~*I graduated!*~ (I graduated?) …Omg. I graduated…

Heather and Janet! (That's @hbourgeois to you.)

Yep, I did it!  My life has been very fun/hectic the past four years and I’m so excited to take that next step.  For a quick recap, the past four years include:

-Three colleges

-Three majors

-Six different roommates

-Three different apartments

-Five internships

-Eight jobs

-”A lot” of coffee, energy drinks, and gum

-Zero regrets

Graduating feels like I just jumped off a cliff into this infinite layer of the stratosphere known as adulthood.  In college, your life changes a lot each semester (I like that) but at the same time you know what to expect.  For me, each semester I had a new set of classes, a new internship, maybe a new apartment or another fresh thing to get used to.  But after a while, you get used to getting used to things and you welcome change with open arms.  You know those changes are just a matter of getting used to the professor, finding the classroom, getting to know your boss, etc. But now, I’m getting a whole new life and I pretty much have no idea what to expect.

In the end, I think that my whirlwind college life of extracurriculars, internships, restaurant jobs, studying, and all-too occasional partying felt safe.  It kept me in this little cycle of academic mayhem–churning churning churning–and now I’ve just been spit out into the unknown.  Don’t get me wrong: I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer.  I’m just a wee bit frightened.  But never fear–I’m equal parts “freaked out” and “totally pumped” about the unknown.

In two weeks I’m moving to Boston and I don’t start my internship until June 29.  I will spend the next month nesting an adorable two-bedroom apartment in Coolidge Corner, splitting the rent (an amount that lots of Upstate New Yorkers pay for mortgages) with my lovely best friend and her wonderful engi-nerd boyfriend.  Between getting lost on the T and playing Rockband with the roomies I will be busting my butt at some restaurant somewhere in Boston hopefully–as all servers dream–making bank.

It will be a full month of the unknown.  I’m nobody’s intern.  I’m not a student.  I’m not director or president or editor of any student-run club or paper or thing.  I’m just me, and it’s going to be the first time since…well, like eighth grade that I have the time to embrace that.

I want to enjoy a couple of simple things that have nothing to do with my resume.  I want to run along the Charles River, window shop in the Back Bay, and discover which place has my favorite New England Clam Chowder.  For a short while, I want to focus on two or three things instead of seven.  I want to regain my creative energy so when it comes time to put on the PR hat I can really kick some butt.

I can already feel it beginning.  The fear hasn’t disappeared, but the enthusiasm is building.  I don’t know every second of what the future holds, but I’m ready to start that journey.

Graduation Love Letters

Susan:

You’re a new friend, but I just wanted to say that I am really proud of you for graduating MCC.  You will get to New York.  I believe in you and am amazed by your tenacity.  I want to write a book about your life story one day because you are seriously that interesting/courageous.  Oh! Oh. Oh. Oh. And we WILL get out of the freaking restaurant.  We’re almost there.

Heather:

I still remember our “first date.”  We went to a Mary Kay meeting. You came to pick me up and you were wearing a black pencil skirt, a long necklace with a big, chunky charm and a pair of black sling-back high heels.  We got into your Rav 4 (with the freaking Yankees crap all over it.)  You slide on some big black sunglasses, I took one look up at the Juicy Couture air freshener and then one look down at my Old Navy flip-flops and thought: Damn, this Heather girl has style.

I think it is only fitting that you are pursuing a job that will be a constant creative outlet, a daily canvas for the expression of your remarkable style.  It is very exciting to see your passion and talent for interior design and I’m filled with pride knowing you are following your heart and going for that dream.  You have balls.  You aren’t taking the practical or safe or traditional route—you’re doing what you love and I admire that.

We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs re: jobs, boys, colleges (okay, just me haha), money (not enough of it), roommates (too many of them) etc.  I’m really happy that we’ve preserved our friendship.  I’m going to miss our girly stuff!  All the Starbucks, nail painting, magazine flipping (shhh I would never buy a wedding magazine) and marathon sessions of The Hills, Sex and the City, and Hugh Grant movies.  I’m really really really really going to miss you.

But for the record: Even though you hate the Red Sox, seafood and colonial architecture—you are always more than welcome to come visit in Boston.  Because after all “seasons change, and so do cities. People come into your life and people go. But it’s comforting to know the ones you love are always in your heart. And if you’re very lucky, a plane ride away.”

I love you.  Congratulations!

Heather (Buttercup):

You are unprecedented. You are: loyal, kind, genuine, funny, talented, bright, adorable, fabulously domestic, and probably the best listener I’ve ever met.  You “get” me.  You give me honest feedback and guide me.  You have supported me through the rough stuff—the  misdirection, workaholism, hopeless romanticism, and stress—as well as girl-talked, walked, cooked, crafted, and smiled with me through some of the best times of college. Thank you.  Most of all, I have to say that my cheeks literally hurt every time we hang out from laughing so much.  We are just a hilarious little bunch.

I’m so happy that you got into Emerson.  I’m happy that you will have the opportunity to continue to learn and expand on the skillset you already developed during undergrad.  I hope that this brings you intellectual fulfillment as well as that allusive publishing job.  Here’s the plan: I’ll write that manuscript, you’ll publish it, we’ll be millionaires and decorate our houses in Pottery Barn.  We’ll be like Oprah and Gail.  Only…white?

Let’s talk about the unbelievable experience that was The Gleaner.  I remember making this desperate phone call to you in June right after sophomore year and being all, “I can’t do this on my own!  Be my Co-Editor!!!”  Behold, one of my many freak-outs that you would solve.  In its own way of not working out, it worked out.  We learned.  We grew.  We became best friends.  We won.

Sleepy interns haha

The way I see my life is this: Three months right now at this moment I could be on a porch somewhere in Boston, grilling tofu dogs and cracking open a bottle of Smirnoff Ice with my Heather.  Five years from now at this moment I could be in a lovely J. Crew bridesmaid dress, with the deliciously smelling white peonies in my hand.  Ten years from now at this moment I could be strolling along some beach in Maine with you and a little cavalier king charles spaniel, telling you how cute your first born is—but still stubbornly insisting that you should’ve named her Janet.

I cannot wait for Boston and I’m so excited to start this incredible chapter of our lives.  I can’t believe this is really happening!  You are one of my favorite people I’ve ever met and every day I’m grateful for your friendship.

Congratulations!

Amanda:

Remember when you were always there to explain chemistry class to me junior year? Remember when we got lost on our way to the SAT and ended up at the freaking Basilica?  Remember The Voice?  ACN?  Your big fluffy green cupcake dress at prom?

Remember how we used to talk about going to job interviews in Victoria’s Secret suits? Remember taking that really long romantical walk on the beach in Kiawah and talking about how we were gonna dress our babies in Gap and take them to the beach when we grow up?

Remember (or don’t remember) Cancun?

Class of '09: America's Future. Joke's on us.

You mean the world to me.  We’ve been through tons of ups and downs, and I’m so happy we’ve remained friends throughout college, ever since our days kicking it in School House Rock during middle school.  You’re the closest thing I’ve had to a sister and I love you.  I think it’s charming that you can call me from college and ask me what you should wear for a date and we talk about all the stuff in your closet and I actually know what shirts and what shoes you are talking about because let’s face it, I’ve probably borrowed them at one point.

Timeless.

The last four years have been nuts.  Between the two of us, I estimate that we’ve had:

-Five colleges (Mostly my contribution)

-Six majors

-Twenty different roommates

-900 bottles of vino (Mostly your contribution, Miss Italy)

-23,309,293 conversations relating our lives to Sex and the City

So this is my little graduation note.  I wanted to publicly proclaim how much I love you and let you know how proud I am of you.  Keep following your passion for philosophy.  You think too much – it’s meant for you! Your life has more meaning because you take the time to find the meaning.

Keep thinking. Think hard about what you have accomplished, what you have studied, and how you can use that in your career.  I believe you have a direction with your knowledge that you and I haven’t even identified yet.  But a direction is there, I promise.  Keep thinking.  Live your way into the answers.  The answer is in you.  Find it.

I believe in you.

Congratulations!

PS: Get your sweet self back to Boston.