Head in the Clouds

One and a half years ago, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. It was the summer before senior year and it finally dawned on me that it was time to start thinking seriously about my future. I had to start applying to colleges soon, but how could I do that if I didn't have a clue about what I wanted out of college? 

The thought struck me on my way home from St. Petersburg, Russia. It was a few days after my 17th birthday that my mom and I boarded our plane home, and I didn't sleep at all on the flight back. Instead, I watched a lot of movies and stared out the window. I watched us fly through clouds and saw the progression of time from thousands of feet above the ground. Eventually this thought struck me that wow, we were flying. When I realized the enormity of that fact, I started looking not at the clouds (although they are incredibly awesome), but the structure of the plane itself. I noticed the flaps on the wings (called ailerons), the engines, and more. I spent the last portion of the flight home in admiration of the plane itself.

Flying over Europe.

So when I sat down to research colleges, I narrowed my search to the ones that offered aerospace engineering as a major. And now, a year and some odd months later, here I am. A proud Penn Stater with hopes and dreams and a passion, something that I can't say I really had before. I was pretty aimless until I got here; unsure and afraid of college, adulthood, and the prospect of setting out on a path to some unknown career. But thanks to Penn State, I can wholeheartedly say that I've discovered  the person I hope to be and the impact I want to make on the world one day.

A blanket of clouds.

That might have been a little dramatic, but it's true. I came in not knowing anything about aerospace engineering other than it sounded very cool and sophisticated and it involved airplanes, but after one semester I've gotten to learn so much. I'm working with my Sailplane class (a flight vehicle design and fabrication course) to build a human powered airplane and I've just joined the Lunar Lion Team, a group of undergrads and grad students working to send a spacecraft to the moon. When I got the e-mail that my application to the team had been accepted, I was over the moon (cheesy pun intended). 

Now that I've had a taste of the kind of things I might be doing in the future, I'm excited. I am no longer unsure, but I'm not entirely unafraid. Of course I'm still scared of failure (math and physics is hard, man), but that's natural. And  in these past few months I've learned that it's possible for my new dreams to one day become a reality. I've seen hard work and passion pay off, as one girl in my Sailplane class is currently doing a 4 rotation co-op at NASA Johnson Space Center (NASA!!!). She posted a picture of her in the mission control room the other day, and it was epic.

So in the first semester I've learned a lot about myself and unearthed a passion for discovery that I wasn't consciously aware of a year ago. College is the place where I discovered my passion. It's a place to learn about yourself and others; a time to explore and discover new interests; an opportunity to get involved and grow your knowledge. In college we learn a multitude of things that help prepare us to face the future. 

And the future is a scary thing. So is space. I still want to go there, though.

Me, in the future.
Photo: pexel.com