Sunday, June 23, 2013

Graduate Life


About a week ago I graduated from college. I graduated cum laude in three years, and was .01 of a GPA point away from magma cum laude. I graduated with a major in Comparative Literature and minors in Creative Writing and Spanish. In the fall I plan on applying to a PhD program in Biological Anthropology. Whew! 


My family came down to Eugene for the event. They weren't able to stay for very long after the ceremonies, but I'm so happy they were there. There was a large ceremony full of speeches in the basketball arena for everyone and then a small ceremony where we were called by name outside on the lawn for the Comparative Literature, German, Scandinavian, and Russian departments. Needless to say, the second graduation was fairly tiny and much more personal. The second graduation ceremony also had cake. 


I graduated on Monday, which was Paul's first day of work at his botany internship. So he wasn't able to make it to the big graduation. He didn't see me announced in my second graduation either and I thought he wasn't going to be there at all. But when everyone had been announced and we were asked to stand up, face the crowd, and move our tassels, Paul was there! He made it just in time for pictures because his awesome boss thought graduation was a pretty important reason for him to miss a small part of his first day. Thanks, boss.


Here's me with all my ladies. First I have my little sister Jillie who is the most spectacular creature in the whole world. I love her bunches and am so happy we're friends. Then there's my group of ladies in Comparative Literature who have made this past year better than I could have hoped. I've been waiting for a group of friends like them. They're all brilliant and beautiful. From left to right there's Lily, Patty, and Kayla. They're all obviously way cooler than me, and it's pretty cool of them to let me tag along. Also, Olivia is very important, but somehow managed to not be in any of the group pictures!


I wore my favorite dress (really an Anthropologie nightgown but no one cares) to my graduation dinner. It was just Paul and I, since my family had to go back to Portland before dinner time. I am also wearing my new Dansko clogs that my mom got at a garage sale for $1 because she is a thrifting genius. They are so comfortable and I'm never taking them off. We went to my favorite Thai food place which is just down the street, and in typical Noelle and Paul fashion, we ate, we ate probably too much, we went home, watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother, and were promptly asleep by 9:30. It was kind of fantastic, but it's also kind of a bummer that I missed seeing my friends again. Some of them (Kayla and Patty I'm looking at you) are going off to live in France soon because they're so fancy. Hopefully they still like me and my boring Eugene ways.


In other news I recently consumed that delicious cupcake. Also I have a magical cookie recipe to share. They might be my favorite (or at least in the top two favorite) cookies I ever made. They are peanut butter corn meal cookies, they have six ingredients, they're gluten free, contain no butter, and are amazing. I followed this recipe except instead of rolling the dough in sugar at the end I rolled them in a mixture of sugar, cinnamon, and sea salt because I have no self control. Happy graduation class of 2013, and eat some cookies!

1 comment:

  1. I moved to Eugene a year ago and went looking for local blogs to help me figure out this crazy beautiful town. Your happy posts helped me through first winter (which I hear is hard on everyone) and I'm not sure how, but you made me feel welcome in a strange city. Thank you and congratulations on graduation!

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