Graduation + Packing

On Sunday, May 16th at 4.30 PM Central Time, I officially became a University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Engineering Alum. Honestly, I can't believe it's over. I can't believe I won't be doing the 13 hour drive back to campus this fall, or eating at Subway for every meal where they have nicknamed me the 'veggie sub girl', or sleeping in the lab waiting for my code to finish running...it's all over. No more all nighters, no more 3 hour exams with only 5 questions, no more getting lost in cornfields on my walk home.
It's sad, but my last week on campus was great. Definitely one for the books (or should I say 'blogs'!...man I crack myself up).
My sister and parents came down on Friday to help me move out and for graduation. After the family time with my parents (i.e. pictures around the university and good family fun), My sister and I tore it up urbana-champaign style. This means house parties where the hygiene of the house is very questionable, going out in flip flops and an 'Illini' hoodie and calling it fashionable, Hawaiian punch as our cocktail, and paying $15 for 4 drinks. I took my sister to some of the nicest bars in downtown champaign which rivaled New York's trashiest and we had a great time.
Saturday rolled around and as my mother prepped herself at the hair salon, the rest of us packed up my dusty old house in Urbana.

I'm having a great time at 812 W Stoughton

Later, ate delicious deep dish pizza at Papa Del's and went back to their hotel. Reese (my sister) and I took the bars of UIUC in for the last time. Went out dancing and she finally got to see Green Street.
Finally, Sunday, my big day, rolled around. Let's just say that this day revolved around food. We went to the President of UIUC, President Ikenberry, house for breakfast.

Reese and I at 812.

I think all of my college tuition went to paying for that ice sculpture.

After getting ready for my big world trip, preparing for my family and worrying about packing, I forgot about the one thing I'd be losing out of all this: UIUC. So I cried as I walked into Siebel Computer Science center one last time for my graduation brunch while my Dad fell asleep at the brunch table. After breakfast and second breakfast, we made our way to graduation. The only thing I really remember is the head of the Computer Science department walking up to the podium and saying:

'Dean Adesidea, I present to you the Computer Science graduating class of 2010. These are the best engineers in the world.'

After more tears and pictures, we ate dinner at my roommate's restaurant and sat around the table while my sister riddled us with brain teasers.

See my engineering skills at work? I'm thinking hard about the brain teaser written on the table... (like I said, everything revolved around food)

My Dad and I. Yea! Last in the family to graduate!

Everything else after that was kind of a blur. Packing went pretty smoothly and I ate my last meal at Lai Lai Wok on Green Street. Best Chinese food I've ever had. Drove to Chicago for a couple days to visit a friend and then made the painful 13 hour drive back to Virginia.
Like I said, I really can't believe it's over. But I'm really happy I chose UIUC. I look great in orange.