coming soon: graduation

This time last year, I got the opportunity to watch all my friends graduate. They graduated and left Blacksburg, off to do big things in DC, Texas, Budapest, San Francisco, New York City. I watched them go and I envied them. To be honest, I felt very sorry for myself. Of course I would be the one who got left behind, had to be stuck in Blacksburg for a fifth year. Who would I hang out with? Who would I derp around with on the weekends? Summer was super fun with my home friends, how in the world was I supposed to come back to Blacksburg? 

The answer was simple. I was being a big baby. You can't be STUCK in Blacksburg. Quite the opposite, Blacksburg might as well be heaven on earth. Armed with my partner in crime, Shannon, we dove right into our victory lap and never (really) looked back. 

If you're reading this and you still have time in the Burg, you really gotta cherish it. I have 5 days left here. Right now, it feels like I have 5 days until a vacation, 5 days until I just have to wait a few months and then I'll be back. It pains me to write this, and its just starting to hit home, but that's not the case. Soon I'll be in Northern Virginia, only to return as a visitor, someone with no real home here. 

I won't be able to roll out of bed and walk 5 minutes to work. Won't be able to get out of work and walk down the street to Sharkey's for Free Burger Monday and a $2.50 Long Island. I won't be able to cross the parking lot and hit the Huckleberry Trail, run for a few miles down the windy trail and pass the farms and the cows the little houses tucked into the hills. I'll have to pay real money for food, and not just get to swipe the old Hokie P and get a Fantastic Frank or my avocado-cucumber-hummus-wonton strips wrap at ABP. 

Maybe what I've taken the most for granted is just how close we all are. The other day Grant just popped into my apartment unannounced just to grab a jacket or something. It seemed so casual then, but I realized soon enough I'll be gone and he'll be 4.5 hours away. An unannounced visit up north be a huge surprise. Any sort of visit from school friends would have to be planned out, or at least not as a simple "hey rivermill in 20?" text.

Of course once I move to Arlington or DC or wherever, things will become more like they are now. Things will be in walking, or at least Metro, distance, we'll all find our favorite places to hang out, we'll live close enough just to bop on into each other's houses and see what's up. I guess for now though, having to let go of that and Blacksburg is hard to grasp. 

As my mom told me once, I had to stay in Blacksburg for 5 years for a reason, even if at the time I didn't understand it. Call it destiny, call it fate, but the fifth and final year was one that I needed. Its the year I really appreciated Blacksburg, really appreciated the campus and appreciated the education I was getting. Turns out all those nights in studio were good for something - I'm employed and couldn't be more thankful or excited.

For now though, I gotta keep it together until graduation. Five more days to hang out with great people, be in my own apartment with NO PARENTS!! (hehe can't wait to move back home mom and dad…really tho), and do undergrad things like have a work bar crawl and sit on the drill field yelling "AHHH SVENGAAA" and wait to hear who yells back "MAAMMAA HEEE ANNA HOOOOOOO" or however you say it. 

I made a lot of mistakes, lost a toenail, drank a bunch, ran even more, had milk spout of my nose due to laughing, learned how to thrift, learned how to dumpster dive, sang Journey in Frosty P, ate some Tugboats, scootered up and down the halls, spent a ton of time on Photoshop, learned how to sort of code, taught classes, and learned a little more about who I am. I still don't really know. But when do you ever figure that out?

^That paragraph sounded a lot like my graduation announcement. Check out the file below and a picture of it here.

Anyway, enough of my sniffling. Sounds a lot like I'm feeling sorry for myself all over again. I'm really not - I have good things on the horizon. Its just sad to leave all this behind. These years have been great and it coming to an end is terrifying. Congrats to everyone graduating!