Ay, ¡Díos Mío! ¡Mis clases españoles!

Last night, or perhaps more accurately this morning, as a stared blankly at my computer screen, I cursed the day I ever decided to double major in Journalism and Spanish. As I worked on my first of three 6+ page Spanish papers due before I graduate, I was fuming. Why did I decide to do this? It wasn't like I had to do it to graduate. I could have coasted through school, only taking 12 hours each semester starting my junior year. Then I stopped myself.

I decided to double major in Spanish because I love it! In theory, I enjoy speaking in Spanish (constantly and much to the annoyance of my friends and family) and wanted to improve my language skills. PLUS, how baller would it be to be fluent in a foreign language? After spending summer 2008 in Spain, I was ready to drop of college and live there forever. So, at the beginning, majoring in Spanish seemed like a great idea.

Now, in the middle, I hate it. Well, I don't hate Spanish, I just hate all the work. But, I have to remind myself that all that work is going to be worth it. Based on my past experiences, in the end, I am fairly certain that I will be happy I decided to do it. After thinking about this some more I realized, this has a been a constant theme throughout my life.

I look back at my high school swimming experience and see the same pattern. I was ready to be part of a team, exhausted and frustrated in the middle of it (being in the pool two times a day for almost eight hours will take it out of you), and cried when swim season was over. At the risk of sounding cliché, being a part of my high school swim team has made me a stronger, better person. To this day, no matter how exhausted I am, I remember my days in the pool and know that I can make it through anything.

I think that this is more than something that just happens to me, it is a universal pattern in life. With anything that requires extra time and effort, we are excited to start, frustrated in the middle, and exhilarated by the end. As I prepare to graduate, I wonder when I will face this pattern again. Up to this point, there has always been a definite end in sight. Now, an entire future lies ahead of me.

Have you seen this pattern in your life?