And So It Begins

I know I'm tired because in between typing the title and writing these words I fell asleep for ten minutes. I've also had to edit this thing a couple times for typos and 'what the heck was I saying there?' moments.
But I have a lot to say so bear with me.

I had my first final exam this morning at eight o' clock for Abnormal Psych.
It was beyond wierd to realize that this morning was my last time in that classroom with Dr. Snyder, and the psych juniors with whom I've been taking classes since we were freshmen.
I'm not going to be a senior with them.
Am I ever going to be a senior?
I walked out of class with Dan for the last time, too. I'm not really into drawn out good-byes, either, so I just kind of smiled and said, "See you later" which seems to be fairly generic. I mean, it could refer to seeing him in heaven for all I know. And he was cool with that.
I'll miss my breakfast buddy.

Tomorrow I have Historic Christian Belief at 10 (won't be sad to see the last of that class... a bitter gen ed taker?... possibly, but only where the religion classes are concerned) and Marriage and Family Systems at 1. Historic should be easy and required minimal studying. Marriage and Family Systems is lunch at Jessup's house where we'll turn in our tests and discuss the class. No hardship there.
Well, except for not saying good bye to Steve, Kris, Chris, Travis, Sam, Amber and the rest. Aside from Fiction Writing, Jessup's class was one of my best discussion classes. There was a quiet (often not so quiet!) camradiere that I appreciated.

Wednesday brings my last final, the hated Spanish 201 exam. The four page translation is due, along with a multiple page essay, multiple choice and verb conjugation forms in test form. There really are no (appropriate) words to describe the loathing and disgust I feel towards that class.
Nevertheless I'll be sad to see Matt, Andrew, Dionne and Paul for the last time.

And even though I am technically done on Wednesday, I'm staying till at least Thursday evening. Thursday will be my last day to work in the Education Department.

Concerning. Some of the Ed profs and Kelly took me out to lunch today at Ivanhoes. Incidentally I've only been there about four times in my time here at Taylor. It's actually not bad food. And when I got back they presented me with gifts! Can you believe that? I got a pretty coral pink and plaid Taylor sweatshirt from the Department and a pair of peace symbol silver earrings from Kelly and her husband, Tom. (they were actually Tom's idea. He heard me jokingly refer to myself as a hippie so he thought they'd be perfect.)

And if, by chance, you are wondering about the weekend; it was lovely.
Thursday night was Kristin Rietz' bridal shower and I took pictures.
Friday night was the Silent Night basketball game and I used the opportunity to practice action shots with my camera. The conclusion is that I need more practice. Whereas I usually have a 15-20% recovery rate (meaning out of a hundred pictures, 15 to 20 are good, 4 or 5 are amazing) I got maybe two good shots out of one hundred. I was in the bleachers for the first half and then spent the rest of the game on the floor with some people from Berg.






Afterwards there was a reception in the Dining Commons and it was not amazing in the slightest, but it was distraction and so it was deigned good. ;-)

Saturday was the Pick-A-Date, at which Feldge wore a Kellogs character tie and I carted around my Eeyore purse. The food was not good (they put ham in EVERYthing) and the chorale concert was passable. But my date and I had an awesome time, talking and texting one another. Interestingly, the best part was at the reception afterwards. We traded nice clothes for grunge and downed cups of black coffee while chatting about anything and everything for two and a half hours.
Yay for awkward conversations and bitter drinks.



Sunday's not worth mentioning.

Tonite I wore my skater punk outfit for the heck of it. You can't tell but I have a tattoo on my right shoulder and I also added my mp3 player and dangling headphones later.
Someone told me I looked like I'd stepped out of a music video.



Dinner was gross, predictably. After, Jen and I chatted up top in order to avoid going back to our room.

And that's all, I guess, except to say the title refers to a lot of things. It's the beginning of the end of my time here at Taylor. It's the beginning of starting something new. It's the beginning of life outside of college; something I'm not sure I ever truly believed would come.
*sigh*
This isn't my school anymore. And I don't hardly know what to do with that.

I hope this change will be good for me. I feel like I've grown so much, and learned to be more independent. And in a way, leaving college will help me even more with that. Because living at college, in a dorm, is an artificial environment. And even as you learn independence, you become dependent on your environment.
But life (thank God) is not like college. I can and will move on.
Even if it sucks right now.

Much love,

'Quel

See? That's what I get for posting every day and not actually saying anything... I have to write this ridiculously long post to make up for it! :-P