How English changed my life

A degree in English was not what I first started to persue when I started college. I had different plans and a blurred vision of what I wanted to do with my life.

I started college when I was almost 18. I was thinking about majoring in Spanish, which is my native language, however I found it to be easy, and in my poor opinion, I thought anybody could graduate on that (yeah, I know, shame on me!), so, instead, I decided to enroll in what I thought would be "a more demanding major": Statistics.

I started to take as many subjects as I could. I took about three different Economics classes, Theory of Probabilities, Algebra, and many others, and even though I got good grades on all of them, I still thought I wasn't really feeling it or picturing myself working on that field.

I started to think about changing to another major, but still wasn't sure where I really belonged. So I had the feeling of being kind of trapped. On one hand, I had been on college for 2 years or so already, and I didn't want to throw all that time and money down the drain. On the other hand, I had to start from scratch, while explaing all relatives the reasons of my "drastic change" over and over on every get-together, aside of the self shame and regret for not taking the right desicion. I was trapped in a limbo of "what if".

But miraculously, something really great happened to me. I was informed I was given a scholarship to go to a SUNY college in the United States to master my English skills, since I studied in the public English program the year before and I happened to be one of the top of the class, along with 53 or so other students around the country.

I stayed in the U.S.A. for about one month and a half and honestly it has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. I learned a lot and traveled to many places there. But above all else, I met this smart, funny and beautiful professor who showed me that being an English teacher is not so simple and not anyone can nail it. I fell in love with the idea of becoming a certified teacher of the English language.

When I came back to the country, Dominican Republic, I changed my major. Ever since, I have been studying Modern Languages, minor in English. I am heading to my sixth semester and I couldn't be happier. I have taken some training on teaching and I will begin tutoring in a few days. I'm excited and nervous at the same time.

Honestly I am happy with my decision but I wish I had done it sooner. But I know everything happens for a reason and I think if you're constantly studying and having experiences that get you more knowledge, it is not a waste of time, even if you change the major you're studying.

I advice you to conquer the fear and do what really makes you happy, even if you think it will take you long.

Remember: It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.