So, it has been a full year since my return to the States. My European travels seem to have happened ages ago. I miss it, but it is time to start my adult life. College is officially over. I have a BA from Valparaiso University, and graduated cum laude on May 15th. It is a bizarre sentence to utter: I am not going back to school because i finished it. I mean, someday i would like to go back to get a Doctorate in Art History, but that won’t be for a while yet. i want to get a job to gain more life experience before i continue school. Anyways, the job hunt is hard, but i’m persevering. Every day i change what i want to do. Monday it’s “move to Florida.” Tuesday i think i’ll “go to France.” By Wednesday i’m feeling “the Windy City.” Thursday i decide to give Michigan another go-round, and Friday i throw in a wild-card: California, Texas, South Carolina, Peace Corps or extreme Sky-diver. Who knows where I’ll end up. I’m willing to do virtually anything! I’ll probably post again when i get a job…
Anyways, my old roommate Steph got married to my friend Mark this weekend. He asked her to marry him last year. i was one of her bridesmaids. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was fun. It was SO good to see my friends again. We all missed each other. Our lives are spreading us all over the United States, so the hours we have together as a group are cherished moments.
Speaking of cherished moments, my senior year was full of them. It was heart-warming to see how much my Kappa Kappa Gamma sisters grew up by taking on leadership positions and it was wonderful to be an involved senior: able to help out and participate in everything, but not to be in charge anymore. that was refreshing. i had many cool opportunities through my internship with the Brauer Museum of Art. I helped curate three shows this year, and I did the graphics for the two shows on campus. Putting together the exhibitions was a lot of work, but it was gratifying to see everything completed. My art history Professor announced the shows in classes, so there was a nice turnout to both of the campus openings. I also showed a few of my pieces this year. My Mom, high-school English teacher, and several friends came to see my work. It meant a lot to know i had their support. My art history Professor is fantastic. She organized a trip to Guatemala and Honduras to study the ancient Mayan ruins. i went because- let’s be serious- i’m a sucker for travel and passionate about art. The experiences i had there were eye-opening and life-enriching. The most striking memory i have is difficult to eloquently express: i did not realize that is was possible to see hunger through one’s eyes or poverty through body-language. At times, i found myself buying goods from families simply to help support them. I came back with more beaded bracelets than i knew what to do with. haha My favorite memory, however, is a happy one. Our group visited an unchanged town, and the local people dressed us in traditional garments and head-dresses. We walked around town and people roared with laughter. They pointed and stared and pretended to take photos of us. The picture below is my favorite. i felt like an Amazon woman. haha I also climbed an active volcano and zip-lined through the rainforest. I’m an adrenaline junkie, i think. Well, that’s pretty much all i have to say for now. In closing, my final year of college was challenging, rewarding and fabulously fun. I hope that the future holds adventures abroad, uncharted challenges and opportunities for growth both professional and personal.
It’s been several months since my return to the States. In that time, I completed a Public Relations Internship at the Field Museum in Chicago, visited my Grandparents in Wisconsin, and learned choreography for ‘Step in Time’ and ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.’ My friend Patrick asked me to be the ‘Mary Poppins’ to his ‘Bert.’ It was a crazy fun way to finnish up the busy summer. Classes at Valpo have started now, and it is very odd to be back on campus. I like it, and I love seeing friends again, but I’m having quite the time getting back in the swing of things. My schedule itself is awesome and terrible. I have all ART classes: YAY! The bummer is that I don’t start until after noon every day, and I don’t get done until 9pm half of the days… I think it’ll be okay though, because I have Painting, Sculpture, Web Design & Blogging, 19th Century European Art, and Renaissance - Modern Art History. It’s a sweet set of classes at crummy times. So, really, I can’t complain. Well, I may write lovely things later, but it just depends on homework… Actually, with classes like those, I don’t mind doing homework this year. ;)
Photo: Patrick Ross as ‘Bert,’ Me as ‘Mary Poppins’
Monday, Em and I packed and cleaned our room. took down all our posters, maps, letters, and postcards. I took a final walk through the city centre, and when I came back, it was time to go to our Pub meal at the SIN with our Professors. I was happy to be able to talk to Professor Griffiths and to be able to say goodbye. Em and I turned the music up LOUD and danced like maniacs in our room. Kristi joined us. I wasn’t ready to leave, but, boy, was I excited to see my other friends and family again!!!
Tuesday morning, Andrea, April, Emily and I walked to Castle Hill to watch the sun rise. It was COLD, but I’m glad we did it. When we got back, I showered and got ready to take the bus for our flight home. While I was in the shower, I silently cried. didn’t bother to stop myself. It was such an odd sensation: five months had gone too fast, and at the same time, felt slow at times, but now it was over. Tomorrow morning I would wake up in America… that sentence felt so foreign. Kim- my youngest sister- and my Mom were going to pick me up from the airport, and though I was anxious to see them again, I just couldn’t shake that incomplete feeling. I’d done so much, yet there was still more to do, but we had our tickets for our flight back home, and our time was up. I don’t mean to make it sound like I didn’t take advantage of my days there- I certainly squeezed in as many additional activities as possible including trips to the market, college visits, performances, independent films, and lunchtime concerts- Cambridge just has so much to entertain! but I digress. At any rate, I got out of the shower, got over it, and got on the bus. Our flight was delayed when we got to the airport and so we sat… for hours. but that was okay. Abby played with Kristi’s hair, we prattled on, played silly ‘car games’ like patty-cake and the alphabet game, and confessed what we were most excited about going home for, as well as what we would miss the most from England. One universally agreed-upon topic was a food: pasties. We were really gonna miss those ‘hand-held pot-pies.’ haha Eventually it was time to board, and Brian and I were seat buddies. We watched ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and then read books, slept, and ‘chewed the fat’ for a while. Brian is great.
After sitting on the tarmac for half an hour, we de-planed, went through customs, and were greeted by faces full of anticipation when we walked through the international arrivals gate. Beleaguered, I lugged my suitcases and backpack past the customs security guards, and looked up. Mom’s eyes started tearing a bit when she saw me, and Kimmy gave me the tightest hug I’d gotten in a long time. When we let go of each other, she looked at me curiously and said, “You shrunk.” “Naw,” i said, “You just grew up.” and Mom, overhearing us, gave me a hug and said, “You certainly have.”
