May 18th

Sorry it's been so long since my last update!

Well I don't think it has been that long, but all the events makes it feel like its been  forever..

I'm not even sure I remember all of them.

One thing I do remember; school is out. 

Friday was our last day. It's so weird.

This week is exam-week though, so it isn't completely over YET. I only have one exam - my Chinese exam on Wednesday. I think I'm gonna try to go most days though. I love Westminster too much to waste that precious time at home, sleeping.

The thing is that classes are over, and THAT is sad. I liked it a lot!

We got our yearbooks on Thursday at school, for freeeeee - yay Westminster crazy expensive tuition! I got mine signed by several people. And I've looked through it; there a a bunch of pictures of me. WIN!

And then there were a gazillion senior events. Well, three actually.

Thursday was Seniors Honor's Night - where they recognized some seniors that have some kind of outstanding talent or did really well in a class or just do a lot for the school/society and so on.

Then there was a little buffet-dance-chill thing, followed by "the senior video". The senior video is a tradition here at Westminster (maybe at other schools too, I'm not sure)  where the parents (I think?) put together an hour long video with pictures, music, videos and all that stuff with the gradutating grade. It was fun for me to watch, although only seniors were invited to watch it, because it somehow also summarized my year here in many ways.

Friday, after school, was Baccalaureate. Basically they just had speeches, prayers, songs by the emsemble and chorale accompanied by the orchestra and other fun stuff like that.

Saturday was Graduation. Quite a lot went wrong that day..

First of all, the school had spent 60,000 $ (yes, they actually did) on setting up bleachers and a million chairs for the big event, OUTSIDE (because Westminster is so pretty). But of course, Friday night, the weather was crappy, and it looked like it would be pourring rain all day Saturday. BUT, you never know, there was still time for it to clear up.

Anyways; the whole ceremony thing was supposed to start at 9 am, so Agnes and I left the house at 8.30. Halfway there/ after 2 minutes of driving, we saw that the little road was packed with cars. I was wondering how many people could possibly be attending graduation (we were still 2 minutes away from the entrance, and trust me, it takes at least another 2 minutes from the entrance to the parking lot. The campus is HUGE).  Just as we slowed down, someone in a car going the opposite way rolled down the car window and informed us on the situation: there was a bomb threat, police on campus, and the whole ceremony was to start at 11 am in stead.

So we went back home, and I slept for another hour and a half.

"The bomb" turned out to be a box with some ceramics stuff a kid left on campus. Way to go.

Finally, when we arrived, we saw a huge crowd of people walking from Pressly patio - where it was originally supposed to be, to Turner Gym. We immediatly understood that it was going to rain, and so it would all be held in the gym to prevent us all from getting soaked. Great, huh?

Once inside, the Brigmans (Glenn's family) got me one of their 8 passes (every graduating senior gets 8 passes for their family or such to sit down at the graduation. Other people, without passes, have to find somewhere else to stand, where they usually can't see anything), and so I sat with Katherine, Glenn's younger sister who is in my grade, and some other kids from my grade with graduating siblings.

The guy who did the speech, Tom Moak, pointed out in his speech, what his friend had said earlier that day, and I think it's worth putting it in here. I thought it was great. "Well, at least now we can say our graduation was the bomb!" Ha ha ha ha ha. I thought it was hilarious. 

So there they were, in their funny gowns, being called up to recieve their diploma and a bible. It took forever, but it was fun to watch. I took a few pictures. I'll post them ASAP!

Since Saturday was Marina's 22nd birhtday, Agnes, she and I went to a Korean bathhouse in Gwinnett - 30-40 minutes from Atlanta. At least I think so.. I'm not too sure, since I slept all the way there and back.

Carolina was at the beach with some friends for the weekend, and Steve was somewhere else with his Republican buddies, talking crazy talk ;)

It was very nice and relaxing! Saunas, warm an cold pools, scrubbing, other saunas, korean food, relaxing.. Yumm. Perfect! Some great family time.

At night I went to spend the night at Torrey's house. She's one of my good friends from my grade.

Then today, Marina went off to Costa Rica for 9 days! SO jealous.

Oh well, Atlanta's cool too.

6 weeks.. I can't figure out how I feel about all of that.

We had our pre-return orientation the previous weekend. We went to Georgia Institute of Technology, better known as Georgia Tech, a university here in Atlanta.

We talked a lot about reverse-culture shock, saying goodbye, taking advantage of our time here, and so on.

Afterwards, we went for a long walk on their campus, until we got to "The Varsity". The Varsity is a fast-food kind of place that is really popular here in Atlanta. The food was okay, but saying goodbye was weird. It was our last AFS- get together. Some of there are going home earlier because of exams, so maybe I won't get to see them again..

These people have been my best friends this year. They were the ones with the same emotions, that went through this same experience as me. With me. 

We have such a special bond. Especially because there are only 11 of us.

Well.. I read a quote by Dr. Seuss saying "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened"

I just have to remember that. Because hey, it is true!

I think I've written enough for now.

I'll post the pictures from graduation and our AFS P.R.O. soon

andddddd yeah. uhm, wish me luck on my Chinese exam on Wednesday! (Although studying might help me more than luck..)

I hope y'all are well!