How Sabbatical Ended

I wanted to title my post...I'm back...but I'm not entirely sure I'm fully back yet. I think I'm back because I've graduated...I'm not killing myself taking an unreasonably heavy course load, and towards the end EMU put me back in touch with my inner TCK. To be completely honest, I actually tried very hard to join the Mennonite world while at EMU but found it difficult indeed and thus decided to only partly self-identify with this social justice inspired denomination. I'm a TCK, and I will invest entirely into my TCK world...because...just because. I'm back from the dead of college which when completed in three years like I did, can suck dry your very soul. Finishing college means I can probably get back overseas too, and continue learning how to live overseas, obviously.

And so I'm back in DC for the summer to finish out some final requirements for my degree, do and internship with an NGO, and pretend to figure out what to do with my life...because that's what's college graduates have to do...figure out what to do with their lives.

How I Graduated Uni

Technically to be officially considered graduated, you put on a funny looking outfit and you walk up to where the Dean or the President of the university hands you your diploma (if you're American, you smile here) and then, you flip your tassel of your cap to the other side, and that is that. This is the climax of involves years and years of hard work, and a small fortune.

So on 2 May 2010, I did the whole thing. I went up there. I smile. I got the diploma case, and that was that. I really wanted to graduate this year, because 2010 is such a nice round number. Graduating was like getting married for me. I've obsessed about my education and getting this degree was a roller-coaster of countries, emotions, challenging academia, culture shock, and strange food. It's the biggest thing I've done this far, graduating towards the top of my class, and my mom, my grandparents, my aunt and my uncle, and my adopted Aunt Lorraine all came. It was the biggest event of my life thus far, and for once, I was actually proud of myself instead of suppressing feelings that I could have done better or that I underachieved.

I can't honestly say I've quite graduated because...well...I've still got three classes left. So I walked up to the President of EMU, I was handed an empty diploma case (I'm American so I smiled for the pictures because that's what you do over here) and I sat back down. I walked through the interaction ritual, but I'm not going to actually get a diploma until August. I had to do it. I had to walk through the ritual and engage in the tradition because I'm tired, I've put a lot of work into my education and if I didn't do it now. It wasn't ever going to happen. It was a good moment. A memorable moment. A moment I'll infinitely value.