Year Three Begins

My third year of college has begun, and although it's so similar that at times it seems that nothing has changed, so much is different.

For one thing, I spent my first two years firmly believing I was going to become an English teacher at some high school after college, but dreading it. Now with my major changed to Advertising I'm thrust into fifteen credits worth of classes revolving around the world of Advertising (and three credits of world philosophy to finish off my General Education courses) which is an incredibly different experience. Surprisingly I stay in the same building for the most part, as my school categorizes my major under Journalism (or at least my particular slant of it) but the classes have shifted ever so slightly from "interesting and fun" to "interesting and demanding". The workload may be mostly the same as before(I'm only one week in, so I don't know for sure about that yet) but it's an entirely different type of workload. Reading fiction and analyzing sentence structure and syntax is very different from learning the business of getting a product noticed and sold to a target group.

Seems like a huge shift right? I guess it should but (partially with the help of my summer Introduction to Advertising class) it's seeming quite natural right now, and I suspect this is mostly because of my genuine interest in both my old and new field. People often talk about having to chose between either what you're passionate about or what will make you money, I'm fortunate enough that what I am passionate about doing in the future is actually potentially more profitable than what I thought I wanted to do before.
Of course that doesn't mean I'm not totally scared out of my pants. What if I don't enjoy it as much as I hope to? What if I don't understand it or do poorly when exams begin? I'm getting loaned thousands of dollars I need to pay back plus interest, so there's a lot of pressure to make it worth it.
The one thing that keeps me from calling it quits and focusing purely on writing (which would be a huge gamble) is knowing I've found the love of my life, and knowing I want to be able to live happily and support her for as long as I live.

It's amazing how she influences every little aspect of my life.
-Ryan