Goodbye SMCM!

Today at noon I am ending my 3rd year at St. Mary's. Its a little surreal to think that the next time I am back here, it will be the fall of my senior year! This semester went by so incredibly fast that my head is spinning. But boy oh boy am I glad that finals are done with. It was a pretty harsh week with the combination of take-home exams and in-class exams. I hope that Lingnan won't be as brutal. I am very proud that I pulled off 2 all-nighters in a row without completly losing my mind. So now I get to go home, spend a day and 2 nights with my mom, (and hopefully see Vira), then get on a plane for Christmas with my Dad in WA! I got his present today and I really think that he is going to like it. Shirley is also going to be in Seattle at the same time as I am, so hopfully we can meet up or something. I am confident that I will get along with everyone in Lingnan as easily as I got along with her. If not, I'm screwed. Then I am back home on Dec. 30th, and I go to Hong Kong on the 10th of January. It finally hit me today that, holy crap- I'm going to China. Its so many thousands of miles with a 13-hour time difference. Thats just crazy. I was also watching "Globetrekker" and the episode they did on China. I found a few places that I am definatly going to go, like the largest outdoor bronze Buddha. Luckly for me, it is right in Hong Kong. They showed some beautiful shots of the area where I am going to be living, and it looks absolutly breathtaking. Finally I can be giddy about this trip without worrying about SMCM work and all that.
I've said a lot of goodbyes these past couple of days my friends, espcially those ones that are graduationg/leaving school. I hate goodbyes, even when I know that I am going to see most of these people again. Allison made me a shirt that I will treasure forever, my SweetSuite Life shirt. She made one for all of us suitmates, with a inside-joke/nickname on the back. Mine is "Ms. Thang" which if quite hilarious if you know the story behind it. I love it, and it makes me realize how much I am going to miss this place and the people in it.
Being in Hong Kong will really be the first time that I will have to be completly dependent on myself. Its both thrilling and frightning at the same time. Its my chance to learn how to be completly independent, which I know that I have to learn if I ever want to live my own life. I think that I can handle it though. As much as I will be missing home, I have realized that Hong Kong is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I plan to take full advantage of it.
The traveling I plan on doing has also lead to an interesting new career possibility for post-graduation. Jason informed me that where he wants us to travel, I could easily get a job teaching English to children, or tutoring monks in one of the Tibetan colonies. This has been one of the jobs that I have dreamed of for myself. I hoped to do it through the Peace Corps, post-graduation, but I will be much happier if I can arrange it on my own terms. Then I could truly die happy.