Bitter-Sweet

My time in Washington D.C. is quickly coming to an end and usually when I end an experience, I have what one may say as a bitter-sweet feeling inside of me, but not this time. For the first time in a long time, I am ready for home. I am ready to stay in Utah for a little while, even though my time may only be one short month, I can hardly wait. I feel like I haven't been home for years and I am ready to come home and figure a few things out.

The best and worst part about coming home is graduation. Yes, I did already graduate in December 2007 when I handed in my 30 page thesis about the role of religion in Lithuania during the Communist era. At that moment, as I pushed my paper under Professor Judkin's door, I felt nothing but pure excitement, it was an end of an era. But I knew that I had D.C. waiting for me. Now as my D.C. experience comes to an end, I have no idea what lies for me in the future. I believe that the possibilities are endless. Each week I have a new plan, however this plan seems to only last days and I have changed my mind again. Here are a few of my ideas: Law School, Business School, PhD in Political Science, Investment Banker, flight attendant, a gardener, joining the Peace Corp, a professional reader (I wish), a financial representative for the state of Utah, working on the advance team for the administration, a letter writer, a staff assistant, a national forest employee, or working for the AIDS Foundation. As you can tell, I have lots of ideas, and not a single clue of what in the world I am going to do. So if any of you have ideas, please let me know. At this moment in time, I am really ready for just about anything.

Back to graduation, what exactly am I going to be celebrating? I was in college, but I feel as if my college years or the best of my college years were before my mission when I slept for just a few hours a night, was involved in every single association on campus, was in love with the U and still managed to pull-off decent grades. I was the most involved in school before my mission and since the end of my mission I was just in school. I was the normal commuter student involved only with the Alumni Association. So, I guess on Friday, May 2nd I will be celebrating the fact that I finished or maybe I should celebrate the fact that I don't have a real job yet. Don't worry Mom and Dad I will find a job I promise. Maybe I should celebrate that it's all over and it's time to move onto something new, scary, and exciting.

Since being in D.C. I have learned a lot about politics, but more than that I have learned that it will all work out eventually. I just have to keep on putting myself out there, keep on looking for something new, and keep on finding things to fall in love with and I will be happy. I have fallen in love with D.C. I love the Jefferson at night, I love the canal in Georgetown, I love the row boats on the Tidal Basin, I love the Metro when it goes to Virginia and the first thing you see is the city of D.C.-which stands for freedom, I love the National Cathedral, I love it when it rains and I wake-up to thunder, I love carrot cupcakes from Baked & Wired, I love Kramer's bookstore, I love running to the Mall past every single monument, I love that I saw a group of 100 protesters and 300 cops on Saturday, I love giving a tour at the Capitol and talking about Martin Luther King, Jr., I love the old man Ken that works in the basement of the Capitol, and I love so much more.

Since I got home from my mission, I have been living my life in four-month increments...four months of summer, fours months of school, four months of D.C. and now I am back just to where I started, four months of summer. I am excited to see what these next four months hold, it is like a big mystery and only time will tell. Life, what an adventure.

(As for the picture, this is a picture of the Nazi Protest I saw on Saturday in front of the Capitol celebrating Hitler's birthday. The craziest part was that there were Nazi protesters and anti-Nazi protesters and a million cops!)