A Month from Graduation

The following is a list of things I (and many other seniors) must accomplish before my undergraduate experience is up:

*Begin writing letters to several people (friends, bosses, roommates, mentors) who have shaped and cultivated my life over the last four years. I’d like to tell them how much they mean to me and thank them for their very active presence in my life.

*Find a favorite picture with each of these people to print out and go along with their letters. This is a must.

*Pick out which senior picture I’d like to put on Facebook. Also a must.

*Accept graduate school offer from Virginia Tech. I did this about 20 minutes ago, but it felt big so I thought it deserved to go on this list. (Also, what?! Another 2 years in my favorite place to learn from my favorite professors and learn more about my favorite subject? Yes please).

*Locate an apartment for next year suitable for my roommate Audrey (who is also staying for grad school, THANK GOODNESS) and myself. We require lots of room for when we practice various numbers from various musicals in our spare time. Just kidding. Kind of.

*Go camping with our guy friends before they move away. Audrey and I have never been and let’s be honest, we probably won’t go any time soon if we don’t have proper assistance. Who better to supervise and make sure we stay alive than our Eagle Scout guy friends? No one. It’s happening, even if I do have to come to terms with peeing in the woods. Ugh.

*Casually walk the 3.2 for 32 Remembrance Run this weekend.

*Observe April 16th, both as Easter Sunday and as a day marking 10 years out from the Virginia Tech Massacre. Many of us will celebrate new life on Sunday morning, spend the day in prayer for the VT alumni, campus, and community, and conclude with a multi-denominational service in Squires to pray for healing and hope.

*Work on research paper for my senior capstone class (shout out to any other seniors in the Bronte sisters class) so that I’m not swamped with 15 pages all of a sudden on May 1st.

*Keep spending time with my friends. It’s easy to want to sleep an extra hour before classes, but time with these friends makes it 110% worth it. Staying up late is slowly killing me, but putting aside time to chat with my roommate at the end of the day is key. Our catch ups and time spent idly snacking/making up raps keeps me sane.

*Make time to eat.

*Do better at making time to eat.

*Try to eat healthier. I keep telling myself to cut back on the French fries, but… we’ll see about that one. I don’t really want to.

*Put effort into my classes. It’s tempting to only put half of my energy into my assignments, but I want to finish strong and be proud of my hard work this semester before I relax for the summer.

*Buy gifts for all of the brides in my life. So many brides!

*Decorate graduation cap. Bible verse? Literary quote? Sweet and Simple “Thank you, Mom and Dad!” Do I even trust my penmanship?

*No. Find friend with nice penmanship and bribe them with baked goods.

*Let frustrations with people go. Friendships change; that’s life. The real ones will stick around and I can’t force a friendship to stay how I want it to look. I don’t want to let people go, but I need to do better at letting things go.

*Sit by the Pylons and read on a beautiful spring day.

*Compile list of books to read over the summer. This is key to an effective trip to the library upon first arrival home.

*Prepare myself to be in a new home this summer. My parents are moving in May, so all of the change is happening at once. It’s okay, though. It will be fun to explore a new town and a new state.

*Have afternoon tea with a friend from studying abroad.

*Get milkshakes with an old resident who has become a wonderful friend.

*Finish my thank you letters to the important people in my life and hand-deliver them. Note: Restock tissues. Also, try not to cry.

*Graduate on May 12th and 13th.

*Start new adventure.