What Is My Ideal Future Essay

If I had to pick the two things that make me happiest, it would be food and spending time around kids. My ideal future would be spent discovering new ways on how to help children better themselves and then cooking a wonderful meal for my loved ones. I am currently a junior at UMD and am majoring in Psychology, with an intention to go to grad school and get a PhD in Developmental Psychology. I transferred to UMD in the Fall of 2015 from community college and am the first in my family to attend college. Studying abroad has always been a dream of mine, and when considering programs, I was looking at a program that would challenge me academically while leaving room for me to work with children and enjoy the local cuisine at the same time. Amsterdam …show more content…
I did not know if I would be able to graduate on time if I went abroad, and I was positive I would not be able to afford it. I have been working my way through school, coming home every weekend and working all weekend long as a Zumba instructor and a waitress and taking additional loans in order to pay tuition. Yet, once I cleared that I would be able to graduate on time if I went abroad, I knew I had to find some way to make the financial situation work. I am waitressing more shifts and working throughout Spring and Summer break in order to make enough to fund this trip. Receiving the Gilman Scholarship will significantly help ease some of the financial burden in order to able to participate in this experience. In High School and early in my college experience, I always wanted to take one of the trips offered abroad, but due to my financial situation I was never able to. I watched my friends go on trips that they described as life changing, and I plan to do whatever it takes to be able to go on this incredible …show more content…
Amsterdam had so many opportunities for me to learn skills and knowledge that I could use in my future career, and I know I am not going to let my financial situation stop me from doing everything that I can to go. When I see pictures of Amsterdam, I am enraptured by the beauty of the city and I can feel how exciting it will be to study there. I can already envision myself standing along the canals, eating their local delicacies and thinking of how I can get the children in the Jeugdlab program to be more excited about the sciences and arts. Going to study in Amsterdam would be about more than changing my own life, it would be about learning how to change lives of the kids that I meet and tend to in the future, and for that I am eager to go and