Murphys Law Gone Right

I am now a Johns Hopkins University graduate.  Do I feel any different?  No, not really.  I just have to practice saying “I just graduated from Hopkins”.  In time, I’ll get used to it.  After all, I just left Baltimore and began writing this blog on the tail end of my 3 day vacation at home.  I actually moved to D.C. For now, I’d like to give you the general update on senior week events and graduation.

Senior week was officially kicked off with Club Night on Monday the 17^th, officially 10 days before graduation.  The theme of Senior Week was called Life’s a Beach, so all events somewhat stemmed around that general theme.  Club Night was at this place near Power Plant (an area near the Inner Harbor with lots of bars) at Club Mex.  It was a really fun place and it seemed like practically everyone I knew was there.  We all had a great time, except for the fact that we had to drag ourselves out of bed the next morning to go to Ocean City, MD  for week’s next planned event.  The buses left at 10:30 in the morning so my roommate and I ran over to One World Café in the rain to pick up breakfast before catching the buses.  Since I preferred not to do it the conventional way, I did not rent a room in a hotel with a bunch of friends.  Instead, I had planned on taking the bus with everyone on the way there and having my friend who has a house on in Bethany, DE meet up with me.  Kristen and friends boated over to Ocean City, where we spent the afternoonbefore boating back to her house.  At her house we got dinner and prepared for the evening where the Student Council had organized some sort of drink/free cover special at this bar called Mackey’s.   We met up with our other friends and had a ton of fun.  There was lots of dancing and chit chat.  The next day they had another evening event at this bar called Seacrets—apparently it’s the biggest bar on the east coast.  However, the friends I stayed with were heading back to pick one of our closest friends up at the airport.  Our dear friend and my sophomore year roommate, Abby, made her triumphant return to America after spending the past year at SAIS Bologna.  Another late night was spent catching up and hearing her stories, before I went back to the apartment for more sleep.

The thing about senior week is that there is so much going on that you barely have to relax and regain all the sleep you lost during finals period.   The next day, I actually had to grab a train to D.C. because I was invited to this fundraiser for the Center for American Progress.   I was invited through a friend of my mom’s and was allowed to bring a guest, so I brought my good friend Michael.  We got all dressed up for h’orderves and drinks at the Newseum.  Minor issues was that when we arrived, there were unbenowest to me, 2 parties at the museum that night.  The first clue should have been when there wasn’t a nametag for me or Michael despite the explicit mention that I would be on the guest list.  Alas!  No wonder the Salahis got into the State Dinner in D.C.  crashing parties is a piece of cake.  All I said was, I was a guest not on the list and when asked what company I repeated again, “I am a guest of a friend”.  Nevertheless, I was clearly at the wrong party because when I texted the individual who invited me, she said “are you near Pelosi?”.   I think I would know if I was standing near Nancy Pelosi, let alone if I was at a party with her.  So we high-tailed it out of the still unknown party and headed to the correct Center for American Progress one.    My friend Micheal and I had a wonderful time, we even got to meet Speaker Pelosi, Secretary Albright, and John Podesta–former White House Chief of Staff under President Clinton and now the President of Center for American Progress (CAP).  Needless to say, it was a great night.

Other senior week events included a party on “the beach” which was very enjoyable despite the excessive heat, a senior formal, a crab fest, and the most popular event “MSEEYA”—a party in the MSE Library.  Partying in the very place where I spent so many of my waking hours?  Eating in the place where they forbid snacks except for on q-level?  Doing it all with professors and Deans?  Totally amazing.  I had so much fun at this party and everything from the food to the decorations was wonderful.  This is a great tradition that every student can look forward to for when they finally graduate.   So, after all these events we finally had a day of rest–something much needed considering we needed to be ready at 7:30 in the morning for Commencement.

The ceremony itself was nice, extremely hot, but President Daniels, our class President Affan, and Mayor Bloomberg’s speeches were all engaging and entertaining.  As a politico, I thought Bloomberg did a particularly good job not only referencing his time at Hopkins, but also making reference to the fact that we as individuals need to help change the system that has paralyzed us for so long.  There should not necessarily be two party choices, and neither party has the choir of angels behind them.  He ended by reiterating the notion that we will be the one’s to change this, we must take action, and lastly, “don’t screw it up!”.  The entire week was a whirlwind that ended with some final goodbyes. I said goodbye to my family only to see them a few days later, I said goodbye to my friend’s many who I will see (or have seen) following graduation, and I said goodbye to one of my best friends who will be in Cambodia for 27 months.   These goodbyes were definitely not the most enjoyable thing, and all of it culminated in my long and tear-filled train ride home to Connecticut, where I had to buck up just in time to attend a close-friend’s graduation party.   The following few days at home were spent making the rounds before I headed back to D.C. to start my new life.  Since then, I have been working like crazy sometimes getting to the office at 7 am and staying until 8 pm.  It really varies depending on the work, but I know everything I’m doing is extremely important and interesting.  I’ll update you a bit on my job in  my next and final post.  For now, I must say goodnight because it’s been a long day.  Today, I finished packing up my old apartment, looked at the window with the most wonderful view of the city, and said goodbye to Hopkins and Baltimore.  I moved all of my stuff and left the keys at the front-desk.  In all honesty, it feels strange.  I had so many wonderful memories, I’m sorry to say goodbye.  Even when I started my job in Washington, I knew I could always escape to Baltimore and my apartment there.  Now that I’m officially all-moved in to my DC house, I will think of my old home fondly.  My time in Baltimore and at Hopkins was the greatest time of my life thus far.  As I move forward, I will never forget my time spent in Charm City.  Until next time…