On Saturday I walked in the Summer 2012 Penn State Graduate School Commencement. I stood in a holding room for an hour, sat in a chair for two hours, got hooded, briefly walked across a stage, shook some hands, and received a piece of paper with lots of calligraphy that says I have a Ph.D. Thus the State College chapter of my life closed.
Greeting President Erikson on stage (photo credit to my sister, Sara).
Over the past few days I’ve been tying up loose ends at Penn State, preparing to leave. Today I did the final cleaning of my apartment. I’ve lived there for 6 years and change–it had truly become home. Last night I found out that my apartment complex is also home to 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist Jake Varner.
My front door for many years–no longer.
The foot bridge I walked to get to my mailbox 6 out of 7 days.
A sign that went up at the apartment complex entrance last night!
On my way out of town I stopped at the Penn State Creamery one last time and ordered a Death Shake (a Death by Chocolate milkshake). As I walked to my car I noticed how small my key ring felt in my pocket. It used to host two house keys, a mailbox key, 4 lab keys, a department key, a greenhouse key, a church key, and my car key. Now the car key alone remains.
