“Let's have a look at that schedule,” a female faculty advisor said to me during the first day of my freshman orientation at SPU. She must have sensed my lack of enthusiasm for the courses I had already been assigned, because next she asked me what I really wanted to study. I told her I had enjoyed French language studies in high school, but I thought I might not be the most practical major to study. Still, the advisor told me to go for what I was passionate about.
I did end up majoring in French literature and language — laughing through Molière's Tartuffe, and trying to understand native French speakers. Upon graduation, I moved to Angers, France, and later to Paris, where I'm earning my master's degree in English literature at Paris Diderot University. I made many decisions during my time at SPU, but the most important decision happened on that first day; it led me where I needed to go.
— Laura Zoeller '08
