldn't fall in love with me when they met me...I just had to get out of that damn English Department.  I proceeded to do mediocre work through graduation, and there was no love loss on either side when I was finished and crossed the stage to get my diploma.  

Speaking of graduation: Holy shit!  I was graduating!  What the hell was I going to do with my life?!  I was so sick of school, I had tacked on an extra semester to get my thesis done (and put off taking the mandatory Stats class because I hate math) and now school sucked because my friends had graduated and I had no idea what I was going to do.  The thought of the Master's program was way too much at that point, I was sick of school and home work and I wanted nothing to do with any more college courses, ever again.  So I did what any person does, that has balls as big as I do: walked into my work/study job (I worked for the Admission office throughout my college career giving tours, and doing odds and ends around the office) whined to the Vice President about how I didn't know what I could do and maybe I could just intern in the office for a bit while I push my resume out...and that very day, he offered me a job as an Admission Counselor for my alma mater.  No formal interview, never looked at my fake, just graduated, college resume, hired me, gave me a company car, credit card, and told me to recruit students...and recruit I did...as well as work with the most interesting group of individuals, that up until that point, I would have thought only existed in a sitcom.  

Megan E. Radke the adult years, had begun...