There's No Place Like Home

I moved out of my Williamsburg apartment yesterday with my dad's help and am now back in good ol' Midlothian. I have been sick for the past couple days, so this move has been even more stressful. I am just happy to be done with everything related to moving out, and I am content with relaxing here for a few days to recover. Things to be accomplished in the immediate future: 1) get my job back as a waiter, 2) get a gym membership, and 3) finish my dental work.

Word from PC

I received an e-mail yesterday from my Placement Officer, the man who holds twenty-seven months of my life in his hands. It basically said to be patient, and they would soon let me know if any information is still needed from me for my file. I know they will need my final college transcript, as well as copies of my Red Cross CPR/First Aid certifications. As far as the timeline is concerned, he had this to say:

"The Africa Placement Team would like to update you on the timing of our review for your application. We are currently reviewing applications for the June and July timeframe. We will be reviewing applications for the August and September time period in the next 4-6 weeks. Once those programs are completed we will shift our efforts to the programs leaving after September."

So basically, I've still got several weeks of waiting before I know anything. What else is new?

Graduation

I am officially a college graduate now. Yay!!! Today has been such an amazing, sad, exciting, busy, tiring, great day. All the graduates met at the Wren building at 10:45 to go on a walk across campus. With all the cameras flashing in my eyes the whole time, I felt like Britney Spears (minus the crack, of course). We walked from the Wren courtyard to the Hall where the graduation ceremony took place. All in all, the ceremony was very exciting. Most of the speakers did a great job, and although it dragged at times, it was definitely an awesome experience. The highlight, in my opinion, was when Sam Sadler, our Vice President of Student Affairs (who is retiring after 41 at the College) was surprised with the honor of having the University Center renamed in honor of him. He is perhaps the most beloved individual in the College's history, and you can tell how much he really cares for his students. It was a touching moment.

After the big ceremony, we separated into our majors and had separate smaller ceremonies around campus where we received our diploma. Ours was in the big lecture hall in Washington Hall where I had Biological Anthropology and Intro to Archaeology. There were only maybe 35 of us Anthro graduates, and we each had the opportunity to say something upon receiving our degrees. I thanks all my professors, with special thanks to my awesome advisor, Fred Smith, who taught me the Anthropological side of alcohol and wrote me an amazing PC recommendation letter. I also wished my mom a happy Mother's Day. Overall, it was a nice ceremony. I enjoyed the more intimate, relaxed atmosphere of the smaller group, and I was happy to see again some of the professors who have inspired me so much while at the College, as well as my fellow Anthro majors. I will definitely take the lessons they taught me and the spirit of Anthropology with me in my travels.

My time at William and Mary has come to an end, and I have mixed emotions. I am happy to graduation and begin the next phases of my life, but I know I will miss the many people that have filled my life these past four years. I don't think I got to say goodbye to many of them like I wanted to, and hopefully I will be able to stay in contact with as many as possible. I will try to e-mail those I didn't get a chance to say "so long" to in the days to come. It is weird to think that I probably won't see 99% of them ever again. But at least now I can relax a little. Mission accomplished!

Completely Unrelated

This has not much to do with PC, but I saw this commercial (1:01) for the Discovery Channel and had to share it. For some reason, it spoke to me.

Coming to an End

No PC news to report, but I've been so busy that I haven't even had time to think about it all. Graduation is on the 11th, and there is a lot still to do. I have an exam and a paper due on Tuesday, then another paper due on Wednesday, plus two shorter concert reviews to do. I have to pick up my cap and gown, call to get some of the minor repairs needed at our apartment complete, and lots of little things like that. So far my final exams have gone splendidly. Let's hope they continue that way. After graduation, I have my roommate's wedding to go to; plus, I have to start getting my apartment cleaned and ready to move out at the end of the month. It will definitely be a busy month.