I Will Remember.

A song that is always appropriate during times of great change is Sarah McLachlan's "I will remember you." I can't count on one hand the number of times I have sung or listened to this song when a big change in my life occurred.

In the spirit of this song, I want to mention all of the experiences and people from this past year--my last year at college--that I will remember.

Some awesome experiences and adventures I will always remember are:

• Going to the Halloween party with Alan and Amanda where the drunkest guy ever danced with me, well if you can call it dancing
• The EWR tailgate and the peeing banana (need I say more?) 
• My 22nd birthday, which was by far the BEST birthday I have ever had
• The Big Event 
• Every Tang Soo Do test and the cookout
• Walking around Pandapas park
• It raining every time Ash and I tried to go hiking
• Roadtripping with Sarah and going to Soundfest
• The Undergraduate Conference

I don't think this senior year would have been as amazing without the great people in it. I don't think I would have survived my apartment without Sarah, who without a doubt was the best person to go home to at the end of a long day of classes. Everyday we spent together was definitely a blast and full of pure and simple fun. I don't think I would have gotten through all of my classes and the Undergraduate Conference without Evia who is by far the best teacher I have ever had. I won't forget all our random chats and how you told me you hated me every day :)

I had so many great weekends with Amanda and Alan and I am so thankful that they let me tag along to parties and dinner. You two were so great at not making me feel like a third wheel and we had some awesome times together, like the Halloween party where Alan was a mummy or going to the river with Miss Khloe and of course every football game! Through Amanda I met Krista, who I loved instantly. I remember that she came by Cabo where Amanda and I were eating and she literally made me laugh all night. I told Amanda that I definitely needed to hang out with Krista more often! She was like a breath of fresh air in my life! This past semester I spent some time with Krista and her boyfriend and it was so fun. Thanks for helping me celebrate my graduation...that was a great night!

And of course I can not leave out Ashley and Michael who not only helped me with Tang Soo Do but were really good friends, always willing to listen. I remember when Michael told me that I could always come talk to him even though he was my teacher. I do believe I took you up on that one a lot :) Ashley was someone who was always up for anything. She was there for me when my relationship ended and even went to see Hop with me. We had two amazing days that consisted of driving around Blacksburg with no set destination and the other day we went to parks. What could be better?

Without all of you, this past year would not have been one of the best that I had at Virginia Tech. I appreciate your friendship, guidance and advice so much and I am so thankful to have such great people in my life.

A Look at the Past

Today I drove up to Maryland to go to my cousin's high school graduation. It was oddly unsettling. I tried to remember my own high school graduation that was a mere four years ago and I kept drawing blanks. Was it really that uneventful? Literally all I can remember is that the boys threw beach balls.

A week and a half after my own college graduation, this high school graduation seemed incredibly odd. Not to downplay at all the accomplishments of high school students, but this felt a little less significant. It was hard to take the valedictorian's speech seriously. I don't give much credit to a high schooler giving advice on the future to other high schoolers. All of the positive statements about the future held no credit because this girl has not done anything outside of high school! It just seemed a little silly.

That being said, it was nice to see the youngest cousin in the family finish her high school career. I'm really proud of her for all that she accomplished over the past four years and I'm excited for what the future holds for her.

New Guilty Pleasure?

Tonight, on a whim, I watched the Bachelorette. For months I have read my cousin's blog where she constantly bashes the show and its idiotic participants. Yet here I am.

There were a lot of attractive men on the show tonight. Not only that, but they were established working men with seemingly stable lives. For a brief moment I thought "okay this is the way to meet guys." Then I was slapped into reality by the realization that the people on that show make dating WAY worse than dating under normal circumstances without any cameras.

One guy, Tim, got completely wasted and passed out the first night. Really Tim? As a 35 year old man, who distributes liquor for a living by the way, you decide to showcase that you can't handle your alcohol? Real smooth.  It was no surprise that he got sent home after being passed out snoring on the couch.

Another guy, Bentley, was supposedly only on the show for publicity for his company. He seemed like a slippery snake to me! But of course, the Bachelorette gave him a chance despite being warned by a friend of his intentions. Then the previews basically show her falling in love with this toolbag and him breaking her heart. Yes, on one hand I feel for her. She is a cute, nice and trusting girl who really does not deserve that. But on the other hand, she is on a reality TV show looking for love. And she was forewarned and she ignored the "proceed with caution" message.

I hate to fall victim to a show that is so staged and completely ridiculous, but hey it's not Jersey Shore right? (By the way, I will be watching the fourth season of that when they are in Italy.) I think this show, as stupid as it is, will be my new guilty pleasure. Most of my other shows have all ended for the season so I won't have much to watch anyways...

A Potential Possibility

I had an "exploratory" phone conversation with a potential job opportunity. I talked to, I believe, someone in charge of communications at the company. She was very nice and seemed impressed by my resume. She gave me a detailed description about the position that would be open in late July or early August.

It sounds really neat. She said 50% of the job is technical writing and editing while the other 50% has to do with internal communications and some event coordination. Despite my lack of experience in that particular area, she assured me that she thought I could do it.

Since the job is not advertised yet, she does not know what the next step will be. She said she is going to try to set up a face to face interview and I should hear back from her in a couple of weeks.

I am pretty excited about this because 1) the job is not in the city, which I love and 2) i would get a summer break with the confidence of knowing that employment was at the end. I don't want to get my hopes up because maybe nothing will happen. Maybe I won't be able to get a security clearance.

I am still looking at other opportunities but I do really like the sound of this one.

Redoing my room

Since I am moving back home, I decided I want to change my room from the way it was painted when I was in grade school? Maybe middle school. Off white walls with polar bear border is cute, but not necessarily what I want as a 22 year old college graduate.

I have a really pretty blue and white flower bedspread that I decided to design my room around. I am going to paint one wall a really bright green color called New Grass Green. The other three walls will be white, to make the contrast that much starker. I am going to try to throw other splashes of the bright green in the room too.

I am going to try for a minimalist approach and get rid of some of the big, bulky furniture in my room. I am moving my double bed back into my room, which will create more under bed storage. With this, I will be able to get rid of one of the dressers in my room.

As a part of the moving out and back in process, I am going to go through everything--clothes, books, shoes and everything else. I want to clean out as much of the stuff I don't need as possible. I'm also going to take down all of the polar bear posters and hang up some pictures from Hawaii...they will go well with the green and the blue, I think.

I am really excited to change my room for this transition phase but repainting means that I have to slow down the unpacking and organizing process. I'm not always patient so I want to jump in right now and get it redone!

An Alumna

I officially graduated from Virginia Tech today with a major in English and a minor in Russian.

The commencement last night lasted about 18 minutes before the torrential rain started and lightening was seen in the area. A thunderous choir of joyous shouts erupted when President Steeger told us to evacuate the stadium. He never declared us actual graduates!

So today I went to the English Department ceremony at 1:30. It actually went off really well. We walked into the room while bagpipes played. The speaker was pretty funny and had good advice. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be as I walked across the stage. I got my huge diploma and soon after that it was over!

And then commenced the picture taking. I don't think I've stood still for pictures for that long ever. I think that between my mom and Aunt Sandi there are about 800 pictures of me from the past two days!

On to the next phase of my life. What it holds, I don't know yet. All I know is that this week I get to repaint my room and in June I get an iPhone.

School's Out...Forever!

I am officially done with college. Yesterday I took my last final and turned in my last paper.

It definitely feels weird to be completely done with school. It has not fully set in that I have nothing to do this week. No assignments to work on. No tests to take.

I had celebratory drinks last night with some really good friends. It was a really good time.

Now I am home for a few days to spend time with my godmother and my grandma and just to take a break from Blacksburg.

Done with classes

Today was my last day of classes as an undergraduate!

The day started out rough: my phone turned itself off last night so I did not wake up in time for work! I got up at 11 in a panic because I was missing an important meeting at work. After rushing to campus (without keys) my boss was very understanding. He gave me and the other interns thank you notes and an iTunes giftcard. I think I'll use to buy the new Parachute album...

Luckily the day improved from there. Russian was short and sweet. Just a short review for the final. I got to hang out with my favorite professor, Carlos Evia for awhile. He was nice enough to watch some goodies of mine while I talked with another teacher. I gave him a stuffed bunny so he'll always remember me and the buns after I leave.

Senior seminar was pretty boring like always but we got some work done on our class project and I can finally be done with it! Now it is in the hands of the final review group. We threw a successful, surprise baby shower for Dr. Mazz. She seemed really touched by it. Evia even stopped by for a cookie!

Now I am relaxing and drinking a margarita from an awesome mug my brother got me that says 'Grad.'

The Last Paper

I only have three days of classes left. I have two tests to take. One paper to write. And one group project.

I had put today aside as paper writing day. I was going to read the essay I chose to write about and start a draft. But I just could not do it. For the past three years of my college career I have gotten infinitely better at writing papers long before their due date. Now, when it counts the most, I keep putting off the one I have due (well for a draft workshop) on Wednesday.

Today was not a great day out, but I chose to enjoy it nonetheless and just relax. I went into Christiansburg and ran some errands. I had to get food for the bunnies. Then I just stayed in and watched 3rd Rock From the Sun on Netflix.

Now I am watching two silly buns run around my room. Dorian keeps pushing the trash can away from my dresser so he can run behind it. So silly. Bunny keeps jumping up on my bed. Now she is on top of the bag of hay.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will get real work done on my paper. I know that if I can just get a start on it, I will feel better.

I am so close to the end...I can make it!