I think it’s going to rain today…

So our time is coming to a close and we are saying our goodbyes to our favorite places, people and really taking in our last moments. Today was the Valedictory ceremony and a lot of the Visthar staff came as well as the women from Tibet that are now staying on campus. It started off with a very moving speech from the famous David Selvaraj and continued to the lighting of the candles around the beautiful sand design that Steven and Nazar had created. The ceremony primarily revolved around the SJPD students and talking about how much we have learned and how far we have each come as individuals. Julio gave the first speech from the SJPD students and then Kyle got up and gave a thank you speech that brought everyone to tears, even Roshen. Rachel sang a beautiful song and Alex recited his poem that was written for our final projects. Then a group of us got up and “tried” to sing We didn’t start the fire by Billy Joel that I had changed all the words to, to represent our last four months we had spent together. Because as Billy Joel says, “We didn’t start the fire, no we didn’t light it but were trying to fight it” relating the word fire to Injustice as a reflection on everything we have learned over the course of the semester. After the ceremony we had our final tea time with our dear friends from Visthar and said our goodbyes. We are all so sad to be leaving this place we have called home for so long, and to leave the people that have now become our family. We have taken our last steps on this semester long journey and are now, to say it plain and simply, going home.

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