Scrolling through my instagram posts, it’s crazy to think that it’s already been three weeks since I graduated. While that might not sound like a long time, I spent the majority of my years at Wake ignoring the possibility that I’d have to graduate and leave at some point. Funnily enough, looking over these pictures don’t make me sad. Don’t get me wrong–I miss all of my friends and the life we built together but now looking over these pictures all I can do is smile and be thankful for everything (and everyone) I’ve encountered.
Graduation weekend started out with the Baccalaureate ceremony. I wasn’t expecting much (mostly because I’m not super religious) but Jonathan Walton, who is a professor in the divinity school at Harvard, made an incredibly inspiring speech that honestly made me want to be a better person… Which I think i really saying something considering that he only spoke for 20 minutes max!
After the ceremony, I got pictures with friends and family, although most of my friends skipped the whole thing. Their loss!
I even made sure to get a picture with my grandparents in front of Wait Chapel. I have almost the same exact picture from my freshman year, which is pretty cool when you think about it.
This post wouldn’t be complete, of course, without a few pictures of food that I ate over the weekend. After Baccalaureate we met up with the rest of my family for a late lunch at one of my favorite restaurants downtown, Mozelle’s. I’ve actually written a post about Mozelle’s before, where I last ate during my first week back at Wake last fall (oh the memories), and the food is still just as amazing.
I ordered the tuna tartar appetizer which wasabi aioli and their famous fried chicken which comes with one the most delicious macaroni and cheeses I’ve ever had.
Because of the early morning I had planned for the next morning, I went to bed fairly early… Which unfortunately was still not enough to prepare me for me 6am alarm. I quickly showered and got myself ready for graduation, including slipping into this gorgeous Lilly Pulitzer slip dress, before running over to the ADPi lounge to get some last minute pictures as a pledge class.
Although graduation was scheduled to start around 9am, we didn’t actually start lining up until around 9:15am which left plenty of time to take a ton of snapchat selfies. What can I say, I just really liked posing with my cap on!
Acting derpy and awkward as usual.
We finally lined up and filed out onto the quad about 30 minutes behind schedule and apparently I made it on the big screen at this point. I wish I had known so I could have smiled instead of looking kind of sullen (I seem to have been suffering from a major case of resting bitch face).
Not going to lie, the most exciting part of graduation, other than picking up my diploma and walking across the stage, was getting to hear Stephen Colbert speak. I’d been looking forward to what he’d have to say to us especially now that he’s hosting The Late Show. He ended up being absolutely hysterical but also had a few inspiring words of advice for the class of 2015:
“Get ready for my generation to tell you everything that can’t be done–like ending racial tension, or getting money out of politics, or lowering the world’s carbon emissions. And we should know they can’t be done. After all, we’re the ones who didn’t do them. Your job is to prove us wrong. Because if you don’t prove us wrong, then forget everything I’ve been saying.”
Powerful, right?!
I’d like to take a short break and give a shout out to everyone who survived sitting out in the sun for several hours to watch us walk across the stage–especially when they could have easily watched the live-stream from bed. Not going to lie, I think that was the hottest I’ve ever been. Like so hot to the point where I thought that I was going to spontaneously burst into flames at one point. I took this picture right after receiving my diploma and you can see just how red my face is!
After graduation my friends and I met up to take pictures together, despite the fact that half of us (aka those of us who had been wearing those black robes from hell) looked like we’d just taken a dip in a pool. Even though I look super gross, I’m really glad that we took this opportunity to spend a few more precious moments with one another, to laugh and joke like it was just any other normal day.
A huge thanks to my parents for supporting me throughout all of the highs and lows I’ve experienced at Wake. I couldn’t have done it without y’all!!
