The End of The Beginning

In seven days, I will graduate from college with a Bachelor of Arts in English. I'll be twenty-two years young.

While I can't imagine what the future holds, as bright and beautiful as it is sure to be, I can tell you about the things in the past that have brought me to this moment right here.

I stepped out of my comfort zone to go to a school four hours from home. I took classes that broadened my world views. I met people who were like me. I made friends with people who aren't like me. I read, a lot. I traveled to France. I learned about social injustice. I became an activist for the things I cared about. I broke up.  I went to China. I danced, a lot. I lived with awesome roommates. I fell in love. I saw the beauty in the Chinese language. I laughed, a lot. I took pictures of everything. I made mistakes. I learned to be a better navigator. I served people. I fell in love with mankind. I learned from people older and wiser than me. I went to Catalina Island. I prayed.  I started to understand people better. I cried. I learned the importance of obedience. I got a good job. I lived in four different dorms. I put 40,000 miles on my car. I saw my brother grow up into a real man. I learned things the hard way. I got a sister-in-law. I was afraid. I ate some unbelievably delicious foods. I was happy. I took the risk, even when it seemed hard, or foolish, or just plain scary.

And here I am.

So now, as I count down the days to my graduation and savor those last moments that make this experience one that I will never forget, I want to tell you what you should do. Not just for graduation, but for every day of your life.

Get out of the box. Learn about this beautiful crazy world we are living in, and I promise you, you will fall in love with all the beautiful crazy people around you. Travel: go to the places that you dream about, that call to you in a way you can't explain. Learn from the people in your life, old or young, weak or strong. Read, laugh, pray, cry... a lot. Be present in the lives of the people around you, especially the ones who really matter. And just do it. Don't make excuses, don't find reasons to say no -- because that's always the easy way out. Instead,  just say yes. Leave your excuses at home and step into the next biggest adventure of your life.

I'm doing it. And I'll be honest, I have no idea what that looks like, but in so many ways, that's the beautiful thing about it. Jumping, diving in head first with no idea what the bottom looks like.

Are you living it?

"Bonjour, Je m'appelle..."

Sorry for a brief hiatus there - you always hope that the semester will start to settle down, and then you have your first round of tests! Killer.

I figured a good way to break the proverbial silence would be to give you a peek at what I've been up to lately. You may find it interesting, you may beg for mercy - I don't judge. (I think I'm just so cheeky, don't I!)

I'll begin with the title, so that you aren't thinking that it's just random.... I would never do that... maybe. I just enrolled in another class (because I have a death wish) and it's a 399, or 300 level special topic. It's French, and I'm actually part of a language learning project in which we are corresponding with students from a French University and actually using all of the gibberish we learn in class. (That was mean, it's not gibberish. I quite enjoy French!) So, I suppose I will challenge myself to translate this paragraph into French -- native French-speakers, I apologize!

Je serai commence avec le titre, alors que vous ne pensez pas que c'etait bizarre.... Je serai ne jamais faire ca... peut-etre. J'ai enrollé dans un autre classe (parce que je souhaite a mourir!) et c'est un 399, ou 300 classe topics speciaux. C'est le francais et je suis un partie d'un projet de apprend les langues dans quel nous sommes utilise tous le nonsense nous avons appris dans classe. (Que c'est mechant, ce n'est pas nonsense. J'aime francais!)

Bad, good? I guess we'll never know.

I've had a few tests, started my "Creative Non-Fiction" class, which is wonderful and my teacher is a blast, though I think slightly crazy. Although I should differentiate, I've begun to notice that all English teachers are off their respective rockers. My first writing assignment ended up being about a deer. A completely awesome crazy deer. Maybe I'll put it up sometime.

I've had my first interview to be a Resident Assistant at school next year, and I have my second interview (thank you Jesus!) tomorrow. Hopefully that works out, because it would be nice to be able to take some monetary responsibility of my parents' shoulders. Woo free room and board!

I'm also applying to be a Kayette. Their motto is "Spirit, Service, Smile!" which means that they do a lot of volunteering and that is totally what I am into. I should do a post about that.... another day!

I promise after this long and rambling post has been read by you (how kind) that I shall soon return with photos for you to peruse at your own leisurely pace as opposed to my chatter.

How has your week been? Busy, lazy, boring, dramatic? Fill me in.

(Hope it gets better from here on out, no matter how good it's been so far!)