I did it!

Yesterday, I graduated from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service degree in Culture & Politics. (And also a minor in Russian.)

What a sentence!

I had hoped to get some grad photos taken of me and a friend earlier, but unfortunately, it rained on the day of the scheduled shoot. Consequently, I decided to have my own photo shoot at my new house instead! (Thx Taylor for following my v specific camera directions to get these featured shots last week.)

My parents arrived on Wednesday afternoon to visit my new house, and then my step-sister, several aunts, and an uncle arrived on Thursday. All in all, we were a huge party of 9!

It was an extremely busy, but fun-filled week:

The commencement activities began on Thursday, followed by an Awards Ceremony on Friday where I got recognized for receiving Honors in my major.

I was also given a hard copy of my thesis!

Later that night, Taylor and I attended the 2019 Senior Ball. Even though my feet hurt bc heels, I still had a great time, and LOVED the chance to dress up a bit.

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Despite the business, we still found a bit of time to explore and sight see around DC!

I hadn’t properly visited the monuments or museums since freshman year, so it was a nice way to round off my Georgetown career.

Then, on Saturday, we had a celebratory lunch at Jaleo, which I’ve been dying to go to for ages.

It didn’t disappoint!

At 5:00 pm, the Commencement Ceremony started. I wore a silver stole granted to me at the Despedida Multicultural Ceremony, cords given to me by the Georgetown Scholars Program, a Georgetown Alumni pin, an SFS 100 pin to celebrate the 100th year of the School of Foreign Service, and a yellow hood which marks the Bachelor of Science degree.

You can watch the whole ceremony on Facebook here!

Afterwards, I got some photos with my diploma, and with all my relatives who came to see me. On Sunday, everyone still in town came to Baltimore to see the house and eat crabs at Bo Brooks.

And, just a few hours before writing this blog post, I hung up my new diploma, right underneath Taylor’s.

Now we match!

While I’m excited for my journey ahead, graduating was still a bittersweet moment. These past four college years truly passed by in a blink!

I’m grateful for all of my Georgetown experiences, but feel like the following moments deserve a special shout out:

all my ABP adventures
being an honorary member of the Linguistics Department for the last two years
the Georgetown Scholars Program, which provided me with assistance whenever possible
my amazing work study experiences, feat. internships with English Language Programs, Peace Corps, and Jumpstart

Through my time at Georgetown, I have become more confident and more certain of myself and my future.

I’m sad to be leaving the Hilltop, but glad to only be 50 miles away!