I'm finding it nearly impossible to believe that next month will mark half a year since I've been back from Semester at Sea. I still think about it at least four or five times a day. The people... The places... The ship and the ocean...
I also can't believe this semester is almost half way over. Or that I will be graduating from college in about 13 1/2 months. Or that I have been in college for over 3 years...
I was looking back at some of my posts I made while I was a freshman and I've realized that I've always been confused and doubtful of my future. It took me about two months as a freshman before I first felt uncertain and wondered if I was really cut out for this whole college thing.
But as my friends have been kind enough to point out 3 years later here I am! And though I still feel worried and uncertain all the time, the point is that I've made it this far. In comparison with how long it's taken to get here, what little I have left to finish is minuscule.
It will still be a difficult road ahead. I'm really worried about Organic Chemistry and wonder if I'll have to take it again. I feel like every time I walk out of that class I feel like I picked the wrong major. But, with all this talk about change in the air surrounding the election season I realized that our government isn't the only thing in need of changing. I need to change as well. I thought I had, and I suppose I have after my experiences with SAS. But it's still not quite right. I still need to find my place and what I'm supposed to do with my life.
And so after some more soul searching and a meeting with a career counselor I've finally got something to focus on which is what I think is missing. The more I think about it, the more I'd like to get into forensics. I found out my major qualifies me for many positions in forensic science and I find the prospect of the work quite fascinating. Particularly when I heard about the government agency known as DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Operations Response Team). This is a group of forensic experts who can be deployed to any destination in the world for generally at least two weeks to assist with mass disasters or large criminal cases. This would combine my love of travel and the sciences with a career where I would be helping people and where I could come home at the end of the day satisfied in the knowledge that I am contributing to the cause of justice.
Now I just need to make it happen. I am tired of standing in my own way, of the doubt and uncertainty! It ends here. I'm going to do this. Wish me luck!
"Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as silent evidence against him. Not only his fingerprints or his footprints, but his hair, the fibers from his clothes, the glass he breaks, the tool mark he leaves, the paint he scratches, the blood or semen that he deposits or collects - all these and more bear mute witness against him. This is evidence that does not forget. It is not confused by the excitement of the moment. It is not absent because human witnesses are. It is factual evidence. Physical evidence cannot be wrong; it cannot perjure itself; it cannot be wholly absent. Only its interpretation can err. Only human failure to find it, study and understand it, can diminish its value."
— Paul L. Kirk, PhD
