Why did I choose my major? | Japanese Blog Post #3

はじめまして。わたしは　Barthelです。あめりかじんです。よねんせえです。せんこは　じんるいがくです。どおぞよりしく。

It took me about a good twenty minutes to write all of that hiragana. I'm not used to using a different keyboard on my laptop!

Anyways, here at Saint Mary's, I am double majoring in global studies and Spanish. In class, I just say anthropology because it's simpler. Technically, within my global studies major, my concentration is in anthropology, so it does make sense.

I first entered college as a psychology major because I was interested in studying the mind and how it affects behavior, but I took an intro class, and it ended up not being what I imagined psychology to be. So, I was thinking, what else interests me? I had a friend who was majoring in global studies, and I had always been interested in learning about other cultures. I was primarily interested in global studies because we have the requirement to be proficient in a second language, and there was a study abroad requirement.

I'm going to go into bit of a tangent before I go more into that. To me, learning a second language was really important. My mother is from the Philippines, and I learned a little bit of Tagalog growing up but definitely not any to really converse with anyone. I've always felt this "lack" in my identity because I didn't know Tagalog. I've been wanting to study it for a long time, but for me, when it comes to learning languages, I require the classroom experience. I ended up choosing Spanish as my language because, actually, Tagalog has many Spanish words ("fun" fact: the Spaniards conquered the Philippines for a while), and many of my friends are native Spanish speakers. I really fell in love with Latino culture. In addition to that, I wanted to study abroad. I grew up in a super small town in Indiana about an hour away from here, so I have always been curious about other cultures.

Given my personal interests, I thought global studies was a perfect fit for me! I ended up majoring in Spanish too since I practically took most of the requirements when I studied abroad for a year in Spain. Besides that, global studies has several concentrations including anthropology, international business, international development, and some more. Anthropology appealed to me the most since I liked reading ethnographies in my intro class, and I wanted to do field work. My senior thesis actually is on yoga and health and spirituality in Spain, so I did end up doing some anthropological work.

I'm really happy with my decision to have become a global studies major. Hopefully, my major will appeal to future employers too haha.