As a freshman, the idea that you don’t need to know your major yet might be the most popular, yet misleading, notion present in a large population of the student body. I realized I found this statement problematic in my first semester as a freshman. I was constantly asking myself the big question: what was my major going to be? As a student officially admitted into a liberal arts school, I had the option of exploring the breadth of course offerings despite the fact that I was ultimately expected to narrow down my choices and decide what I wanted to base my professional career on.

This is really when the question of familiarity arose for me. By process of elimination, I knew what I did not wish to study and pursue. But I found myself in a dilemma that I hadn’t ever indulged in: was it finally time to let go of the familiar? The familiar, all these 17 years, had been the sciences and math. Whether it had to do with my educational system or the cultural backdrop I was brought up in, mathematics and science had always made up my educational identity. It had always been apparent to me that what I excelled in — in terms of study, skill and interests — were what was familiar to me. It was now time for these notions to be challenged. I gave in to breaking with what was familiar.

When I applied to NYU Abu Dhabi, I was certain that I wanted to be a nuclear physicist. The only majors I was ready to explore were Physics and Philosophy. As a deeply passionate writer, I went to the extent of considering a Literature and Creative Writing major. Even with this dip into the unfamiliarity, I wished to stay within the realm of what I knew. But my first semester helped me realise that it was time to let go of what was familiar, let go of what had been ingrained in me and everything I chose to do. It took me just one semester to come to terms with the realization that my major had to allow me to grapple with this notion of the familiar and unfamiliar. I have always wanted to learn more about people — their desires and their drives. Reflecting on this, it was quite simple; in order to explore the rather distant experience of studying the arts, I decided to delve deep into the study of theater.

With an increased focus on interdisciplinarity in higher education, the line between what is familiar and unfamiliar is being blurred. This aids both in validating the vision of NYUAD as a liberal arts school as well as in supporting each student to explore the variety of course offerings even as they complete their major requirements. As a prospective theater major, classes that challenge my pre-existing perceptions and notions of the the role of an artist in other fields of inquiry appeal to me. For instance, the theater elective Making the Anthropo[s]cene: Figuring Climate Change Across the Arts explores the phenomena of climate change through the lens of the arts by making use of literary, cinematic and visual media. There are similar classes that are either cross-listed under multiple majors or are part of the Colloquia section of the Core, all helping bridge the gap between what might be familiar and unfamiliar knowledge to a student.

Is it more daunting to continue to pursue the familiar or attempt to pursue that which is unfamiliar? I have never allowed myself to experience theater, because only optics and organic chemistry have been familiar to me. While I was well-versed in telescopes, isotopes of an element and integration by parts, the world of the stage had always seemed rather distant and exclusive. I consider this a major — pun intended — driving force behind my current desire to pursue theater. I see this as something that involves stepping out of my comfort zone and embracing something new and exciting. As the categories of familiar and unfamiliar slowly disappear, I want to educate myself and explore the work I would like to create and share as an artist. In the process of becoming proficient in a certain discipline, the pursuit of the familiar and the unfamiliar take different shapes. The intersection between these rather fluid realms of thought soon become apparent and it is then that a new stage of this never-ending quest to find the right course of study is unlocked.