Well. Naturally I have nothing school related to report and probably will not have anything academic to share for the next two months. I do, however, have interesting little stories to share that have happened to me since I got out of school.
this isn't really a story at all. but well. who cares? Graduation day ...okay. Back track.
Play-by-Play of all the events. Kinda.
June 16th, 2011. I woke up early with the pretense of arriving on time to my Orientation at CSUF. My mom had slept over the night before in order to attend Brandon's 5th grade promotion and as she slept soundly with me I found it so difficult to get out of bed. When there is someone else sleeping with you and they are still sleeping soundly while you stand there, shivering and half asleep forcing your butt to get moving and get ready for the day ahead...well, that is a horrible feeling. Maria, Adam and I arrived at F. State at around 8:39 and after getting a 3 hour parking pass made way to find our designated meeting area. We couldn't find it. SO! We ended up asking a person who works there and after having them direct us to the proper location made our way across the campus to the Student Union or Student Center...whatever it's called and checked in. In my mind...well, quite honestly I don't know what the hell was going through my mind. I knew from before that this orientation thing would be an all day thing but that day for whatever reason I didn't seem to remember that. I was in skinny jeans rolled up above my ankle, a loose top, a short sleeve blazer/jacket and the most uncomfortable sandals made of pure rubber and plastic (cute ones tho). So I walk up to the table, check in and get my name tag and naturally I''m waiting for them to direct Maria and myself to an area where together we can pick my classes and get my student ID and leave to make it in time for Brandon's celebration. You can imagine my surprise when they tell me to say goodbye to my 'mom' and have her pick me up around 5 when we will wrap up. I felt a wave of intense heat wash over me when I realized that this thing I signed up for an all day thing. That this said "cute" outfit I was wearing was probably not appropriate for this event and that I had not eaten breakfast and suddenly food was all I could think about. Are you f'in kidding me? I wanted to say, but of course I didn't. "um..can my family come with me?" "did they sign up for parent orientation?"
At that point I had to search deep into my memories and remember that letter I received about orietnation and how annoyed I was that you had to pay 75 dollars per parent for them to hear the same information you were going to hear anyway. "freakin' joke- hell no we aren't signing up!" I had said then.
"Um, no." I replied. "Well then you are going to walk through these two doors. down the stairs and walk into the meeting hall" I felt like it was a strange death sentence. I wasn't prepared. Who knows what they were going to make me do. I was alone no less and not entirely ready to start meeting new people. "Can I at least say goodbye to my family?" I asked. I made a solemn walk to Maria and told her the news, giving her a kiss goodbye and made my way into the meeting hall. As if the news of this being an all day thing wasn't enough you can imagine how much more I was surprised when I walked into the hall and realized I was late. I was easily the last one to arrive. An orientation leader had to lead me through the mass of people sitting in their chairs, each looking terrified of what was to come and lead me to the table front and center. I sat down and looked around, a forced smile on my face as I greeted everyone and pretended I knew exactly what was going on. "I can't believe this is going to be 9 hours long!" the girl to my right said. "Oh, you didn't know? That sucks" Oh yeah, because I was so prepared myself. O_O
Rather than writing my entire journey through this said Orientation I'll cut it short. It was not nearly as horrible as I thought it out to be. I did, though, have a moment of panic when they sent us down to the basement computer lab to register for our classes and naturally I had no idea which to take. I had never been given so much freedom. I sat there, before the computer screen blinking rapidly trying to keep with with everything. Before me was a course catalog and I could take any class I wanted, any day I wanted, at ant time I wanted. I felt my heart beat faster as I tried to keep myself from hyperventilating. To make matters worse I had no reception so I had no way of texting my sister to get their input.
It was a lot of freedom. It is going to take a hell of a while to get used to it.
After Anthony picked me up from orientation (he works a few minutes away) we arrived at Olga's to celebrate Brandon's Promotional Party. His friends gathered and their parents and we ate and watched slide show videos. Jovonna slept over that night and at some point we made our way upstairs into my room with the intention of skyping people but after having no takers we took to making videos via facebook for our close friends.
The following morning, June 17th, 2011 we woke up early and made our way to Graduation Practice at school. It's so crazy to fully comprehend that I've graduated. We showed up and as we made our way into the small gym I think everyone was shocked that we had made it to this point because it seemed as time just flew on by. We practice for a while and then Jovonna, Becky and myself went to get some breakfast and after having them drop me off I quickly jumped into bed and took a nap to energize for Grad Night that night.
Graduation was as I expected it to be. The tears didn't come though. It was a nostalgic feeling seeing all of the people I had grown accustomed to seeing everyday at school being called up one by one to receive their diploma. I probably looked utterly retarded walking down the aisle to shake the principal's hand. My cap had flown off. The sun was in my face and I probably looked more pissed than happy.
I received tons of flowers! They were all so beautiful -sighs-
I received a good deal of cash, a BEAUTIFUL RING, a quill, a journal, a pair of earrings, a book and a poster.
Grad Night brings us to June 18th, 2011. It was fun. I got an airbrush tattoo but on the bus ride home I was so so so utterly exhausted I just remember seeing the cars beside us on the freeway and then suddenly feel my head bang against the headrest, jolting me awake.
It's hard to believe High School is over.
It's officially Summer as of today.
Today was the first day it actually felt WARM enough to be summer.
Here's to hoping the packing goes by smoothly and the rest of the week goes well.
-D
Wow D. You took me back! I remember my first day to UCLA! I have to back track a bit and say that I was accepted as I understood it as a provisional acceptance, (I don't know if they still do that) basically it means I was accepted with the notion that I would completed satisfactorily a few classes in a special program that was similar to Summer bridge program, although this aaas through EOP. Well I preface to say this because I understood I had to attend this program in the summer and that I had to stay in the dorms and attend school and all. I was very excited and happy. I had dreamed of going to UCLA for so long that it was surreal and here I was. Well when my mom and dad and I got to UCLA at the dorms there I was ready ton sign up with some clothes and school supplies and just ready to move in and start. Well as early as I got there to start, unfortunately for me it went differently. I did not know I needed identification like a state id to get my into the dorms. So I had to go to DMV to get a temp, got the temp and then went back to UCLA and then proceeded to get into the dorms again and found out I needed to got to student union to get a picture id so there I was late in the afternoon in the summer and looking tired, but I took that goofy picture anyways. Finally after I got my picture taken, I was ushered to a line and then a huge auditorium where people were gathered to get numbers for open computers. Well it was late in the afternoon, so all I got was a number to come back the next day. I finally arrived to the dorm and try to register and so there I was. I got in my room. Yay! I got a up the next day and found out that they did not expect me in the dorm so I was not given a mailbox, so while they were working on that I went to go register for my classes. After all that I got back to the dorms and found out that they accommodated me into that dorm but I was supposed to be in a different dorm. Well with all that I took my classes which was an English class, a math class and psychology class. It was cool. I even got tutors assigned to me as part of the progam as part of minority retention program. Going go classes was interesting. You said "freedom!" ohhh yeah, logs of freedom. I had no one to make me go to school or to be on me for anything. It felt great. It also felt weird no having anyone to cook meals or do things that only my mom could do and do best, to do the things she knew I love that made me feel special. I loved my mom for it! It was a culture shock, a great experience, a bit frightening and yet exciting all at the same time. Towards the end I was given some mail that was sent me some mail. Guess what it was? It was my acceptance letter to UCLA, my classes for fall qtr, my student id and student registration card. So basically I was never supposed to be on a provisional program, I really did not need to attend the program and all the headaches I went through the first day was really not necessary, yet looking back, the experience help me realized that it was the first day of my adult life that I needed to take and own responsibility. It felt good. My advice to you is be kind and gentle with you, know that some things may be challenging, organizational skills are key, always be early, know that some people will cheat, but they are mainly cheating themselves, take advantage of office hours even if it's just to have your professors know that you are making an effort, and most importantly have fun! Hugs from me to ya, V
ReplyDeleteWow sorry for the typos. I am a bit tired. I just caught with u and your blog. :)
ReplyDeleteVeronica