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But really, who can resist?
I’m a romantic. I can’t help it – I fall in love quickly and frequently. It only took me about 20 pages to fall head over heels for Cedric Diggory, and that was when I was eight – before Hollywood had manifested him in the form of Robert Pattinson. It’s not just with boys, either. Since coming to college, I’ve fallen in and out of love with Political Science, Peace and Conflict Studies, Spanish, and Gender & Women’s Studies before calling my mom (again) to tell her I’ve finally found the one: Sociology. She politely reminded me that I’ve said this four times before and suggested that I actually take a sociology course before writing the registrar to declare. Whatever, Mom. When you know, you know. And I know with Chem 1A.
Let me explain. This week I signed up for Chemistry 1A during my Telebears Phase 1. The kicker? It’s not a major requirement. I want to take the class for a breadth requirement. Every one of my friends has tried to talk me out of this notoriously difficult class, telling me there’s a reason people only take it if they have to, but my mind has been made.
My friends have a point: I’m not really a science person; my brain doesn’t work that way. But chemistry is different. The moment I solved the first problem set in Honors Chemistry at the ripe, young age of 15 was like that scene in Love Actually when the prime minister firsts meets Natalie. Just as Hugh Grant’s character only has eyes for Natalie after that first sight, I only had motivation to do my chem homework. I had found a new passion.
Love at first sight.
Chemistry and I had a two-year whirlwind romance during my sophomore and junior years of high school. Chemistry encouraged me to try things I otherwise never would have, such as taking an AP science exam and tutoring the subject. I understood Chemistry on a deeper level than I’d ever understood another science class before. We completed each other. It was perfect.
Sam and Donna, pre-reunion
But then I ran out of chemistry classes to take at my high school, so I moved on to physics, a subject that lacked all the excitement of chemistry for me. When I got to college, it didn’t seem possible to continue my love of chemistry among all the humanities classes I had to take for my liberal arts degree. Just like Sam and Donna’s relationship in Mamma Mia, my time with Chemistry ended, and it was nobody’s fault. But also like Sam and Donna, chemistry and I are finally reuniting years later, thanks to Berkeley’s L&S physical science breadth requirement.
I know Chem 1A will be a lot more work than Physics for Future Presidents or Astro C10. But relationships take work. Yes, it’s been a while since those magical years with Chemistry, and I’m sure we’ve changed. We might not even recognize each other at first – I’ve cut my hair, and the periodic table now includes something called “ununpentium.” But the chance that our reunion could be like Steve and Miranda’s reunion on the Brooklyn Bridge after years in Sex and the City makes everything worth it. Although the copious amounts of reading, lectures, and problem sets may also turn me into Allie from The Notebook, may wipe out my memory of the greatest love I’ve ever known, I’m going to stick it out. The title of this rom-com won’t be How to Drop a Class in 10 Days.
Everyone who’s ever watched a romantic movie knows that when it comes to true love, you always have to take the chance. Love is worth it. I may hurt my GPA, I may have to pass/no pass this class, and I may be the only sophomore among hundreds of pre-med freshmen, but at least I won’t end up like Rose at the end of Titanic, pretending that my name’s Dawson, wondering what could have been.
Maybe for you, it’s English. Or Wind Ensemble. Or a boy named Jeff at UCLA whom you haven’t seen since high school. Pursue your true love, because if you don’t, you’ll always wonder what you’re missing.
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