ASU Journey

 ASU Journey

My journey at Arizona State University has been a long yet short journey. I have overcome many challenges in my time at college. I’ve had fun, shed some tears, worked on minimal sleep, but I honestly don’t regret a thing. I see every mistake as a lesson to do and be better. I am not perfect, nor do I strive to be. My goal honestly at this point is to graduate Arizona State University with a bachelors in Tourism Development & Management with a concentration in meeting and event planning in May of 2025. Everything I have done and will do is to get to that moment.

We can start this journey all the way to when I applied to Arizona State. I was just a small-town girl from Indiana trying to get away from home. Everyone wanted me to stay home and go to college in the state or closer to home, but I didn’t want to. There was just something that pulled me to Arizona State that made me want to go so bad. I only applied to like 5 colleges, most of them were in state for a backup, but I knew where I wanted to go. I got an academic scholarship to ASU and I was so happy. I was telling everyone I got accepted. I felt people were trying to hold me back and discourage me from going, but that wasn’t going to stop me. My relationship with my mother was so bad at this time, so I wanted to leave home urgently.

My freshman year I stayed in the dorms, and I met the best people ever. As soon as I moved in my roommates, and I instantly clicked and were best friends. My freshman roommates are still my best friends to this day and are still my roommates. We did everything together and it was such a good time. I was a psychology major, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I graduated. I wanted to be a counselor at a juvenile detention center. I wanted to make an impact on the youth and make a contribution to the world. The beginning of my freshman year started off rough. A week after I left for college my grandmother passed away and I was so sad. I didn’t let my grades reflect my feelings. I kept pushing and my friends were always there to cheer me up. My relationship with my mother also improved. Distance really helped us get closer. I ended my freshman year on the Dean’s List.

My sophomore year I decided not to stay on campus for a couple reasons. First, all of the upper classroom dorms were full and I couldn’t get into the dorm. I honestly didn’t even like the dorms by freshman year nor the food. My friends and I decided to rent a house close to campus until we graduated. I already had a job and was going to transfer to a location in Arizona to work. This year was challenging, working while being in school full time and paying rent was really stressful. I also hated my job so I decided to quit and work as a swim teacher. I swam all during high school so I’m very passionate about swimming. This job really made me think about my future and what I want my career to be. I was so happy to go to work and be with my coworkers and children all day. 

Working as a swim teacher impacted my life so much. This job honestly showed me that I didn’t want to go into psychology. I wanted to work somewhere with joy and something I was passionate about. I wasn’t passionate about psychology and I didn’t even try my best in class or while doing homework. I wasn’t getting good grades and I was also going through a toxic relationship. So I had to withdraw from some of my classes which resulted in me not meeting the requirements of my scholarship. I ended up having a mental breakdown on the phone with my mom. I came to a realization that I needed to change my major and end my toxic relationship, and that’s what I did.

I was at an impasse. I didn't know whether to go into child development or to go into tourism. I have a passion for working with children and I love being around them. I also have a passion for traveling. I love seeing new places and meeting new people. I decided not to go into child development because of the pay and I plan to have children myself and that’s good enough for me. I decided to change my major to Tourism Development & Management with a concentration in meeting and event planning. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with this major, but it was a step toward a future I wanted. I just had this idea of me in the future constantly traveling, seeing the world, and being free. 

Starting my junior year, I was stressed. I had to get two jobs during the summer to pay rent so I had to work 2 jobs and be in school full time. I was so nervous I hoped I would like my classes and my new major. I started to love my major. I love all my professors during my fall semester. Everyone is so passionate about tourism, I started to become passionate about tourism. I love learning about it, it touches so many aspects of life that I didn’t even realize it did. Even though I was happy with my major I felt behind, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do specifically. Most of my classmates knew what they wanted to do and my professors were asking what I wanted to do. I just said special event planning, yet nothing I was learning about spoke to me or my soul.

I finally decided what I wanted to do after I graduated in October. We had a guest speaker zoom into class from the Bodhi Tree Yoga Resort. This is a resort in Costa Rica where they host wellness treats and the speaker plans and coordinates these events. It was such an eye-opening moment when he was talking. I decided this is what I want to do. I want to plan and coordinate spiritual/holistic healing events for women, specifically women in minorities. After I graduate, I plan to work as a flight attendant for a year to travel and see the world. During this time, I will be getting my certificate as a holistic/wellness coach. I not only want to plan these events, but from time to time I want to host it and be involved. I am passionate about my future now. I know what I want to do and I will be working towards it. I also plan on quitting one of my jobs, because it’s too much stress. I want to focus on my major and if I can, find a job or internship that relates to my future career.