BYU Graduation (part I)

After 4.5 years....I finally graduated from BYU. And Mary too, with her Masters. And guess what? I think she's the first one on either side of our family to get an advanced university degree! (but I could be wrong...?)

I got my BA in International Relations with an emphasis on the Middle East and a minor in Arabic. During the fall semester, I wasted a lot of time applying to internships for the winter semester through a program at BYU called Washington Seminar (I don't feel like explaining it, sorry). I didn't wait long enough to hear back from anyone, though for a number of reasons. One, I had a fairly promising job lead with the Department of Defense, and didn't see the point in working for free if by the end of 2011 I'd have a good job. I knew it wasn't certain, though. I had been given a conditional job offer - conditional on whether I passed my tests and my intense background check. It's not hard to fail those important steps, so I knew to be wary. But let's face it, I was still really counting on that to work out. In March, I received an email saying that they weren't going to be able to take me on in 2011, but if things change in the future they'd contact me (yeah, right). Thank youuuuu budget cuts....or not...that's just what I like to tell myself. I know I hadn't failed any of the steps up to that point, so I'm really not quite sure what happened. Actually, I do have a few theories, but I'm not going into them here. So, as you all know from my previous angry posts, I am frantically looking for employment that has something to do with what I studied.

I don't regret not doing an internship, because it would have put me a couple thousand dollars deeper in debt and I'm pretty sure I still wouldn't have a real job. I don't mean to sound cynical, or even that I'm just saying that to make myself feel better. I just really am pretty confident I'd be in the same place I am now, just more poor.

Mary, on the other hand, finished her Thesis by December. I really want to type here what it was, but I'm too lazy to get up to find her book with the loooooong title on it. She completed her BS in Dietetics, then an internship, then her RD exam, then her Masters degree in Nutritional Science, and now she's the dietitian at the NICU at whatever hospital is in Murray! She's awesome, and I'm way jealous that she's got the brains and also has a big girl job.

So the family came out for grad weekend which was sometime near the end of April, and it was awesome having them here.

We went to Tucanos for lunch, then to Commencement where Elder Scott spoke. Before he spoke, some stupid girl gave a talk about how she's glad she got her education, but now she's on to bigger and better things: motherhood. And she went on and on about that.

Seriously, BYU????

I shouldn't be surprised, for obvious reasons. But still. I was not only disgusted at her, but I was also offended. First off, I'm not married. Nor do I wish I was at this moment. I've met no one in my life as of yet with whom I've yearned to tie the knot. Also, even when I do get married, I do want a career. I do want to balance being a mom with having a job. I may go down to part time when they're young, but that's all I'll give up. Does that mean I'm not as righteous as her? Because at the age of 19 I didn't marry the first guy that expressed interest in me and have unprotected sex on our wedding night? Also, there were plenty of PhDs who were women, JDs who were women, masters degrees who were women LIKE MY SISTER. And hopefully me at some point! What was that stupid girl thinking? This was not an LDS fireside, or a relief society meeting, cause heaven knows I already really hate going to that hour of church as it is ("get married, have babies, get married, have babies, etc"). Uh I was so freakin annoyed at her. I wanted to throw my stilettos at her a little bit.

disclaimer: There's nothing wrong with being married. There's nothing wrong with getting a college degree and technically not using it because you've decided to be a stay-at-home mom. I think that's awesome that education is that important to you, even knowing that you'd likely not end up using it at a job. There's nothing wrong with having kids while in school, if you can handle it. There's nothing wrong with any of that. I'm just a different breed of Mormon, and it was really just the time, the place, and the way that girl went about saying what she did. Just rubbed me the wrong way.

Anyway, the next day I walked the stage at 8 freaking am. Not okay. The Kennedy Center for International Studies is a relatively small college, so it went by pretty fast. Mary's was at 11, I think. Now THAT was a doozy. Way too long. But I lived. And then we took a bunch of pictures, all of which I hate of course. I hate those stupid unflattering graduation outfits, and I also just hated all the pictures of me, even not in my grad outfit. Oh well. Then we got Mexican at Mama Chus, and after that I think we called it a day.

I moved into my new apt in Holladay (pretty much Salt Lake) the next day, and the day after that was Easter with my mom's side of the family. I had to commute to Provo for work during the next week, and then this past week I just transferred to the Olive Garden in Murray, so it's only like 10 min away from where I live now. And that's my life. Goodbye!

P.S. A whole bunch more pictures to come soon. Probably tomorrow or the next day. This is just already too long, and I need access to some pictures that Mary has.