Scene Fifteen: The Two-Hour Lunch

"I found the budget cuts!" I chortled, gesturing to the down-sized sweet potato that made up part of my Homeplate dinner. Two trippees sat across from me, rolling their eyes at my quip.

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If you plan on coming to Dartmouth, go on a First Year Trip. I repeat: GO ON A FIRST YEAR TRIP. On my trip, I knew the love of H-Croo, Lodge Croo, AND VOX Croo. I earned the nickname "Baby Cairn" while lost in a storm in the Presidential Range. I ate Nutella-fondued Canadian Groundfruit. I kissed Mother Nature on her open mouth, and I liked it. So, go.
The bonds you make on trips will last much, much longer than the ache of your muscles (unless you do psycho-hiking; I think its kind of a toss-up there). Let me return to my narration..
I sat in Homeplate with two trippees, trying to make merry the dually grave topics of budget cuts and portion downgrades. An hour after finishing our meals, we still sat. Our quarry was life goals, after all. Two of us are quite attached to the idea of a title, a degree, a.. future? Typing it, I feel even more ridiculous than saying it. Yes, I admit that I am one of we two. Since childhood I have fantasized about being a doctor. I want to be the mythical being that knows how every part of the human body works and how to fix it when something goes awry. I want to travel the distant lands like the Inner City and the Gambia to treat illnesses that I can't yet name in people that I can't wait to meet. I want to wield life.
But, I do not like math. The problem is not that I cannot understand complex mathematical concepts, I often did better in high school math classes than in my coveted language classes, but that I do not enjoy understanding complex mathematical concepts. What am I to do? Even for the most bio-based med school requirements, I resent the amount of physics and chemistry that I would have to study. When Dartmouth offers classes like Goddesses of India and Intense Greek, why would I put myself through a math-based curriculum?
I am still clinging to my dream of being a doctor, but I am coming to terms with a different (*gasp* - uncertain) future. That doesn't mean that I won't take the Biotechnology First Year Seminar, though.