The Britt(ish) are Coming

Soundtrack for a self pity party is this on repeat.  Whiniest song about being lonely ever.

Ugh, it’s like it’s telling me to go adopt 11 cats and get a jump on my Cat Lady fate.

The second half of senior week was different than the first…  I still had fun but I couldn’t shake a bad mood, and at first I couldn’t pinpoint the cause.  Introspection is unfortunately not my strong suit and therefore any negative emotion I’m experiencing manifests itself as general sullenness.  The reason became apparent when I realized that Senior Week isn’t just an excuse to channel our inner college freshmen.  Senior Week is about saying goodbyes to many friends, our undergraduate college days, and, in some ways, our youth.  I don’t mean to say there won’t be many shenanigans to come, but this is the first graduation where most people aren’t simply moving on to a new school/grade.  We’re growing up.  Things are changing.  Never again will I live in a building completely filled with people my own age, who, in many ways, are in the same boat I am.  Actually this last statement is only partially true as I’m staying in my campus apartment, but without 95% of my class around… well, it’s not the same.

Thursday through Saturday was filled with Caffrey’s, Dogg Haus, a Brewer’s game, and continued denial.  As illogical as it sounds, college always felt like it would never end.  Somehow the universe would freeze, classes would go on, and Sunday mornings would always be spent sitting in an apartment with friends rehashing the events of that weekend.  Graduation didn’t fill me with pride or happiness or reflect on how far I’ve come (I mean, there was some of that but not what people make it out to be).  It reminded me of blanching and shocking green beans: the last four years have been spent boiling and cooking and then graduating was being dunked into a bucket of ice water.  I realize I’m fully cooked (yes, I’m carrying this green bean metaphor out to the bitter end), but it’s still a jarring experience to one day just be done with classes and have them send you on your way.  It was also a rude awakening  when I got up today and my closest friends and confidants at MU didn’t live within a 3 block radius anymore.  It was harder than I anticipated.

One really important thing this last semester has taught me is that it’s always better late than never.  This goes for admitting you’re wrong, apologies, doing new things you wanted to do years ago, making new friends, building on old friendships, etc.  Ideally they would be done earlier, but life happens and things don’t always pan out.  The last few months I have become much closer to people I either a) didn’t know at all before this year or b) had never really had a heart-to-heart with before.  Junior year it felt easy and natural to settle into a groove, stick with the same people and do the same things, but branching out this year was much more rewarding.  The people I was good friends with junior year remained good friends, and the new relationships enriched this year more than I could have imagined.  I’m so grateful for them.  I’m also happy I took advantage of this city this year and explored more of what Milwaukee has to offer.

Cheers, Marquette Class of 2012.  Let’s do it again sometime.

I’ll write a real post when I’m not as emotionally drained but I will say this: Graduating has made me sad and feel like I’m losing a lot of things, but it also makes me happy and grateful that I gained all those things in the first place.

I’m damn proud of getting myself through my finals this semester: it was the toughest set I’ve had thus far and I made it through on caffeine and sheer willpower.

Appropriately following the hardest week of my year was one of the best: Senior Week.

Friday: it’s only right to start one of the best weeks of college at my favorite campus bar, Caffrey’s, which is exactly what I did.

Saturday: Day of rest with friends.  Watched Bridesmaids (which I will never, ever get tired of).

Sunday: “Camping” with 600 of my classmates.  We day drank and played games and when the sun went down they lit a gigantic bonfire.  ”Bed” was the back of my friend’s Civic while two of my friends slept in the front seats.  Our wake-up call was around 4am when, someone’s (who quickly became the most hated-camper) car alarm went off ~11 times.  I got up around 4:30 and the campsite looked like a scene out of The Hangover.  Cups, food, cards, games, tables, chairs, etc. etc. everywhere.  I cleaned up our site as best I could and reminisced with neighbors about the night before.  As a class, we do not look great in the morning; but the trip definitely made for a great story.

Monday: Naps, naps, naps.  Went to Caff’s trivia with Grady and Beth.  After that I went up to Ellie’s to have a few drinks with friends and then, of course, back to Caffrey’s.  It was nice to catch up with friends I hadn’t seen in awhile, and a round of drinks from Ellie’s friends didn’t hurt either.

Tuesday: Holy Pedal Tavern.  I went with 16 seniors from AXiD and it was the best possible way to wrap up the last 4 years.  Anyone who comes to Milwaukee (or lives in a city that has one) should absolutely do this.  It’s basically a spin class and bar crawl rolled into one.  We went to a everything from a bar with a strict dress code to hole-in-the-walls, had a drink and got back to pedaling.  At the tail-end of our trip it started to pour, so we parked the tavern under an overpass and danced in the street and rain.

Wednesday: Zoo with Dani, Adam, Grady, Beth, and Lauren.  I fed giraffes which are my second-favorite animal, which made up for the fact that my favorite animal, the moose, was sick.  I had a much-needed evening in, watched an episode of Doctor Who (new show I’m giving a shot) and went to bed.

Pictures, a rundown of the second half of Senior Week, as well as a mushy post about my love for MU and my friends here to follow.