A Worthwhile Trip

Last night I got home from a big adventure after about 12 hours of driving! Thursday afternoon, after my dad got home from work, we headed out for the big state of NY! "Why?" you may ask. Well, it is now April 5 and I have less than a month to make a decision about where I'm heading off to college. Needless to say, I still hadn't visited one of the two college's I'm still deciding from, until yesterday. My dad and I spent the night in a hotel (which was interesting nonetheless because I can't sleep when people snore, and lets just say my dad was in the bed right next to me, snoring away), and then we got up early and headed out for another hour (give and take a few half hours :) until we FINALLY found Houghton College. I guess I didn't take people seriously when they said this place was out in the middle of NOWHERE! When we had finally reached Houghton, I was officially in no-man's land. Although it had rained the whole day (which was okay, because it could have been snowing...), I had a really good day. We spent the morning talking to this younger, extremely funny and informative professor about their Pre-Physical Therapy program. It was interesting, and I learned a lot. Then there was their chapel. Which was very different from some of the things I've attended before, however it wasn't as different as I had expected (that's a good thing). After our tour, we ate some lunch, and then headed out for an info session for Psychology with Professor Stegen who has his PhD in Psychology. Let's just say that this guy was extremely passionate about what he was doing...and it was awesome. You could definitely tell that he was a professor, nonetheless. This parent that attended the same info session with us asked the professor a simple question and Stegen responded with "well that is your thesis..." haha...I found it humorous the way he talked with us, yet extremely inspiring. I talked to him one on one afterwards and I told him about my new-found glory and passion in possibly becoming a counselor. I told him about Camp Barnabas and how I'm going again this year. He was so encouraging. He told me how my experience is fantastic especially for getting into that field. And I'll never forget what he said next... "it's not about learning the facts in a classroom, because anyone can do that. It's about applying it to your life and using those facts to understand and relate to other people. And you seem like you've already gotten that."

After that session I became more confident and passionate about counseling and helping other people as a career, possibly. The very last session of the day confirmed something else I wish to study. Communications. The word, in general, gets me excited and makes me happy. Life is all about communication, and without it, we would have a lot of problems. The professor who was telling me all about this field of study, told me that it's definitely a great thing to get into, especially if I love writing. He even told me that there is a class that I can "take", however there is no lecture or classroom setting, you are just required to create a blog, and write freely about whatever. I turned to him and said, "I would SO pass that class!" He just laughed at me.

Anyway, it was a good day to say the least. I loved everything about Houghton. The campus, the people, the education, and most of all--the intimacy. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things. Even though I have less than a month to decide whether I'll be going to Houghton or Messiah in the fall, I still haven't made a final decision yet. I like Messiah a lot too. The only thing I didn't like about Houghton is the distance. It's going to be hard making this decision, but regardless of where I go, I am really excited about getting into Counseling Psychology and Communications...it's like two programs made just for me! :) I've never really been so certain about anything regarding what I want to do when I get to college, until now. So, I guess you could say, this is definitely a God thing.

Thanks for reading you guys!