Take Me Back to...

Waking to the sounds of birds chirping in the morning sunshine, one can't help but notice that it's springtime, which incidentally means that it's also graduation time. To many of you, this may mean very little, perhaps a few gifts or cards that need to be sent to long-lost relatives or friends. As for myself, this time seems entirely too important to me, despite the fact that I'm no longer in school. It was during this exact time last year, that I, eyes drooping, beyond completely exhausted, was frantically studying for my final college exams and pounding out dozens of pages worth of the last college papers that I would ever have to write. As horrible as that time seemed, looking back now, I miss it. It was really one of the best times of my life. I only wish that I had somehow been able to spend less time studying and more time enjoying life, the friends that I would soon part with, and the lifestyle that I would be leaving behind. I'm not saying that I don't empathize with my friends, students in the heat of the battle toward graduation that I was fighting just 1 year ago, I'm simply saying that, as horrible as I thought it all was, it was my life, and I loved it.

Life has definitely had it's ups and downs this past year, so much has changed, a lot for the good, yet I often find myself wandering back to last year and the crazy, tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful beautiful life that I was living. I find myself missing my 3 wonderful roomies a lot, and although I've gained another awesome one, (well, 2 if you count the Koners), I won't ever forget an amazing year spent at 303! I have a lot of wonderful memories from this time last year that I'd like to share with you all. Without further adieu, here they are:

-"Studying" in our bathing suits, laying on blankets in the awesomeness that was the backyard at 303.-Going to the Bulldog and Jack & Dan's, drinking pitchers of Blue Moon and PBR, and so many memorable "long" walks home. And who can forget infamous Long Island Iced Tea nights?
-Eating sushi for the first time then walking down to The Falls and getting soaked by some of the most amazingly terrifying whitewater ever!
-Easter in Moore with Mama and Papa Roche spent wrastlin' cattle, riding horses, shooting guns, and included me getting a speeding ticket for going too fast on the straightest road in the universe!
-Attending Senior Ball with a date dressed in a full corduroy suit after surviving an awkward moment involving nearly all the guys at GU that I'd ever kissed...

-Hanging out, one last time, with a bunch of the girls who lived on my floor freshman year in the Ice Palace.
-Getting hammered with my senior class at Around the World, having a water fight that quickly escalated into a margarita fight, calling my parents and Keith, then napping on the front lawn for several hours.
-Singing the National Anthem in front of thousands of people then walking across the stage to get my diploma, not remembering it at all because I was completely focused on not tripping on the stairs.
There are millions of other wonderful memories from my senior year that didn't make this page, of course. As well, if you're reading this and feel that you should have been pictured, don't fret. It's not because I don't love you, it's that I only have so many photos and so much room here. Again, just know that I love and miss you all very much and think about you and the fun times that we shared all of the time! Thanks for making my last year of college fun outside of the hours and hours spent studying, and sometimes while studying as well! Also, best wishes and congrats to the class of 2008!