Graduation and Birthday!

This last week has been a busy one! I flew back to the United States for a few days to participate in the graduation ceremony at Augustana College. I left on Tuesday morning and arrived in SD on Wednesday morning, my birthday. My brother and my friend Steph met me at the small and ever-in-construction Sioux Falls airport, both with awesome welcoming signs. I was able to spend a wonderful couple of days visiting many friends and finishing Augustana school things. I celebrated my birthday, had breakfasts, checked out Sioux Falls a little, and had a few drinks with many friends that I dearly missed. I got my fixes of chinese food and pepperoni pizza. I also ate my share of birthday cupcakes and American candy, yum! It felt a little weird, returning to the States, though. After spending so much time in Chile, the United States seems very sanitary, almost over sanitary. All of the public places are really clean. I don't write that to diss Chile at all, either. It's just two different cultures in two different places. Honestly, I prefer both. Both feel comfortable to me now that I have spent so much time here. We also package things up the whazoo compared to Chilean products!


Here are some pictures from graduation. My friend Steph is in the first, and my family and I stand in the second. Graduation Saturday flew by. It all seemed very surreal, the actions of greeting and taking pictures with friends who I'd not seen in months, donning the cap and gown, and walking for my diploma and shaking hands with President Rob Oliver. It all went by too fast, but I appreciate the moments that I did have.

After graduation, I headed to Minerva's for an awesome celebratory dinner with some family. I got chances to talk with everybody there and catch up a little. My favorite part was simply seeing all my family! Here's some pics with my grandparents!
After a small delay, I was able to head back to Valparaiso on Tuesday. I arrived on Wednesday, just in time for class before a celebratory "once" dinner with my family and a few friends. We dined on completos, for it was the national day of the completo. Below is a pic of this celebration. Thanks to everybody who helped me celebrate my birthday and graduation!