Nearing the End

I realize that I haven't written anything in quite some time, but that is because I have had a difficult time formulating how the end of this semester has been going. A lot of truly wonderful things have happened. We began celebrating one of our best friend's marriages with her bachelorette party, I became a Kappa alum, we had our formal, and I presented my first independent research project three times. Luckily I have been able to enjoy these experiences because the bulk of my work for the semester had to be turned in by mid-April. Essentially the last few weeks have been relatively smooth sailing.

My one picture from Shannon's bachelorette party

While I have been trying to relish in each moment, I have also been trying to understand how I am feeling about the fast approach of graduation. In 4 days, I will be running my first half marathon with one of my best friends. In 2 months and 10 days I will be moving away for an indefinite period of time for the first time in my life. This will be the first time that I am out of school and its honestly just strange. I have a few friends who are post-grad and they all talk about how they are fine and everything will be fine, but I also know that the first year out can be really hard.

research with the best

However, I am lucky that I know it will be hard. Yesterday I had to run some errands and spent a little bit of time outside and I was able to realize just how much I appreciate Creighton. It hit me like a bus, but I have realized just how lucky I am to have the friends, mentors, and family that I have. I would not have become the human that I am today without the Dominican Republic, residence life, the CCSJ, Kappa and every other moment in between. Has it been easy? Of course not. It wouldn't have been worth it if it was easy.

Senior formal with the senior class <3

In one of my capstones yesterday, Father Gillick talked to us about how God wants us to be and how really God doesn't have a plan. He explained to us that God simply wants us to be human beings. Being human means recognizing that we are selfish and that we are going to feel pain and that we are never going to be complete, because only God can complete us. Success won't complete us. Money won't complete us. Finding the perfect life-partner won't complete us. Yes, these (un)freedoms will contribute to a false sense of security, but at the end of the day, we don't know what will happen tomorrow. The only thing we can do as humans to be truly human is learn how to love unconditionally and do our best to live selflessly while recognizing that we are going to mess up sometimes. While a lot of what Father Gillick had to say would anxiety-inducing for a lot of people, I (an anxiety ridden person) felt a sense of ease after what he had to say. Recognizing that perfection can never be achieved and that all God wants is to see us try is oddly comforting.

Earth day = best day (and everyday)

So. Tomorrow is my last ever day of classes. I have one more test (for aerobics) and one more presentation (for art class) and then I will be done. Though I am in no rush, graduation is in 2.5 weeks, but I think I will be ready when it gets here. I am forever grateful for the people and the experience I have had at Creighton. All of them, even those that made me uncomfortable or made me feel pain because I have grown.

End sappy post.