Grad Party

Well... the big news of the day is that I am an official USF GRADUATE! WOOHOO!!!!!!! Oh, praise the Lord for giving me this education and the ability to do what I did.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. My family (Dad, Mom, brother Robbie) drove from Orlando and attended. I have to say, USF has graduation commencement ceremonies down to a science and an art. I got there and was handed my card with my name, and could sit wherever I wanted. They ran it like clockwork. I guess you really have to economize when you have about 6,000-8,000 students graduating each spring. My particular commencement had about 780 students (USF puts on several each semester divided by degree). Lo and behold, despite writing my name phonetically on the card as instructed, it was still read wrong -- Lay-ruh, my patooty -- and made no mention of being in the Honors College. Oh well. I was Summa Cum Laude which I did not realize until I looked in the program. Nothing to complain about! I am finished, and that is that. :)

Tomorrow we are throwing a little graduation party at our apartment for friends still in Tampa to come hang out. Since I've got nothing better to do today, I'm getting started on our menu of snacks. Here is our delightful lineup:

• Mint Chocolate Chip Cake -- I wanted something green in honor of USF and this sounds to die for. Almost all our recipes we can thank Pinterest for.
• Tortellini Skewers with Pesto Dipping Sauce -- ummm, yum. And not hard! Inspired by a wedding appetizer.
• Chips & Salsa -- you know, always a good party food.
• Shrimp & Cocktail Sauce -- usually I don't bother with things like meat at parties because it's so expensive, but there's a bag of shrimp in the freezer I bought a few months ago and completely forgot I had. Time to use it up before I go!
• Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip -- easy peasy, I have everything on hand for this! Perhaps I can get some friends to bring apple wedges or graham crackers? I will also whip some coconut milk and add cinnamon for another nice fruit topping.
• Ginger Lime Iced Tea -- this one is so easy and so good, an idea thanks to my daddio. Make a gallon of unsweetened tea and throw in some sliced ginger while it's hot to infuse the flavor. Then add limeade concentrate a bit at a time until you like the sweetness and flavor. Tadaa! It's amazing.
• "Girl Scout Punch" -- at least, that's what I associate it with. Putting scoops of sherbet into ginger ale in a punchbowl is what I remember from Girl Scout ceremonies as our drink. Still love the sugary wonderfulness.

There might be more if we think of it, but not a bad spread for some college girls, right? My two roomies and I each paid about $13.00 and used stuff we had in our kitchen for ages to make this snazzy menu.

This afternoon I've been making tons of tea and cooked the tortellini so it can be ready to skewer up tomorrow. As soon as I discover the fate of my round cake pan, the mint chocolate chip cake can be on its way! MAN, it sounds so good I can't stand it. Tomorrow is not a day people should miss.

Congratulations to everybody who is finishing up school this year, and for the rest of you, press on!

Love, Lara

Getting Close to the End

Today, I turned in my very last International Studies term paper.

The last of very, very many papers that I've written in the past four years.

I only have 2 finals left, but they are both online and for business classes that I am taking on the side. For all intents and purposes, I am completely done with my International Studies degree and will be the proud holder of a USF B.A. on Friday! I CANNOT FREAKIN' BELIEVE IT.

I've both whined and joked about aspects of my major this whole time. People all the time would hear what I study and go, "Gosh, I wish I could do that!" That always cracks me up because, well, you could. I love international organizations, current affairs, culture, history, language, trade, policy, law, and all the goodies that are stirred around the pot of classes one takes at USF in this program. I had fun watching movies from Soviet Russia, writing case studies on human rights issues in China, and learning how to write in Arabic.

The other day, I thought for a second about how many professors I've had that were from different countries, and was really blown away when I realized what a rich body of knowledge I've been drawing from. I've studied under teachers from: Japan, Puerto Rico, South Africa, India, China, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ukraine, Palestine, Ghana, Turkey, and Sweden. And the others have generally travelled all over the rest of the planet. Isn't it amazing to find out the perspectives of people from every other continent at school?

There have definitely been some grody moments in International Studies. I did not like memorizing the acronym-fest that is the IGO/NGO body. (Even that has acronyms, haha.) But if you ever want to know what the UN, UNSC, WTO, GATT, IMF, HRW, or MNCs are all about, hit me up! I was not thrilled at writing a paper on Thomas Jefferson's foreign policy objectives. That class was just evil. I almost fell asleep multiple times in American Foreign Policy, which was for 3 hours at night.

But the rewards have been so great. I've never doubted that I studied exactly what interests me most and fires me up about what I think it is important. I loved putting in the time and care to write a paper on Bosnian war crime tribunals for my Human Rights Class before I set foot there for the first time. My mind really came alive the times we had to formulate ideas on how to end conflicts, how to promote the rights of people all over the world, and how to celebrate the uniqueness of each culture on earth and find ways to interact as one humankind.

This major has had a hugely spiritual component for me. I get on a big soapbox about the idea of biblical, non-biblical, and abiblical things. There are things that the bible makes clear we should do and things we should not do, but there are many things that it makes no note of. So often, we ship a brand of Christianity around the world that has very American/Western instructions for setup. We make it seem like you must close your eyes to pray, that you must dress up for church, and many other traditions that rob us of the beauty of seeing other cultures embrace the purest nature of a relationship with Jesus, and experiencing his delight and joy in a way that culturally makes sense. I love that so many Asian churches all pray aloud simultaneously so that everyone can experience the cries going out to God at once! I love that so many African churches include dance as a form of worship! We Americans get so uncomfortable at such things... why? We are robbing others of seeing how God created their people groups uniquely and robbing ourselves of experiencing so many beautiful aspects of God's creation as human beings!

That seems like a tangent, but I am really passionate about this. And that drive really ties in with my huge interest in International Studies. If I could pick a dream job, it would be sharing the gospel with new residents of the U.S. I love international students and immigrant families. I hope that the Lord opens that door someday. :) But in the mean time, I have this sweet diploma to prove that I am all about the whole world and how neato it is!

I can't believe it's May of 2012. I'm sure more thoughts will come on this soon. But, in the mean time, go Bulls.

Love, Lara