Final Countdown

Graduation
 

This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but as you can imagine I didn’t have much free time.  There were so many people at my house and once they all left my house all I wanted to do was sleep.  This completely skipped my mind.  Now on to the actual post.

I know that if I didn’t go to Austin College I would have gone somewhere else.  So I would still be graduating but it wouldn’t be the same.  I am so happy that I am graduating as a Kangaroo because Austin College was perfect for me.  I am so proud of everything I have accomplished in the past four years and so thankful for all the opportunities that AC has provided for me.  It helped shape me into the person I am today.  I am sad to leave it behind, but I can’t wait for the next chapter of my life to start.  Until then I am going to celebrate because I am a college graduate!!!

The Burrow is all grown up.

We graduated!!!

And we grew some mustaches.

Swimming in the fountain is the perfect way to celebrate!

Final Countdown

The Burrow

If I think saying goodbye to the bitches is going to be hard, saying goodbye to The Burrow is going to be almost impossible. (I am getting sad thinking about it and the bitches right now).   An alumni friend talked about how before you graduated you needed to go and say goodbye to all of your Sherman hangouts before graduation, this is the only place that came to mind.  The Burrow is the happiest and craziest place in Sherman and I will miss it all the time.  I was able to live with my two best friends and it provided some of the best memories of my entire college career.  It is going to be weird not being able to wake up and walk out to the living room and just hang out with my two best friends…which probably means all of us on our own respective couches, on tumblr. not talking. 

Living here as also provided me the ability to have stories about my college roommates that I will be able to tell my children.  I will get to tell them how Aunt Kellan and Aunt Coral and I lived together and did some of the most ridiculous things together.  When I look back on my senior year I am not going to think about all of the drama and the tears, but living in The Burrow and how I loved it.  How the three of us became obsessed with painting our nails, watching Weeds, or how we became groupies during the month of April.  The Burrow reinforced the fact that I have the coolest friends and I love them.  I am going to miss The Burrow so much but at least I got to experience it.

Final Countdown

Stephanie

Where do I even begin?  She once described herself as the Mexican me and I think that is pretty fitting.  It may have taken me until college to finally find friends who will be my friends for life.  I did find them though and she is at the very top of the list.  This past year as been extremely tough and even though she was in Ecuador she was able to help with everything.  We proved that distance doesn’t really mean anything when you are true friends, and those true friends will always be there for you no matter what.  I am so thankful for her everyday.  I don’t know what I would do without her.

She also shares my crazy obsessive nature.  She loves so many of the same things as me and we are able to fangirl with each other over everything.  It is pretty awesome to share so many of the same loves as your best friend. 

She is one of the most important people in my life and I will never be able to find the words that show how important she is to me.  She is my go to girl when my life is falling apart, and is the one that helps me put the pieces back together.  She always knows the right things to say, even when I don’t know what those words are myself.  Sometimes it feels like she knows me better than I know myself.  I am blessed to have her in my life and I love her.

Final Countdown

Evolution of the Bitch

These girls are the reason that I survived this past year.  My senior year of college was not filled with crazy parties but with a lot of tears.  When it seemed like everything was falling apart they were always there to remind me that things weren’t as bad as they looked.  They knew when I needed to vent and cry or when I needed to drink out of buckets and get drunk.  They kept me sane, which is a hard job to do, and they did it with a smile.  They restored my faith in people.  I honestly don’t know what I would have done without them this past year.  Plus it is always fun when you can call your best friends ‘bitch’ and it is considered the highest compliment.

These girls are definitely what I will miss the most when I am back at home (I will probably cry at graduation when we take our bitch picture).  It is going to be so hard not seeing them everyday and around campus.  It’s also going to be really hard because we are going to be separated by hundreds of miles and I don’t know when I will be able to see them again and hug them.  Of course, if anyone can make it work it will be the bitches.  We are fighters and I know they will always be there for me.  They are the best/bitchiest friends I could ever ask for.  I love them.

Final Countdown

Sleeperstar

I have talked about my love for Sleeperstar previously, and I am sure I will talk about them again, but you get to hear about them now too.

Sleeperstar can easily be called one of my favorite bands and without Austin College I probably would have never heard of them.  In the past I typically listened to top 40 or country music, with a little bit of oldies mixed in. (You can’t get any better than old school 80s music).  I don’t actively go and try to find the next big band, I wait for them to find me and who knows how long it would have taken Sleeperstar to find me.  This was two years ago, when I first discovered them, now a days it would be almost physically impossible to discover them.  I listen to Broadway show tunes. All. The. Time.  So if I do discover a new band/performer it is because they are from Broadway who released and album/EP. 

I also think that Sleeperstar is one of the reasons I became so close to Stephanie.  Before Sleeperstar I don’t remember hanging out with Stephanie, we were sisters, but not close friends.  Sleeperstar helped change all of that.  We decided to go to the cd release party together and our relationship was never the same.  We just got closer and closer as time went on.  Sleeperstar provided us an opportunity to have a shared interest that allowed us to realize how many shared interests we actually have and how similar we are.  Liking Sleeperstar only has positive outcomes.

Final Countdown

D.C. and Malta

Visiting D.C. and Malta were in the same trip as London but I thought London deserved its own post because it was so important to me.  However that does not lessen the importance of these places.

D.C. might be the most perfect town for me.  I love museums, I mean really love them.  I was raised in a family where going to museums is a big deal.  I have been to so many museums in my life and I love it, and you read every single thing in the museum.  Who knows when you will be able to learn about this history ever again?  So being surrounded by the Smithsonians, which are free (holler) was amazing.  Kellan and I spent HOURS in the museums and we barely scratched the surface…simply amazing.  Plus Kellan and I recreated scenes from Night at the Museum Battle of the Smithsonian, which was the greatest.

Malta was the part of the trip that I was looking forward to the least.  I had no idea what there was to do in Malta but I was willing to go there because I got to go to D.C. and London before.  I was pleasantly surprised when I got there, and it turned out to be amazing.  I don’t even know how to describe Malta.  It is this little island that is adorable. I mean everything closes at like 4, it such a small place. I loved it though.  It was so different from every other place I have ever been before and it was so peaceful.  It was the perfect place to end a trip.  Plus every time I think about it I am just reminded of these wonderful memories and I get so happy.  I also got to stand in the Mediterranean Sea, which is awesome.

Final Countdown

London

I never really had a desire to go abroad, the only place I ever wanted to go to was London.  Just like New York, there was something in London that just pulled me in.  Plus after I made it to Broadway I decided I needed a new goal, and that goal became going to the West End.  (Which is basically London’s Broadway, are you seeing a pattern here?)  I never thought I would be able to accomplish this goal so when going to London presented itself I knew I had to go.  It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that was perfect for me.  Plus I have wanted to see Jersey Boys since I saw the original Broadway cast perform at the 2006 Tony Awards.  So after six years of waiting I was finally able to see it and it did not disappoint. 

London is also home to Paddington Station, which for those of you who aren’t familiar, is where Paddington Bear found his family. Due to my nickname in the sorority I have developed a love for Paddington.  I have Paddington books, jewelry, trinkets, and bears.  I think he is the cutest and even though I have had some really tough times with the sorority I love them for giving me this nickname.  So actually being at Paddington Station was completely overwhelming for me.  I kept freaking out, when I went to the Paddington Store and saw the life size Paddington statue. I kissed him.  It was perfect.

London was just a really goo place for me and it made me so happy after a really rough semester at school.

Final Countdown

New York 

For years I had wanted to go to New York.  The city has always had this pull over me and there is just something about the city that entices me.  Plus New York has Broadway, and being able to go to Broadway was a dream come true.  Being able to go to NY for two weeks was the greatest trip I could ever ask for.  I was able to do all of the things that I had only dreamed of doing before.  I was able to ride the subway, see the Statue of Liberty, and go to a Broadway show.  Did I mention I got to sing and dance on a Broadway stage...during a Broadway show?  It was literally the greatest trip ever.

New York was also the first time I ever went somewhere and proved I could do things on my own. (Kellan was there, but she is always there).  Going to college was exciting but I never really felt like I was proving I could make it on my own. (Don’t ask me why, it just didn’t feel like this).   New York though was a completely different ballgame.  I was going somewhere I had never been before, some place that is completely different from Texas, and I was doing it all on my own.  I was so proud of myself for letting nothing about New York scare me and jumping in feet first.  I miss New York and Broadway everyday.

Final Countdown

Professors

This was the hardest one for me to write.  The others ones just came to me and the words kind of flowed.  I was completely stumped for what I should write about for this post though.  Plus I am meeting a friend soon, so I don’t have a lot of time to formulate the perfect words.  I am going to give it my best shot though.

The professors at AC are amazing.  When you go on a college tour they try to convince you to come to their school and they always talk about how amazing their classes and professors are, at AC this is the truth.  You can tell that the professors really do love what they are teaching and want you to succeed.  Which in the past 16 years of schooling I have realized is the best thing a teacher can do, because it makes me want to learn.  There have been classes that I have taken in the past where the material wasn’t that interesting but I loved the class because of the professor. 

I think only at AC can you have professors that buy you a present when they leave, let you break down in their office, or move a due date because you stayed up all night with your sister.  They have also taught me lessons that will go past the classroom and will help me in the real world.  The best lesson I was taught in my four years here was that I am a smart girl and I am capable of so much more than I can even imagine.

Final Countdown

I am graduating college in ten days and I could not be more excited.  I know there will be parts of college that I miss, but I am so ready to start the next chapter of my life.  I want to learn what surprises the rest of my life has in store for me.  Growing up is going to be good for to me, I just know it.

Of course as I prepare for the real world I am also remembering the past four years.  There have been some good and some bad memories that formed my college experience.  So this is my final countdown of ten things that I could have never done without Austin College.

Honeygrove and Concerts and Musicals. Oh my!

All of these things didn’t happen because of the education I received at Austin College, instead it is more from the location.  However if it wasn’t for Austin College I would of never moved near Dallas.  When I was looking at colleges I had an imaginary line that I didn’t want to move past.  So I only looked at schools that didn’t pass the line, AC was about 3 ½ hours past this line.  However when I came to Kangapalooza my senior year I fell in love with the school, it didn’t matter where it was located.  Not only did it turn out to be the best school for me but it was the perfect location.  I got to do so many amazing things.

This year alone was full of moments that I thought would never happen.  Moments that will stick with me for the rest of my life.  I have been in love with Maroon 5 since I was a freshman in high school and I got to see them live this past year.  I was able to meet the Starkids at the S.P.A.C.E. Tour where I touched Joe Walker’s hand, it was a magical moment. I got to see my favorite show HAIR for the second time, and I got to take my sister and let her see why this show has changed my life.  I also got to go see In The Heights and American Idiot, shows that I fell in love with on the internet and never expected to see live on stage.  I was able to see one of my Broadway babes, Matt Doyle, in a show and hear him sing live.  Little things that might not mean anything to anyone else, but are things that mean the world to me. (I mean, I cried during at least 3 of these things).

I also got to go to Honeygrove, the sweetest town in Texas.  This isn’t the reason I wanted to visit here; instead it was because it was featured in an episode of One Tree Hill.  For a year Kellan, Stephanie and I always talked about going to Honeygrove and recreating the scenes from the show.  However we never went.  There was always something else to do and we would say we would go another time, but before we knew it she had graduated and moved to Ecuador.  I had resolved myself to never visiting Honeygrove, because it wouldn’t be the same without Stephanie.  Her Ecuador trip was cut short though and when she came to visit we decided it was now or never.  We just got in the car and went, and it was magical.  It was a perfect adventure that I was able to share with my best friends.  I will forever hold that day in my heart.