I can’t believe I’m writing this post about my graduation three week after it actually happened.. I was so drained and I couldn’t handle typing on a computer anymore… Now I am visiting my really good friend and SBCC schoolmate Brian in his own country, Vietnam, and he is driving me toward Halong Bay… Yes, summer has started and traveling won’t stop until August! Ok.. I’m getting of topic so (even if I know that you would like to hear about my adventures in Vietnam), let’s talk about graduation and my last days in Santa Barbara!
Earning an Associate Degree is not as fancy as getting a Bachelor Degree after four years of sweet and tears, but it is still and important step to consider in one’s educational path. My parents never came to visit me in SB, and attending my SBCC graduation was the reason that pushed them over their comfort, zone and gave them a reason to come to a country where nobody speaks their native language. I was so happy that they joined me in this celebration, and that they had the chance to see how my life has been in these past two years. They adored Santa Barbara, they loved City College, they loved meeting all my friends, seeing my room and my little house, and they absolutely couldn’t stop telling me that if they knew before that I was living in paradise, they would have come more than a million times to visit me (LOL).
On graduation day, my dad brought me to buy a fancy dress, I did nails with my mum, we had lunch at Eureka!, and right before graduation I got my make up done at M.A.C. As a typical Italian family, we arrived 20 minutes late to the graduation, but I got lucky and I met up with all my wonderful friends. So many of us were graduating this semester, and, even if it sounds sad, we were like a family getting ready to part ways… It was the end of an astonishingly emotional two years. After the ceremony, my parents followed me everywhere but I couldn’t even pay attention to them because I had to many people to take pictures and say goodbye, too. Everywhere I would go, somebody was there ready to hug me and take one last picture together.. it was at the same time the saddest and happiest moment of my life… My parents and I left the stadium when basically everybody was already ordering food at the restaurant. We concluded the night with the nicest dinner with my friend Amber and her family at Zaytoon. I will miss everything and everyone so much… but I am sure other wonderful things are on their way to my life. Never stop dreaming.
