The First Love
It was my very first quarter at the UW and I needed just one more credit to ensure my sophomore registration status for winter. Being new to the university and unfamiliar with how classes really worked, I decided that the only thing to do was to add another 5 credit class to my schedule, putting me at 19 credits for my first quarter of college. Since it was late in the registration period, only three classes popped up on my general education search that would fit with my existing schedule: Military History of the Ancients, History of the Salem Witch Trials, and Principles of Biological Anthropology. I went with biological anthropology and was immediately enchanted with the mysteries of human evolution and behavior, I had found my first chemoattractant. The class also happened to be taught by the professor who would later become my anthropology departmental honors adviser. Since then, my fascination with humanity has itself evolved into a major in Medical Anthropology and Global Health, which offers quite a different perspective on human health and wellness than offered by my microbiology courses.