It's So Hard To Say Goodbye

Christian, the only other guy in Lived Religion!

Candid photos are the best--Lived Religion 2012

It's so hard to say goodbye. By tomorrow noon, VSA will not be continuing but a memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I feel like that I've really changed as a person just these past three weeks. I'm truly an adult now, ready for the world to come at me head-on. It's not that difficult for me to get along with my peers back in Pinole, but VSA has truly made it extremely easy for me to open-up and just be myself--much faster than what took me probably my entire Freshman Year to fully open up and make as many friends that I have today in high school. I honestly can consider every single one of my peers here my friend. It was interesting how everyone was saying "Hi Chris!" to me today. I guess that poem yesterday really made me known to everyone; I'm just glad I touched everybody's hearts.

I finally found out after our research presentations my "affirmations", or classmate descriptions, of me. My Lived Religion classmates, and my teacher, are truly the kindest of them all. "Outgoing", "sociable", "funny", "random", "risk taker", and "brings energy wherever you go" were just some of the descriptions they gave me. I'm glad people perceive me that way. That's definitely what I would like to come off as. Well, all I can say is that I couldn't have asked for a better Lived Religion class. The laughs, the personal stories, the insight--I'll never forgot this wonderful class.

I was also surprised to find out that I received an award by my VSA proctor, Trevor. The award for me was called "Mr. VSA", and I honestly didn't expect that from him. To get an award like that--to know that I was the "definition" of VSA--was a great honor; I was so happy. In addition, I won two superlatives in the VSA Termbook, Friendliest and Most Talkative.  I don't think of myself as very talkative, but I guess the friendliness goes hand-in-hand with the talkativeness. No matter, I was extremely honored again. I never win any superlatives. My first ever superlative award was just this year at the end of Band for Most Likely to Brighten Up Your Day. I honestly don't seek attention much, but I just like to make a lot of friends and say "hi" to everybody, because it's the right thing to do. Don't you love meeting new people? Maybe it's just me. Oh, wait I didn't even mention we have a VSA Termbook (yearbook in three weeks). Isn't VSA the best?

To end VSA, of course, we had another dance! The VSA staff really do go all-out for the students here. To be honest, this dance wasn't as special as the first one. Now don't get me wrong; this dance was still one of the best dances I've ever been to. However, the first dance was definitely the BEST dance I've ever been to--and that surpasses even Prom or Senior Ball. The first dance was just too perfect. And perhaps the fact that this was the last time I'd see most of my peers made me a bit sad. I didn't end the dance as energetic nor as excited as I was the first one. Instead of kicking off the end of the first week with a dance, it's the kick-off for the end of VSA forever for me with a dance. I really do hope that the friendships I've made here will last forever. I just couldn't imagine myself not seeing them again. I wish everybody here just went to my high school, or perhaps I wish that I could go to any one of their schools.

Well, there goes the last night of VSA--forever. As you can see, I'm not too happy about this. Good night.