Decisions, Decisions

Everyone keeps saying that us college freshmen change our minds a lot. They also then turn around and expect us to be able to articulate what we would we plan to do with the rest of our lives.  I have answered that question with a description of plans for studying biological engineering for the past two years.  One reason for this was that I had heard about synthetic biology at the end of my junior year of high school and thought that the ability to be able to change the DNA of bacteria in order to complete a task sounded like the coolest thing ever and something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. My second reason for saying that I wanted to be a biological engineer is that it gave me something to say besides "I am 17/18/19 years old and am still figuring things out, and I have no idea", even though that is an honest and pretty acceptable answer.

Now, as I approach the time when I have to declare what I am majoring in, really knowing what I want to major in seems a little more important.  I am taking this class to try and figure out if I really do love course 20, or if I am going to do just what many are implying that I will and change my mind.  

I think it is hard to judge right now.  I have all these big dreams of working on new medicines or energy to improve people's lives. I loved brainstorming ideas of possible projects today, but I also recognize that I know very little.  I also, between 20.020 and iGEM, am always coming extremely close to messing up experiments.  I can barely grasp how to insert a gene that changes the color of bacteria,  It sometimes feels like being in a foreign country and having all these things you want to tell people and all these ideas in your head, but only being able to say "hello" and "goodbye" and count to ten.  Yet I think I really do want to continue with 20. Every time I hear about projects or listen to ideas of what could be I think, "Yes! That! That is it! Let me help! Right now!" That is when I believe that how I can do something I love and really make a difference.