I have been fascinated by physics since the middle of high school. When I applied to Cornell, I looked into its physics labs and found a place in which I wanted to work, the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS). The funny thing is that when I got here as a Freshman, I decided on being a Computer Science major and never worked in the CHESS lab. A couple years later I visited the lab I thought I wanted to work at for the first time. While I love the physics behind how the particle accelerator works, I was not as excited as I thought I might be while on the tour. I guess I just did not see the use of colliding electrons. Sure they find elementary particles, but why is it important? My high school self would start screaming about discovering how the world works, but I guess I’ve changed since then. These experiments are done to test a theory that seems inconsequential to me. Obviously the theory is why everything exists, but I feel like there are better things I personally can be doing with my time than proving or disproving an arcane theory. That being said, plenty of other research in biology and materials science goes on that is more practical. I don’t even necessarily think that practical is better; I am just not inspired as I once was with particle physics. Lucky I found Computer Science I suppose.