Anyway, my family got to town on the Wednesday of graduation week. I saw them before heading off to Last Lecture with a friend. The lecturer was awesome; she had a great speaking style that resonated with every person in the room. She gave us six life lessons:
- Find out who you are. Do this by talking to people at bars because it is one of the few venues for unscripted interpersonal interaction.
- Develop your politics. Strive for justice.
- Think critically, see how power works, and navigate accordingly.
- If you see something, say something.
- Pay attention to artists. And pay artists.
- Aim for a balanced life.
It was a great speech.
The following day, I just hung out with my mom and we had the first of two family dinners. Friday was the big day: Commencement. I took the shuttle to the stadium with my dorm friend, and then we had to split up because we were in different colleges within the university. I didn't know the people I was sitting with, but I ended up texting my family and snapchatting my friends at the critical moments I wanted to share. My three closest friends attended the ceremony, and it was fun to find them in the crowd based on the pictures they were sending me. I felt like Sherlock with my deductive abilities.
I made the terrible mistake of choosing to walk back from the stadium in my commencement shoes, so I had to take a rest stop just past the halfway point. My friend was kind enough to provide a couch and water, and i was a bit of a mess at that point. It took me an hour and a half to return to my dorm to regroup, and then I met my family to go to my departmental ceremony. We got our certificates for the award of distinction for the thesis (I also had honors), and it was the last time I had to talk about that research. Then I took a shower and a nap before the second family dinner.
Saturday was the convocation ceremony for my college, and I had breakfast and the mandatory family photo shoot before heading to the stadium. I sat with friends from my thesis seminar because we were seated by major. The convocation speaker was an alumnus and gave the best speech of the weekend. I have another alum friend who was a senior when I was a freshman who is now a professional photographer, and it was cool to see him there. He took my picture which felt really special. My friend who was on DM and Wrestlepocalypse with me cheered for me as I walked across the stage in the third to last major, and then the thing was over. I took some more pictures, returned my academic regalia, and got on a bus back to campus so I could move out that afternoon. In the evening after checking out of the dorm my dad and I got caught in a huge rainstorm, and that was the only break in the weather.
All my stuff fit in the car, I had dinner and froyo with my dad, and then went to a sendoff for my friend who was leaving for a summer in Austin, Texas, the following morning. I had a nice breakfast with my dad on Sunday morning, then he dropped me at my friend's apartment and drove home. I stayed with my friend for three nights because we got hired as electricians for a storefront show downtown, which was both of our first paid, professional theater work. That experience was fantastic. It was really validating to apply those theatrical skills outside the context of student theater. It was also with a company that came from another university's student theater scene, so they all understood how intense and real our experiences were. They were also just great humans, and I'm excited to see the shows later this month.
That last good-bye was really, really difficult. It felt like the end of that campus being my domain in a really strange way. Because alumni come back all the time, and I will literally be there again in 11 days, but it felt oddly final to know I would not be returning for academic purposes. It was also crazy crowded at the airport, so that was oddly frustrating. But it was so great to be picked up by my brother and come home to my family.
In the week that I've been home, I have managed to organize my stuff, catch up with my grandmothers, see a handful of friends, and check off the two biggest transitional items from my to do list: car and apartment. Now I'm working through a really intense spreadsheet to figure out what I need and where it's coming from before I move at the end of the month. I'm really excited about all of this and I'm going to make myself blog about it so it gets recorded. I think I will be doing BEDA this August since that's when a lot of things are starting, or maybe doing a modified BEDA from mid-July to mid-August. I'm still figuring that out. But I'm going to force myself to write.
So, until next time, this has been a really crazy few weeks, and I know that the craziness is only going to continue.
Today is awesome because it's my friend's birthday, it's Independence Day, my car and apartment situations are sorted, and I have string lights, a shower curtain, and National Geographic prints already selected to decorate my space.
