Graduation's in two days!

It's so weird - college has been my whole life for four years, and now I'm graduating - four years seems short now!

I'm staying for the Master of Arts in Teaching program, though, so I'll still be at CNU next year, yay! It'll be a bit of a switch from studying mostly literature to focusing mainly on pedagogy... but I hope I do well! I want to be a good teacher! I have plenty of inspirational examples to look up to - my Mom, wonderful homeschooler and amazing teacher of both youth and adults, my professors, patient and endlessly inspiring and creative guides, all those phenomenal high school teachers that made school fun, my exuberant and forever engaging Stageplay director that got kids to love Shakespeare, and the teachers I volunteer with who deal with huge classes every day but still manage to make each kid feel individually valued and challenged - I hope to learn from their example and be the best teacher I can be. Even if I'm still not the best public speaker yet.

I just packed up about a third of the room I've lived in for the last 2 years - whew! It's surprising how much stuff you accumulate over just a few years... packing really makes you realize the bulk of what you own.

I have a few friends in the MAT program who'll be staying next year, but so many of the people I've known will be dispersing, heading out to everywhere from out of state to out of the country. I hope everyone does wonderfully and fulfills all their dreams - I admire so many of you for making such an phenomenal start!

And whee, I got magna cum laude - I'm going to sound ridiculous here, but I'm actually kind of disappointed about not getting summa - I'd been working for it, but ended up with a 3.85 instead of the 3.9 I needed. In the long run, that doesn't really matter - but I know that helps with graduate school admissions, and I really want to be as attractive as possible to UVA, my dream grad school.

But for now, I can't wait for the MAT program! I start classes in a week!

With graduation coming up, I've realized for the thousandth time how amazing my family is! I love them and am so grateful for their endless encouragement and support. You guys are awesome!

I went to Holland last week with my Dad to photograph the Keukenhoff, a gigantic and gorgeous tulip garden! It was so incredible! I'll be posting pictures soon (I'm putting the bunch on facebook first) What a beautiful and amazing place!

Just two days til graduation! I'm so excited!