Anthropology Is Not A Useless Degree

Let me first start off by saying that anthropology is so much more than studying prehistory and people who haven't lived for a very, very long time.

Anthropology is separated into four major categories: Social/Cultural, Biological, Linguistic, and Archaeology. Each concentration has a unique focus to it. Social/Cultural studies societies both living and extinct and how they interacted with the world around them. Biological studies human biological variation as well as evolution. Linguistic studies how languages influence social life. Archaeology studies the artifacts and remains of prehistory and their significance. Anthropology isn't always people living in tents on dig sites. Very few Anthropologists actually do that in reality.

We always get a "starving artist" reputation by places like Forbes when they list their Worst College Majors list each year and we're grouped with graphic design, fine arts, and philosophy majors. However, Anthropology is one of those things where you can do everything or nothing. It gives you skills that are applicable pretty much anywhere, but you have to be willing to look for it sometimes. I will say, though, that if you are interested in earning a lot of money with or without going to graduate school, Anthropology just isn't for you.

I like Anthropology because almost everyone in the field chose to be there for a purely academic reason. Anthropologists do what they do in pursuit of knowledge. At least with the Anthropologists that I've spoken to, knowledge is one of the greatest gifts in the entire world. I like that Anthropology has a shared respect for every concentration from Economic Anthropology to Paeloarchaeology. I like that no matter what concentration you go into with Anthropology, it's always with a greater purpose of understanding the world around you and how exactly you fit into it. I like that Anthropologists don't always have typical jobs. I like that Anthropology has the unique ability to analyse anything in reference to past history and outline why certain things should change -- Google "Anthropological analysis of modern capitalism" and you'll see what I mean. I like that Anthropology has the ability to take you to a specific culture and that you can learn to see things from their perspective. I like the fact that you have the ability to develop skills no one else will have such as the ability to learn foreign languages because you're taught to understand how they work. I like the fact that Anthropology is so uniquely diverse that there's something to fit every interest.

I chose Anthropology because I couldn't decide between being a maths major or an English major with a philosophy minor and Anthropology happened to incorporate a little bit of each. I chose Anthropology because I love culture and languages. I chose Anthropology because I want to make a difference in the world, even if it is just a small one. I chose Anthropology because I don't want a desk job, I want excitement - I want to travel and learn new languages and meet people and hear their stories and learn their customs and I want to be able to write about it and educate people on the beautiful diversity that we have in the world. I chose Anthropology because I want to teach people that tolerance is wonderful. I want to take a small step towards ending racial/ethnic profiling and that not everyone who's different than you is bad and that they have stories, customs, lives, and that they matter just as much as anyone else. I'm a bit of an over-ambitious individual and I am perfectly okay with that.

So you can tell me that my degree is useless. You can tell me that I'll never make any money and that I have a 10.4% unemployment rate. You can tell me that I'm majoring in one of the worst things possible. That's fine, go ahead. I don't care. I'm more than happy with my major and all the things I can do with it. I know that Sociocultural Anthropology is the perfect degree for me and I love it. That's really all that matters.

xx Britt

An Open Letter to the Incoming Freshmen

But first: I am really bad at this whole blogging thing and I apologize. And the blog design is still a work in progress, so don't mind that.

Now on with the rest of the post.

So you got accepted into college! That's so rad! I am so incredibly happy for you!

BUT....college isn't all that the media or everyone else says that it is. So I'm here to be real with you.

1. College is a really big adjustment. 

Some people take it really well, other's don't. Either way, it's completely okay and perfectly normal. I came into college last year as someone with a minor anxiety disorder who doesn't adjust well to change. Don't get me wrong, I was so hyped for college, but it was hard to adjust. I faked the fact that I was adjusting well because I was too afraid to admit that I was having a hard time. I really regret not getting help that first semester because my anxiety disorder turned to marked/severe and I failed two classes. That's just one story, and an extreme case at that, but the moral remains the same: don't be afraid to admit that you need help adjusting if you do.

2. Dorm Rooms, at least here at App, are small.

I'm sure you've seen pictures on Pinterest of the most perfect dorm rooms ever, and sometimes dorms can be like that, but here it's kind of hard in the freshmen dorms. Even in Lovill, one of the biggest freshmen dorms, unnecessary furniture will make the room feel really small. As an added note, don't be afraid to rearrange when you move in. You don't have to keep the room exactly as you've found it. I think I've rearranged my room at least three times in this past year and I can definitely say that it's much easier when you don't have a lot of stuff. Ultimately, in the end, it's your decision and completely up to you when it comes to your room.

3. You accrue a lot of stuff in one year.

Oh my god do I have so many more things in my room now than when I moved in because of the changing seasons, trips to Johnson City or Asheville, Walmart runs for things you forgot you needed, and free things they give you around campus from time to time. I barely had enough room in my car to move things up here the first time without all the added things. I actually had to send a lot of things home when my parents came up to visit a few weeks ago. So, make a plan for how you're going to get everything home in the Spring. That's good advice whether you do accrue extra things or not.

4. Roommates can be great!

Or they can make your life hell. During roommate agreements, which are done two weeks into the year, be completely and totally honest about the things that bother you and what you're okay and not okay with. That's what the roommate agreement is for. You should probably also have an open conversation with your roommate during the first few weeks because, most likely, you're both two strangers that were thrown into a room together. My roommate and I made the mistake of putting off the roommate agreement until the night before it had to be turned in, and it just so happened to be the night that I decided to go out with a few friends. When I got back, all I wanted to do was sleep, but we still had to do the roommate agreement, so I kind of just agreed to things without question and basically let her do all of it, and that was not the best choice, but I learned from it.

5. You won't always be best friends with your roommate.

Some people are best friends with their roommates, but a lot of people aren't. I'm not trying to tell you that you shouldn't come in with the hope that you'll be best friends with your roommate, because you should, just be prepared to not be as close as you thought you would be. You'll both meet so many new people and you'll both make other best friends, but if you really do want to be friends with your roommate, try. It doesn't just happen automatically. 

6. Don't be afraid to get involved.

But don't get involved in too many things. Classes are more important than ever. That degree is, unfortunately, part of a social law when it comes to getting a job. But so are extracurriculars. Joining clubs can show leadership experience, but it's the same as in high school, less is more. If you are looking for leadership experience, I recommend joining your hall council. Just know that hall council can be a really big time commitment depending on which position you have. I was a Residence Hall Association Representative and I spent, on average, three hours a week on hall council, but I had extra meetings that I had to go to and very few other individuals on my hall council were willing to participate. Anywho, clubs are a great way to figure out what interests you and where you really belong, so join some! Just don't join like....twenty. 

7. Freshman 15?

I don't really believe in the Freshman 15 and I'm someone who doesn't go to the gym as much as she probably should and eats maybe three full meals a week with the rest being snacks. The myth really depends on your personal lifestyle and how much that previous lifestyle changes when you get to college and how your body adjusts - everyone is different. Also, you will hear so many people say that gaining weight here is impossible because of the hilly campus and how many stairs we have. You may lose half a pound or two in the first few weeks, but eventually your body will adjust to the amount of work that's being exerted and you'll plateau in the weight-loss game. Big reason why an adaptive work out schedule and healthy eating are key to losing weight, but that's a different topic.

8. Greek Life

While it's not personally for me, I have many friends who are actively involved in Greek Life. Because we're such a small campus, Greek Life here is very different than at bigger schools like UNC or NC State. Also, I've heard that it's nothing like the old ABC show "GREEK" and that really disappointed me. I actually came in on the fence about wanting to do Greek Life, and then I went to the info session at Orientation right after Risque Business and that kind of cemented my decision not to do it, so if you're thinking about it, definitely go to the info session before you commit to rushing.

9. Academics are hard.

I saved the most important one for last. Academics are very different now than they were in high school, and I did both AP and IB - two programs geared towards preparing you for college. I wasn't expecting to actually need to study in college because I never had to in high school, good grades came naturally. If you do find that you're having a hard time, talk to your professor, go to math lab or the writing center, go to the tutoring center, talk to your RA. All of those people want you to pass with good grades, but you have to go to them. And if you do get a bad grade, or fail a class, it's not the end of the world, I promise. You can always retake the class. But take that bad grade as a learning experience and do something differently. Whether it's a different method of studying or not going out as much, it doesn't matter as long as you figure out how you, as a unique individual, need to do things in order to do the best that you can.

College is supposed to be fun, but it's also supposed to be a place where you figure out who you are as a person and who you want to be as a person. Because of that, I want to leave you with something that I learned in my First Year Seminar. 

The only way you can grow as a person is to put yourself out of your comfort zone. 

Through all of the seriousness college carries, don't be afraid to be adventurous or try new things. That's how I became an anthropology major. 

So congratulations, again, on being accepted into college and go enjoy your summer!

xx Britt

Finding What You Love

It's funny to see how my views on college have changed over the course of a year.

Last year, I thought that I didn't want to go to college. I wanted to travel the world and that if I must go to college, then I'd major in French or English.

And then here I am, a year later, trying to decide which college to confirm an acceptance into a Maths program. Time does appear to change people.

Fast forward to about two months since I started college as a Maths major, and I've changed my major to Sociocultural Anthropology.

Fast forward to where we are now, at the end of my first semester, and I'm a Sociocultural Anthropology and International and Comparative Politics double major.

My point is, you never know what you're going to discover about yourself in college. Don't get me wrong, math is one of my favourite things in the entire world, but there came a day where I had to ask myself: Can I see myself doing this for the rest of my life? Ultimately, my answer was no. It helped that I truly found what I love and I had a general idea of what I wanted to do with my life and I wasn't just majoring in something because it'll help me with anything that I decide to do.

It all started with a very eye-opening English class where we talked about gender bias and stereotypes and how they affect perceptions of individuals and that's when our first essay came around. We had to pick adverts and write an analysis on them. I chose adverts that depicted the various ways in which women are viewed based upon what they wear. There was so much passion for the subject when I was writing that essay and I can't think of any time where I've felt that much passion about a specific subject before. So I talked to my adviser and a few other people about it and settled on sociocultural anthropology. Time went on and I proceed to talk about the presidential election and national and international current events with people and I saw that same passion as before. That's when someone gave me the idea to go into politics. So I looked into it and I fell in love with International law, specifically Human Rights law. There's so much that you can do to change how people are viewed and to make the world a better place with that, and I've never wanted to do much more than that.

If I hadn't had listened to people and took their advice and explored a topic I wasn't too sure about, I never would have figured out what I was doing with my life. College is full of moments like that and if you don't take the opportunity to explore your beliefs about certain topics, then you may never find what you truly love. When you finally find something that you can talk about with such enthusiasm and genuine excitement, you know that you've found what you love. The possibilities are endless, so keep an open mind.

xx Britt

Dealing With Anxiety??

Lately I've been having a fair amount of anxiety and I thought that I'd share with you a few ways to cope with it because I know that anxiety is a fairly common thing.

Let me start off by saying that my anxiety stems from academics. It's not social anxiety or anything else, it's academic anxiety. I get anxiety attacks because I'm over-stressed or because I'm mentally exhausted or even just because I have stress that I can't actually feel.

So here are a few tips that help me deal with my anxiety:

1) Have someone that you can call that will talk to you - If you'll remember, I have one person that I can go to with anything and everything. Ryan's always been there for me and he's always there when I need someone to just talk to me when I'm feeling anxious. I find that having someone to get your mind off of whatever it is that you're stressing about at least for a little bit helps tremendously.

2) RELAX! - I know that it's hard to do when you're panicking, but getting worked up about it isn't going to make it any better. Just sit down, grab a good book, flip to a random page, and start reading. It'll take your mind off of the anxiety and help calm you down.

3) Drink some tea or water - I've found that having a hot drink like decaffeinated tea really helps me to calm down because it's just so pleasant. However, I do know that I've had some anxiety attacks where I haven't been able to do anything, so this isn't always a surefire solution.

4) Download an app that's made to ease anxiety - These apps are actually quite helpful and they have some pretty nice free ones that work really well. I definitely recommend getting one if you have a smartphone. My favourite one is a relaxation app that plays the sounds of rainfall, but there are tons out there.

And now for some tips on how to prevent anxiety:

1) Take some time each day and exercise or stretch - This releases chemicals in your brain that make you feel good and happy and doing this each day can tremendously decrease the amount of anxiety, or at least for me. Yoga has been something that I've started doing lately.

2) Find time to do something that you love - Are you a bookworm? Do you obsessively watch Netflix? Then find some time where you can just sit around and do that. You don't want your life to be focused around things that you don't like because then you won't be happy and you'll stress, so find some time to finish that book that you've been working on for months or finish that series that you've been watching. (Disclaimer: This may not actually prevent anxiety, I just know that for me being happy and doing something that I like does help.)

3) Get away from things that are causing you to stress or feel anxious - I know that this sounds like it's something that's so obvious, but a lot of people overlook it. I know that I had one really good friend last year that loved drama and always had to have drama and I got really stressed out about it because she kept pulling me into it, so I stopped being friends with her. I stopped talking to her completely and it's helped a lot. I don't feel anxious about what our friendship is going to be like or if she's going to hate me that day or not. But it doesn't have to be people. If it's a class and you're freaking out about it, call someone to help you study or just to chat. Even though it doesn't make the class magically disappear, knowing the material does help and if it's something that you genuinely don't understand, find someone that does and ask for their help. Don't be afraid to ask for help - ever. Not all of us can be superhumans.

So those are some of my tips for dealing with anxiety and though they may not all work for you, some of them may. I hate it when I go through anxiety and I'm sure everyone that experiences it does too, so I hope that this helped at least a little bit!

Hang in there love(:

xx Britt

Where Has Time Gone?

What? You...you don't remember me? It's only been...what, seven months?

So uh yeah...I'm actually really bad at this whole blogging thing - I forget to write posts, I start writing posts and never finish them...things like that happen.

But it's the dawning of a new era!

...Hopefully!

Now, recently, and by recently I mean since March, things have been a bit crazy. I've been trying to get summer homework done, volunteer hours completed, college applications submitted, IB work finished... But even though I've got all that going on, I still want to keep this blog going. Granted, things will change a bit due to time management issues, but it is something that I want to keep up with.

So in conclusion, this turned out to be a quick little update about why I have been M.I.A. as of recent and to also tell you that I will in fact be writing posts way more frequently.

Farewell for now(:

xx Britt

My Life Consists of Caffeine and Stress

Hey guys! Sorry I've been gone for so long! My life has been crazy. It's not easy taking seven college courses. Basically, I've been living off of caffeine for the past week.

Let me explain. I had a psychology paper due on Monday that I've spent three months writing that's 20% of my final grade. And I'm taking a Theory of Knowledge course which is going to be referred to as TOK from here on out. We got a project a couple of weeks ago telling us to choose from Bacon, de Vere, Marlowe, and Shakespeare and gather reliable information as to why they wrote Shakespeare's works. We chose a knowledge question that didn't mention Shakespeare in any way at all and we had to develop a presentation for it. But this isn't your average presentation. It's more like an if-you-have-more-than-three-words-on-a-slide-other-than-your-KQ-I-will-fail-you kind of presentation. So it's about 100 slides with pictures. And a script in the notes.

But that's not the stressful part. The stressful part is that no one in my group wants to write their script in the notes section of the presentation so we don't have a separate script. People also keep telling me what to do for my claim and counterclaim. It's mine, so why are you trying to mess with it. Worry about your part, not mine. And then people get on me for "not doing my part" when they don't even do their part! Like, I get you have a job and athletics, but school is your responsibility. But I also get that it's March Madness and I mean, it's March Madness. You can't ignore March Madness. Especially when the AP kids and IB kids have a competition to see who's bracket gets the furthest. IB all da wayyyyyy.

But I just had to vent. After this coming week, my life should calm down some. I'll post more often(:

Thanks for letting me vent, guys. You're all awesome(:

xx Britt

Let's Talk About...Warped Tour!

Firstly, happy 2014! It's crazy how fast time goes by. In a year, I will be graduating...gotta start studying.

But that's not what I want to talk about today. So let's stop getting distracted...hopefully.

I wanted to talk about the greatest music festival in the States, that is once again going to Europe and Australia. The Vans Warped Tour.

The Tour features bands as well known as All Time Low, Bring Me The Horizon, Pierce the Veil, Forever The Sickest Kids, The Summer Set, and The Wonder Years. They also feature the lesser known bands such as Mixtapes, Teenage Bottle Rocket, VersaEmerge (who, unfortunately, dropped the tour last year), Beebs and her Money Makers, Reel Big Fish, and For The Foxes. 

And we can't forget that Bowling For Soup and Godlfinger played the tour last year. SO upset that it wasn't my date though. 

But this tour is my favourite music festival ever and I like a lot of music festivals. But you get to see punk, pop punk, punk rock, alt rock, hardcore, metalcore, hip hop, and indie punk bands. So, more or less, it's pretty freaking awesome. You get to meet other people near your area that have the same music taste as you and you get to discover a ton of bands that you've never heard of. You get so many bands that sign up for the tour and they play specific dates, or the full tour if they're announced early on, all for about $45 for a ticket. It's worth it.

And I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but where I live very few people my age listen to the same music as I do. I know about five people that do. But then I see that two of my favourite bands, Cartel and State Champs, are playing at a local venue and there are so many people. Like...where did you come from? Did you just spawn in line outside the venue? Or did you drive three hours? Or are you just my imagination? It was weird. Then again...they were all like college students or post college people. So maybe that has something to do with it...hmm...

But the point I was getting at was that there are so many people that listen to the same music, and they don't just exist on the internet! I've actually made quite a few friends through Tumblr because of mutual obsessions over bands...did I say obsessions? I meant infatuation. No, I meant liking...a mutual liking. There we go. A mutual liking is how I met them. Right? Isn't that how you meet anyone these days? We all exist on the internet and we never actually go outside and do human things like walk around a park. Why walk around a park when you could be infatuating over a band member on Tumblr or listening to music all day? And that's getting into a future post, so I'm just going to stop there....hehe.

Really though, Warped Tour is something that I've always looked forward to. I've wanted to go for the past three years. I was supposed to go last year, but things didn't exactly work out as planned. On the bright side, the Pit Vlogger each year has their own Tumblr dedicated to answering questions about Warped Tour and posting videos and pictures from each venue. So even if you can't go, you can still watch little snip-its of the tour. Of course I spent two months mentally preparing myself, which I do recommend for every new person because it can be stressful thinking about everything. I mean, you hear a lot of stories about bad things happening like heat exhaustion. But that does actually happen... They really stress the importance of safety and staying hydrated.

 I know we're still about five months away from the first tour date (June 14!!!), but I just got a bit too excited because they have now announced twenty-five bands! And of those bands is Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!, Cute Is What We Aim For, Mayday Parade, The Ready Set, and I The Mighty. All they need to do is have State Champs, All Time Low, Pierce The Veil, Artist Vs Poet, Forever The Sickest Kids, Breathe Carolina, The Downtown Fiction, and Man Overboard and I'll be the happiest person ever. When they released the survey asking for your top five band picks, because all the bands are invited to play, I was sat there for about an hour thinking of my top five bands. It was a very difficult choice.

Anywho, if you want to keep up with all things Warped 2014, go and subscribe to their email newsletter, check out their site, and/or sign up for mobile updates at vanswarpedtour.com! They also have all twenty-five bands signed to the tour on the site, so if you're wondering who'll be playing the full tour go check out the 'BANDS' tab!

Stay awesome, guys!

xx Britt