Somehow within the week, I will take to the stage for the last time after 18 years of dancing, as well as receive my diploma after four long years as an undergraduate student. Driving down North George Street to West Village B four years ago seems just like yesterday. I remember the nerves, the tears, the loneliness I felt in those first few days, and my horrid haircut. Never did I think I would enjoy college as much as I have and never could I have imagined the person I would be today. College has brought me so much joy and so much heartache, but I am so thankful to have come out in one piece, with a much better haircut, might I add.
To my parents, who are the sole reason I am here, thank you. It is because of your constant support that I am even writing this. I don’t say it often enough, but I love you all to pieces. I am the person I am today because you instilled independence, drive, and empathy in me, that I sometimes doubted I had. I am certain I would not have made it to graduation if not for you all. You are the best of me and I hope I make you so incredibly proud one day.
To my friends, thank you isn’t sufficient enough. You all became family these past four years and with that meant dealing with some pretty ugly sides of me. I am immensely indebted to those of you that have stuck around, and I cannot express my gratitude enough knowing I had such a strong support system at my home away from home. It was all of you that got me through my bad days and I am well aware there were a lot of them.
To dance and Expressions, I will miss you. While I know there is always a studio out there waiting for me, I also realize it will never be the same. From growing up at dance with my cousins and best friends to continuing that journey in college, I have no words to describe how much this art has meant to me for most of my life. It has saved me in a million and one ways, to say the least. I especially want to thank my company girls for giving me more than I could have hoped for, for my last year teaching. You have made this goodbye that much harder.
To all of the people I have come to know and love at school, this is for you. College is a small community, a unique one at that, and every encounter will stay with me as I leave this journey behind in two weeks. Whether we talked once, everyday, we don’t talk anymore, or we only saw each other from afar, I am grateful for you. It is the many acquaintances that I have come to know that have helped shape who I am today. I wish each and every one of you the best, truly.
Today, I am choosing to be grateful. Grateful for my friends, Expressions, Her Campus, family, myself, the amazing souls I have met at college, and a million other things. It is all of this that is making my goodbye so difficult and I could not be more appreciative for that blessing. Not everyone gets to experience the love and support I have throughout college and I will never take that for granted.
So I guess this is goodbye to a lot of things I have come to love over the past few years.
Goodbye to writing these articles.
Goodbye to long hours at the dance studio.
Goodbye to movie nights in apartment 24.
Goodbye to my cosy little college bedroom.
Goodbye to long walks around campus.
Goodbye to naps in the middle of the day.
Goodbye to a place that slowly became a home.
Goodbye to my childhood, I suppose.
With that, I am signing off one last time. Thank you for everything Millersville, Her Campus, and readers.
Gabby