I can't say hello, but I can say goodbye

I can't say hello in Russian, but I can certainly say goodbye, so I will begin this post with a goodbye instead of a hello.

Dosvedanya,

How are you guys doing? I'm doing great. Week 2 is down and marked off the calendar. I completed my first real chemistry lab at four and just got back from putting down $200 on textbooks because I just found out that I will be starting Russian 101 on monday :)

Maybe I should back up a bit? So here at SPU they really push you getting to know your academic and faculty advisors. I have two, Dr. Fitch is a wonderful woman who takes every pre-med student (with a high GPA, I should add) under her wing and nurtures them until they are big enough to leave the nest at SPU and she is critical in helping all of us fledglings figure out how to get from here to there. So taking her advice (she teaches one of my seminars) I set up an appointment with her.

My other advisor is my career counselor, a Dr. Wall-Scheffler who hails from Cambridge, she's also really freaking cool and I get to sit down with her next week.

Anyways, talking to Dr. Fitch she was really impressed with me and greatly respected how full of a schedule I was going to have the next three years with ROTC and school. However, she did not approve of it. Here at SPU, they encourage students to wait to take their MCAT (the medical school version of the SAT that can only be taken once) until they have finished ALL science courses, and that usually doesn't happen until the senior year. So after you graduate you take your MCAT and then do a year of internships or traveling, whatever while you work with Dr. Fitch on applications and interviews for Med school. This method is why they have a 94% acceptance rate to med school.

Unfortunately being ROTC immediately marks me off this plan. As a sophomore, I have to graduate and commission in three years. Gah. Which means I would need to apply for med school starting next year (also have to take my MCAT - shudder). While it -is- possible to do that and still get accepted, Dr. Fitch and I both understood the gravity of how difficult that would be to pull off. I mean, really, take my MCAT BEFORE I've taken over half of my science courses? Yeah.....no.

Lucky me, I'm not her first ROTC cadet. She's also gotten a few into USUHS, which is like my dream medical school. So, her advice: Take on a minor or become a double major, then ROTC will allow you to stay a fourth year because you have to complete your degree to graduate. Wonderful!

Talking to Capt. Proctor: No problem, you'll just become a freshman, won't be contract-able till next year and you'll just have to re-do some paperwork, go in front of the COL and explain yourself....yadda yadda.

Awesome.

So, for some reason when Dr. Fitch said to take a minor, Russian Studies was the first thing to come to mind. Why? Maybe because I've always had some interest in the country, a lot of my favorite classical literature books stems from that part of the world, and I think it's a beautiful language. Plus, and this is a big plus, Russian is a highly favored language skill in the military. Annnnddddd........they have a very extensive bio-warfare research institute, in fact they're the only other country that is legally allowed to have smallpox outside of the US. So good on both sides.

The only hitch was that Russian is only taught every other year, at least the language half is. The year in between it sounds like is devoted to cultural studies. This year is the year they do Russian and we're already two weeks in....uh oh.

So this morning I typed up an email and sent it off to a Prof. Netmechova and explained my background. I just got an email back from her, she is very excited to have me come into her class. Turns out she worked as a military translator, was an officer and in her words "is excited to get such a dedicated student" to come study under her. So, I went and got the books and now we're going to have to beg and plead to officially let SPU add it, since that period is over. If they don't, she says that she will grant me permission to officially enroll in Russian 102 over winter break.

I'm excited. Like, SO EXCITED.

Now...

It's 5:15. I could easily go home. I don't have anything planned over the weekend except schoolwork. And by schoolwork naturally I mean Chemistry  (and now *gasp in excitement* RUSSIAN!) ...but instead I think I will continue to sit out here basking in the last few sunrays and take full advantage of the late library hours so I can sleep in in the morning guilt free. Love you guys!

Dosvedanya.