I learned from my Italian host mom that you must be passionate about what you are doing to get the most out of life. While I was there she helped me to be passionate about immersing myself in Italian culture. Without the passion to learn Italian, I would not have had half of the experiences I did. It has been the same with my experience in the Environmental Studies program, the more I have invested into my education the more I have benefited and enjoyed it.
To be an Environmental Studies major you must be passionate about the material. I say this because it is a major that requires intensive thought and work. We take classes from various disciplines and integrate the techniques and information we learn from our environmental studies classes into them. The subject ‘the environment’ is so broad and difficult to reduce, that we must have passion about our dedication to it.
We face many difficult questions with the environment and there is not always a simple approach to them. Studying the environment can be quite depressing sometimes because of the complexity and repercussions of the issues. For me, I have had to remember that it is something I am passionate about and worth sticking with in times when there doesn’t seem to be a solution.
My passion for the environment and art lead me down a path of study that was intriguing and interesting for me because I was invested in it. Passion involves intense emotions which means we are putting ourselves into whatever we are passionate about. My Italian host mom was right about passion, it makes everything better, especially learning.