University of Dayton - MyLife

Back in the States

Well, after the craziest three weeks of my life, I am and I survived! We left Ireland two days ago, after an amazing 10 days in one of the greenest places I've ever seen. Being with Christin, Kelly, Pam, and Sarah for another week after the sadness of graduation really helped ease the transition of leaving UD. During our entire trip we still felt "normal" because it was as if the five of us were together all the time just like we were when we were at UD, but since we had already said goodbye to UD and everyone else, saying bye to each other after the trip was a little less overwhelming than two Mondays ago, when we had to say goodbye to so much all at once. When the five of us said goodbye in the airport, it sure was more emotional than we expected it to be. Nevertheless, we survived and here I am back at home with a bedroom full of boxes waiting to be unpacked. It sure is weird to know I won't be taking any of this stuff back to Dayton with me in three months like I've done the past four years. Instead, I have less than TWO MONTHS until I move to Phoenix to begin the next chapter of my life as a UD graduate.

Anyway, let me back up a bit to fill in some of the gaps regarding the past few weeks of my life. First of all, finals week FLEW BY. Next thing we knew, our parents were here for our graduation party and in the blink of an eye, we were graduating on Sunday morning in the UD arena. The commencement ceremony was so exciting. As my name was called and I walked up to receive my diploma from Dr. Curran (the UD President), I proceeded to hug the professors there that I knew, and looking back, it was one big blur--and it happened so fast. Right before my name was called, it all of a sudden hit me that "OH MY GOSH...I am about to graduate from college..." And in what seemed like no time at all, it was over. I sat through another hour of the ceremony and next thing we knew we were singing the UD alma mater, which almost brought tears to my eyes.

After lunch with our parents and a bit of packing, we were left to ourselves as we all spent one final night together at the place we've called home the past four years. We sat on our friends' porch...the biggest porch in the entire student neighborhood...fitting 30 of us on there comfortably. We sat there all evening soaking up the final moments we had together before everything changed. The next morning, before officially moving out of our houses, we met up for breakfast at our favorite place: Tanks. Afterwards, we stood outside of the restaurant saying goodbye to each other...of course all of us girls couldn't control our tears as we hugged each other goodbye. As I turned away from campus with my car packed full, I glanced in my rear-view mirror to see the bright blue dome of the UD chapel...knowing that the next time I drive back there, rather than calling it home, I'll be a visitor and an alumna...something that still hasn't quite settled for me completely. Anyway, we were shortly off to Ireland the next day, after such a hectic weekend, but it was a great end to the semester and an amazing beginning of the summer.

May 16, 2009 9:33 PM Permalink