I am a college graduate

Ruwe, me, claire, and sungah. Friends since international orientation freshman year.


The Daudts and my parents. So grateful for all the things they've done for me; they've taken care of me these past four years.


Sungah, my parents, and me after graduation with our flowers.


I graduated with magna cum laude honors! (3.7 or more GPA)


Emily, me, katie, hannah, and sungah. Seniors from First West Olson :)

Wow. Feels so weird to be saying that. I don't think it's fully sunk in yet.

So... finals week was crazy. In between attempting to study for my 2 finals, packing, cleaning my room, donating 3/4 of the stuff I own, selling clothes to a thrift store and making $150, spending time with friends... time really flew by.
Finals turned out to be super easy after all, even though I hardly studied. So I have As in all my classes and I graduated with a 3.76/4.0 GPA! I think school in America is really easy. Especially compared to school in Singapore. I don't even know how people can get anything below a B here. It's ridiculous.

So on Tuesday we had a wing meeting, because people were getting their stuff stolen left and right. Cash, debit cards, phones, even computers. It was kind of scary. I guess this type of thing is normal as the school year comes to an end, because everyone's moving out and it's chaotic and anyone can just come into the dorm and steal whatever they want. But thank God my stuff was fine, even though I didn't lock my room door.

Went to the Senior Scoop after that to get free ice cream, listen to Habecker (president of the college) talk, and receive our caps and gowns for graduation. And of course we immediately went back to try them. haha. Those gowns are HUGE. But it's exciting. I've never worn a graduation gown and cap before!

And then we went to our last study break ever... at the Dining Commons. Ate way too much sugar and chocolate and chips, got on a sugar high. My hands were literally shaking. And I was so jittery. We had to find a way to let all that energy out... so we went to sungah's apartment and had a dance party. We videoed it cause it's our last dance party together... ever :(

Wednesday claire and I went to Plato's closet to sell our old clothes, books, accessories, shoes, everything. So glad I did cause I have WAY too much stuff to bring everything back, and it's insanely expensive to ship things overseas. 220USD for a mere 20 pounds! But I ended up shipping my guitar back cause it's too expensive to give away and I love it too much to leave it behind. But everything else, I gave away. Pillows, blankets, laundry baskets, drawers, storage containers, printer, hairdryer, stationery, everything. My friends now love me a whole lot more. haha.

I got super stressed while packing and so we ended up going to Indy as our last time together. It was pretty chill... we just made friends at the bar and met people who knew people from Taylor. I have to say I'm not going to miss all this sneaking around and secret drinking on campus. Although it's been pretty fun and thrilling to hide stuff and drink it in places like the Taylor lake, the forest, the environmental science building, the library, the geek room, the playground, and even the prayer chapel. haha. I think I'm kind of done with this whole partying thing though. I need to give my poor liver a vacation. I don't think I can ever be an alcoholic. Just the thought of drinking vodka makes me feel sick.

Thursday I met up with emily, who graduated in january and came back for graduation!! I missed her so much and it was so good to see her again :) We both realized we were thinking of teaching English in Korea in the fall!! So hopefully things work out and we can go there together!! People keep asking me what my plans are, I always say I have no idea. haha. I only know I'm going to Paris, Munich, and Berlin for 2 weeks with my parents, then back to Singapore for 2 weeks, then to Perth, Australia.... then who knows where I'll end up after that. We'll see :)

We also had our last ever noodle party... all these 'last' things... so nostalgic. But it was a good time just hanging out and spending time with each other eating asian food :) there was supposedly a huge party going on in one of the off-campus houses, but I have to say, I wasn't tempted at all to go. I'd rather spend the last day with my good friends than getting wasted with a bunch of strangers. I'll really miss some of these people... sam, ruben, mark, emily, sung ah, megan, claire...

I feel like I didn't get to say goodbye to several people, which sucked. But I guess maybe, hopefully, we'll get to meet up sometime in the future, when we're making enough money to go visit each other. It just sucks that everyone is splitting up and going their own way after graduation. I wish we had more time together.

Friday was really busy. We had our Media Communication majors senior brunch... the professors made delicious food and we shared our plans for after graduation... and we gave them a video of our 'thank yous'. it was pretty sweet.
Then I went back to my room and found my PARENTS WAITING FOR ME!!!! It was so good to see them again. life comes full circle. They came for my freshman orientation, and now they're here for my senior graduation. FOUR YEARS. it's ridiculous. So we cleaned up my room, donated a bunch more stuff, packed everything I ever owned into two tiny suitcases, closed my bank account, terminated my phone line, and checked out of the dorm. Goodbye Olson Hall, it's been a wonderful three years :)

Then we went to the DC for a final time, for a banquet. They actually had decent food there, which surprised me. Met a couple of my friends' parents, which was interesting. It's funny how kids are so much like their parents. Then we went to the chapel one final time for worship, a senior slideshow, senior testimonies, and one last address. Then I stayed over at sungah's apartment and we had a little ramen/nail painting party.

Saturday was THE DAY. The day we graduate. Felt so surreal. We woke up early, got ready, put our caps and gowns on, and headed to the KSAC fieldhouse for the ceremony. It was a mix of emotions, seeing all my friends in their caps and gowns, taking pictures, getting all excited and yet nostalgic at the same time... we processed into the fieldhouse and walked through the tunnel of professors. it was so cool to see all my professor and hear them say how proud they were of me. The ceremony itself was rather long... we had our senior class president speak, a testimony from a senior, an address by Dr. Habecker, our president, a song by Taylor Sounds, another address by our graduation speaker Gloria Gaither, this famous woman who wrote tons of Christian hymns, and then finally we walked across the stage, shook Dr. Habecker's hand, got our diploma/towel/bible, and it was over. It felt so good to walk across the stage and hear friends cheering for me. My 1 second of fame. haha. And then I saw my professors at the end, as well as my dad, who made me pose for a picture.

After the ceremony, we all headed outside, where it was total chaos. I found some friends and took pictures with them. My parents gave me a bouquet of roses and a little graduation teddy bear, which was cute. I didn't get to see some people because it was so crazy, but oh well. We went over to the MuKappa reception and said goodbye to more people... I almost cried a few times, but I was trying to hold it in because I didn't want to ruin the pictures. haha. Then we went over to sungah's apartment and said more goodbyes. I totally cried buckets when saying bye to sungah. We wept together. haha. I love that girl. I will miss her so much. Said bye to susan campbell and mark, who came over. also to megan, who cried a lot too. her dad kept saying she was having allergies. haha. finally left with my parents to their hotel in Muncie. Was so tired... it was just an overall tiring day of overwhelming emotions.