The story I like to tell.
Apr. 14th, 2004 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gemfyreWhen I was a kid I loved animals and nature. I'd take my "expedition bag" (a bag with a butterfly/fish net, vials for samples, containers, tweezers, magnifying glass, notebook etc.) everywhere and had my own (one member) club called the "Conservation Club". I refused to read fiction before I was 9 but read loads of books on nature and animals and even read encyclopaedias with gusto. I wanted to be a ranger or a zookeeper. I loved David Attenborough's work.
Then high school started and I went on some bizarre tangent. I figured I prefferred things like english and drama and music when in actual fact I sucked at all of them and was really only good at Human Biology and Health - which I excelled at.
When I finished high school I wanted to do something like psychology at university - I wanted to help people. I failed the the TEE, therefore didn't get into uni but went to do Human Service (specialising in youth work) at TAFE instead. That was a 2 year course - after the first year I fully realised that I HATED it. It totally disillusioned me, it wasn't about actually helping people, it was all about passing the buck. However at my parents insistence I completed it and got my Diploma. Which kinda proves that even if I hate something I can do it - however TAFE is awfully easy to pass.
During the end of that course I applied for a course in Animal Care at TAFE. I just slipped in on the third round of offers (much to my delight). Now THIS is what I wanted to be doing. I was good at it - heck, I'd always loved animals, I have no idea what turned me from that. It was a quick year long course and I got my certificate and got work experience as such awesome places as the zoo, Fauna Rehabilitation Foundation and RSPCA.
I spent a year in the wilderness trying to find work and being unsuccessful (I really wasn't keen on finding work - I'd finally got myself a social life after having none in high school and was enjoying myself too much to work). Then I turned 21 and decided to take the STAT test and try for uni again - but this time doing biology or zoology. I took the STAT and passed with flying colours. Then I got a letter from Murdoch University offering me my second preference - studying Biology. I squealed and danced around in excitement.
After the first year of biol I changed over to Conservation Biol because I couldn't handle the organic chem. I LOVE the field work and the lab stuff is pretty nifty too. I'm in my last year of study. I volunteer at the RSPCA and will hopefully get into the zoo's volunteer program too. I go birdwatching as often as possible. Hopefully when I get my degree I can find an actual paying job in this field that I love. I've come around full circle.
And I still love David Attenborough - I SOOO want his job!
Then high school started and I went on some bizarre tangent. I figured I prefferred things like english and drama and music when in actual fact I sucked at all of them and was really only good at Human Biology and Health - which I excelled at.
When I finished high school I wanted to do something like psychology at university - I wanted to help people. I failed the the TEE, therefore didn't get into uni but went to do Human Service (specialising in youth work) at TAFE instead. That was a 2 year course - after the first year I fully realised that I HATED it. It totally disillusioned me, it wasn't about actually helping people, it was all about passing the buck. However at my parents insistence I completed it and got my Diploma. Which kinda proves that even if I hate something I can do it - however TAFE is awfully easy to pass.
During the end of that course I applied for a course in Animal Care at TAFE. I just slipped in on the third round of offers (much to my delight). Now THIS is what I wanted to be doing. I was good at it - heck, I'd always loved animals, I have no idea what turned me from that. It was a quick year long course and I got my certificate and got work experience as such awesome places as the zoo, Fauna Rehabilitation Foundation and RSPCA.
I spent a year in the wilderness trying to find work and being unsuccessful (I really wasn't keen on finding work - I'd finally got myself a social life after having none in high school and was enjoying myself too much to work). Then I turned 21 and decided to take the STAT test and try for uni again - but this time doing biology or zoology. I took the STAT and passed with flying colours. Then I got a letter from Murdoch University offering me my second preference - studying Biology. I squealed and danced around in excitement.
After the first year of biol I changed over to Conservation Biol because I couldn't handle the organic chem. I LOVE the field work and the lab stuff is pretty nifty too. I'm in my last year of study. I volunteer at the RSPCA and will hopefully get into the zoo's volunteer program too. I go birdwatching as often as possible. Hopefully when I get my degree I can find an actual paying job in this field that I love. I've come around full circle.
And I still love David Attenborough - I SOOO want his job!
