Dear beloved readers,

I am here to talk about endings…In a good way, I promise. Every since I know myself, I guess I can say I am not really found of the idea of things ending, I would get sad at the end of the weekend, so you can only imagine how sad I would be in the end of something major like a summer break or after leaving the movie theaters for the last Harry Potter. But endings can be rewarding, they can be big accomplishments, they can change your life. And my college ending, was all of the above to me.

This year has been the most weird time I think we’ve all lived, and I don’t like to get much into it, because I still consider myself pretty lucky and blessed, amid these chaotic months, the biggest sacrifice I had to make was stay at home, but other than that, everyone I know and love are safe and sound. But my last year of college wasn’t how I planned at all.

In the first week of March, when COVID-19 was still a far away reality and barely a concern, I remember sitting with Tony and Clair at the college’s starbies, and I remember we kept repeating “I can’t believe we are graduating this year!” over and over again. That same day, it’s when I remember start worrying. In a matter of a day college was shut down, at first for two weeks and then indefinitely, and I was packing my bags back home, saying goodbye to everything I knew and hoped for my last year of college, getting ready for something that I wasn’t quite sure how it would be, but I knew it wouldn’t be as I planned.

I lost a lot of plans during this months of endless quarantine, plans that seem irrelevant now but that I know will still hurt a little even though now I am kinda used to disappointment. But not being able to graduate, present my thesis, have the last class of the semester in real life? All of that will forever ache like a hole in my chest. This is, however, a time in which we have to try to see the glass half full, and if I do that, I have a lot to be happy about.

Last week, on Friday, I presented my thesis. I spent the whole week rehearsing over and over, memorizing every word, every breath, as if I was staring in a Broadway play, it was opening night, and this was my shot. I am a very anxious person, and when it came to this, it was no different, but one thing about growing up is that you start to gain confidence in yourself, so you can only imagine my surprise when I woke up that morning and I felt…ready.

If you told me I was unbeatable that day, I would’ve agreed. I was so ready for whatever was coming my way, my blood was thicker in my veins and I felt like there was a shield around me, and nothing, absolutely nothing, would get to me. And honestly? I hope this attitude comes back to me more times through my adult life. Presenting this thesis was something I looked forward for over a year, a moment I dreaded and waited hoping it would never truly come, but they always do, don’t they? And that day, when I heard the words “You are a journalist, graduating with excellency, distinction and a nomination for publication” my heart just stopped for a while.

You know when your heart beats so fast it seems like it’s beating against your ear? It was that, but the heart was all over my body, I was a human heartbeat and I felt my soul lifting, for a moment I was numb, completely and utterly numbed by the words that were just spoken to me, things got blurry fast and I cried, oh boy I cried as if this was my Tony’s nomination, only a million times better because after four years of hard work, interviews and stories, articles and essays, I finally heard the words I longed for and some of it felt surreal. I remember we hanged up the Zoom meeting – graduating in pandemic times be like that – and I let go a yell, it was a whole C4 way too high for my own good, I heard my mom’s footsteps on the hall as she ran into my room, not knocking but this time I didn’t care, soon Tony was ringing and I was washed with this feeling, it tasted like success, was vibrant like an accomplishment, and above everything, it felt fucking good. I was a journalist, I had a purpose and I now had a path more shaped in my head – never certain, but I was not on the go no longer, but on the way to something great.

It was one of those days that the happiness latched on to me and it wouldn’t let go, I remember trying to nap after hours of euphoria and a very terribly slept night, and I just couldn’t shut my brain, like it kept doing backflips or something. The compliments and positive feedback I received from the people judging my thesis, my greatest, most hardest work, is something I will keep locked in my brain forever and make sure to visit it every time I even question myself. With this conquest, my purpose in the career I choose to myself became more clear, and damn it if I don’t love what I do.

From years of reading this blog, you guys know I am a born storyteller, I’ve always loved a good story and I’ve always loved people with good stories to tell. Throughout the four years of this major, I always still joked, saying I considered myself more of a writer than a journalist, but life proved me otherwise. I love people, I love hearing people, and I love writing about real life people, people with stories, people who have something to share, I love to bring these stories alive and I fucking love to be the one telling them. Now even though still very much a journalist, with honors, I consider myself a professional storyteller. And this is what I dream I will keep doing for the rest of my days: Finding stories worth hearing and telling, bringing them to life, and always, always, sharing them with you.

It was a crazy journey and if I am being quite honest, I still don’t think it fully came to me that everything ended in such a perfect way. Endings are so scary, but they are also so worth it sometimes. Never in my life I thought I would be able to have stuff figured out, and right now, looking at everything I have accomplished this year, even with all the shitty stuff that came along with it, I can only be grateful, and above everything, proud of myself, which is new, but damn if doesn’t taste better than Ladurée macaroons.

And now that this craziness is finally over, you guys get your girl on the go back, regularly, every damn week, and so help me, because I’ve missed this so much! I love you guys, thank you for following this journey, always rooting for me, and I can’t wait to share many, many more with you! Stay out of trouble, but if it will end as a good story, just tell me all about it.

– Your Girl on the Go