As my first blog entry, I would like to introduce myself.
My name is Agnieszka, but I go by AJ. I was born and raised in Poland. I moved to the U.S. when I was 12 years old. With pretty much no knowledge of English, I taught myself to speak the language through numerous re-readings of the Harry Potter books. It may seem a tad childish, but now the series are my “emotional security blanket,” and I love it!
At 19, I married my high school sweetheart. We were both in an NJROTC program all four years of high school. While I immersed myself into the life of academia, he held on to the military lifestyle, and made me a military wife - as if regular college or married life wasn’t stressful enough! ☺️
I am an undergraduate student at California State University, Fullerton, double majoring in Psychology, and Women & Gender Studies. My true and main focus is Psychology, but I aim to have an emphasis on human sexuality, which Psychology alone couldn’t provide, so Women & Gender Studies helped me fulfill that goal. My husband likes to tell me that I am an addict and academics are my substance, because apparently my life revolves around schoolwork. Yes, it has gotten to the point where I even do school work at work on the weekends. But hey - at least it is a productive addiction!
I am involved in many activities at CSUF (peer mentor, tutor, TA, etc.), but most importantly, I am a Chief Research Assistant on a research team, where I study human sexual aggression, as well as perceptions of psychotherapy. I’m going to sound very cheesy, but my lab mates are like my academic soul mates, and my advisor is like my guardian angel. Bottom line, I could’t have asked for a better team!
My dream is to be able to conduct my own research on human sexuality, and to be a college psychology professor. I’m still conflicted on practicing therapy - abnormal psychology and sexual therapy really intrigue me, but research and teaching seem to be my true passion. To achieve my goals, I hope to be accepted in a clinical psychology Ph.D. program. I will be applying at the end of this year, so I’m very excited. I will be applying to a lot of great programs, and most of them will be outside of my current home state, California, but I cannot wait to start this new chapter of my life. I’m sitting at the edge of my seat, waiting to find out where I will be going.
I started this blog to share the journey to my dream career. I hope that on my way, this blog will help me connect with other students who share similar ideas, or maybe it might help out students who are a step behind, or need a little guidance and motivation.
Either way, I am looking forward to this adventure with psychology! Or in other words - I’m Psyched! (Yes, pun intended 😆)