The best four years of your life.

If you read my blog post from yesterday, you know I'm a little sad about graduating from college and leaving Columbia (and all my friends) behind. While writing that post, I was reminded of my commencement speech from high school.

Yes, this is actually a picture of me, not a Pinterest picture. Shocker!

I really didn't want to speak at my graduation at first; I really didn't think I had anything to say that the audience hadn't already heard at each of their previous children's graduation ceremonies. I definitely knew I didn't want to give the typical recap speech of high school: highlighting the best moments, listing my class' athletic and academic accomplishments, and telling inside jokes that the majority of my 139 classmates would have understood.

Instead, I wanted to do something different. I'm from a fairly small town, where most of my classmates had gone to school together since kindergarten, you knew pretty much everyone's name, and many of my friends had the same teachers their parents had had years ago. I wanted to remind everyone that regardless of whether they had enjoyed high school or not, there is always something better waiting up ahead. To steal a line from the romantic comedy Just Friends, I don't think anyone should be "the girl [or boy] who peaked in high school." So this is the speech I gave, and I hope I accomplished my goal:

The end of an era.

Time's up! 

Source: browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com via Traci on Pinterest

I've had plenty of time this semester to think about graduation (and what comes after). I've remembered the good times, written countless cover letters during my job search, finally figured out my plan for next year and spent as much time as possible with friends. I had a countdown to graduation on my phone, a Facebook album titled "The End of an Era" for this semester's pictures (hence the post title), and my cap and gown has been sitting in my room since October 5.

But it didn't really hit me until it was too late to change my mind.

I've known for a while that I was on track to graduate a semester early. In fact, I started taking the minimum number of credits per semester when I realized I could have graduated a year early if I wanted. (I didn't.)

My friends (especially my younger ones) constantly asked me why I wasn't staying until May. I always told them it just wouldn't work; I already had two majors and, like I said, I was already taking the minimum course load. I guess I could have picked up a minor along the way, but by the time I realized how much I would really miss Mizzou, I felt it was too late. Everyone was expecting me to graduate in December, and I thought I was ready to leave.

Does this mean Missouri is Southern?

I woke up this morning to a text telling me the event I was supposed to attend at 4 p.m. had to be rescheduled "due to the press conference at 4:30."

What press conference? I thought. I assumed it probably had something to do with Mizzou's much-anticipated move to the Southeastern Conference, but why hadn't I heard anything about it before now?

Well, within 30 minutes, I had four different emails conveying the same message:

MU Chancellor Brady J. Deaton

invites you to join

Athletic Director Mike Alden,

University of Florida President Bernie Machen

and

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive

For a celebration and news conference

on the occasion of the

University of Missouri’s

admission to the

Southeastern Conference

Sunday, November 6, 4:30 p.m.

MU Student Center

One was from the chancellor himself, one from Greek Life, one from the Student Recreation Complex where I work and one from the Mizzou Alumni Association.

It only happens once in 100 years.

This past weekend, Mizzou celebrated its Centennial Homecoming. Although the term "first homecoming" is debatable, the University of Missouri is widely recognized as the founder of homecoming, dating back to when the athletic director invited alumni home to Mizzou for the Missouri-Kansas football game in 1911. Without getting too scholarly here, I will acknowledge the opposing faction that claims Mizzou was not the first. An Associated Press story published last month said, in part:

Tigers faithful have spent decades claiming former Missouri football coach and athletic director Chester Brewer's invitation for graduates to “come home” was the start of the tradition. School leaders know better — and are now more vocal in dispelling a well-worn myth whose adherents included Brewer himself.

“We try to be a little more careful about it,” said Missouri Alumni Association executive director Todd McCubbin, whose organization used to promote the school's homecoming as “the first and finest.”

The Oct. 15 game vs. Iowa State, preceded by a week's worth of activities, is now simply the school's centennial celebration.

“Certainly, our graduates feel like we're the first,” he said. “Sometimes perception is reality.”

So basically, what I'm saying is I'll still claim Mizzou as the originator of Homecoming. And we're still recognized as the largest student-run homecoming in the nation!

This is what Greektown looks like the night before Homecoming! (Right outside the ADPi house.)

Go Tigers! Moving on ...

Keep calm and M-I-Z Z-O-U

With all the Homecoming craziness this week, I just want to say one thing:

Photo via Pinterest.

72 Days at Mizzou.

Photo via Pinterest

1. It's been a while since I've written a post about my
impending graduation and subsequent limited time at Mizzou.

2. I bought my cap and gown for graduation today. Eek!

3. With only 72 days left, I don't anticipate I'll accomplish

much more during my undergraduate experience.

Due to these three items, I decided it was time to write a nostalgic piece about my time at the University of Missouri. I don't know if you can be nostalgic about something that isn't actually over yet, but I'm going to do it. So there. This will be mostly photos that represent my most memorable and/or proudest moments here at Mizzou. Enjoy!

94 Days at Mizzou.

Source: weheartit.com via Megan on Pinterest

Whew. Every day I look at the countdown on my phone and the number gets smaller and smaller, meaning graduation is getting closer and closer! The 94 days I have left until graduation include:

• 11 chapter meetings with Alpha Delta Pi
• 44 scheduled shifts at MizzouRec
• 84 class meetings
• 5 home football games
• 82 nights in the Pi lodge
• 1 academic break (boo!)

Wow. I probably shouldn't have done that. Now graduation seems so much closer, and I'm started to feel a little depressed about leaving my carefree college life behind....

100 Days at Mizzou.

Source: fashionandmodeling.tumblr.com via Keith on Pinterest 

Well, maybe the boys in this post don't look quite like this. But a girl can dream!

So, I was walking past a particular fraternity house on my way home from work today and was inspired to write a new post. See, this fraternity really likes to play music on its lawn when the weather is nice, which is usually accompanied by several men playing sports in the front yard or lying out on lawn chairs, sometimes sans clothing. Some days, I find this irritating, but today I really appreciated the music because the fabulous almost-fall weather we've been having put me in a good mood.

As I was walking by the house (singing along in my head, of course), I realized it is probably the trivial things like this that I will miss about Mizzou when I graduate in December. I've lived in my Greek house for the past two years, so I've become accustomed to the surrounding atmosphere. This realization came only a few hours before I looked at my phone and noticed my graduation countdown app, which now says:

"Graduation! 12/16/2011. 100 Days Left."

Of course, I took this as a sign that I needed to somehow commemorate my last 100 days of my undergraduate eduction. So this is the first post of (probably) many, to record the good times and the bad before I leave Mizzou at the end of the semester.

Source: bakerella.com via Laura on Pinterest

Someone, please feel free to make these for me.

They will make the fact that I'm graduating so much easier to stomach.

P.S. - As I was writing this post, the above-mentioned fraternity house began playing Justin Bieber ("One Less Lonely Girl"). Yes, I can hear it from my room.

Welcome to Atlanta!

Okay, so it's "Welcome to Miami," as my fellow interns pointed out just the other day. But I'm in Atlanta, so I'm going to adapt the lyrics for now.

Welcome to my blog! I will (hopefully) be chronicling my adventures during my internship in Atlanta this summer...


then my study abroad trip to Rwanda...


and then my job search when I get back to school (University of Missouri) in August.


I would like to point out that I wanted to call this blog "Megan in Motion" to reflect my constant travels and life changes, but the other interns in the room all laughed at me. Well look right to see my new alliteration! Ha! (Edited to add: I used to have a widget in the right column called "Meet Megan," but I've updated my blog since then!)