College is an experience that differs from person to person. While my dad was in college during the 70s, he loved it! While for me…it’s a different story.

For those keeping track, my experience was not a smooth one at all. I started college at Central Oregon Community College (COCC) in Bend September 2017 and left in August 2018. Why? Because I really didn’t like it there. It was a hard adjustment from a school that supports extracurriculars and getting involved to a school that is like “screw you”; as well as it being unsafe with 2 safety notifications within that year (one assault and one shooting).

By the next month, I was enrolled at OSU Cascades, Oregon State’s sister campus, and boy did I have the time of my life! During orientation week, or welcome week, there were stuff to do and activities to partake and it has a welcoming environment. At the time, it was a small campus with 2 academic buildings and one residential building on site so it was nice. I have always told people that if I didn’t pursue a field in film, I’d stay there but my dream school was calling my name. Little did I know that things will get even crazier.

I started attending Portland State University in late September 2019, two terms in, COVID hit. Instead of going back home like everyone else does, I stayed put and I’m glad because the living situation that my parents were living at the time (small house and an even smaller upstairs). So the whole remote learning did take 18 months and in those 18 months, it was tough due to the classes I took. Two terms into getting back into in-person, I dropped out because it was too much, but I wasn’t out for long. Thanks to Brennan and God, I decided to re-enroll, switch majors, and finish within 2 terms. I graduated on my parents 28th wedding anniversary of March 25, 2023.

In between me getting my diploma-oli and the walk, I moved back to Bend, started one job and walked out, started another job and resigned due to a panic attack at work, went on a cruise, go through different trials and tribulations that only God knows.

Yikes!

While planning the weekend, I planned for us to be in Portland from Thursday-Saturday and the weather would look nice. But when the dates got closer, I realized that my commencement won’t be on Friday but on Sunday, which was Father’s Day. So I had to re arrange everything for the hotel and for my photoshoot with my sister of God, Rachel. When I looked at the weather, it was a huge yikes because of the rain, but luckily, Rachel was so accommodating and it all works out in the end.

Day 1

I woke up at my regular time, 8AM, and did everything I need to do on my list. We don’t need to leave early so I did make my parents and I a delicious Asian inspired taco dish. I don’t cook often but it’s always nice to hear that what I made was good.

After lunch, we were off to Portland! The drive was very quick until we got stuck in some Portland metro traffic but we still made it. The check in process was a hassle; all the families were trying to get checked in where there were only 2 people at the front desk. But we did get checked in and got settled into our room before going to the Library Taphouse for dinner.

Library Taphouse is one of a few breweries/bars I liked to go to during my time at PSU, not for drinks but for the food. And boy, did they not disappoint! For appetizers, me and my parents shared the fried cauliflower, in which they got introduced last summer during their trip to Victoria Canada, which was ok for me. For dinner, they split something like a burger while I had the skillet Mac and cheese. It was interesting because the noodles were colored spiraled noodles and not the plain elbow noodles.

After dinner, mom and dad went back to our room while I walked over to CVS to get a couple things, like a last minute Father’s Day card. While I was there, they did a serious relay in there! For my non-retail readers, a relay is basically where they moved stuff around the store because the business calls for it. I go there many times during Covid because it was a block away from campus and I was living on campus for the first 8 months in Portland. After that, I had to take the streetcar over or just put on some music and walk over.

When I got back, all we did was just chill out, watch True Lies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger & Jamie Lee Curtis, and bicker about stupid stuff.

Day 2 (pre-ceremony)

Woke up early so I can get ready for the big day ahead. Actually, I take that back, I woke up early, thinking it’s too early, went back to sleep and then woke up an hour later for breakfast. I wasn’t really looking forward to the commencement, to me it’s similar to high school graduation and not a big of a deal as how other people see it. But I was excited to see my church family again. But not all of them, the majority of them were out of town due to it being Father’s Day weekend.

The sermon talks about controlling the most untamed beast out there: our own tongues. Now, I’ll admit, I have a hard time controlling my tongue sometimes. It gets me into trouble more often than not and just wished that I have no tongue to stay out of trouble. But it’s a valuable lesson for everyone because nowadays, it seems like nobody has a filter.

Right after the service, me and Rachel drove over to the park blocks on campus. We had a quick photoshoot due to the rain we had, but we’re Oregonians and Portland is like a rainforest, so we just brave the weather and dodge the rain due to some expensive equipment. But, the photos looked absolutely beautiful and green. We had have a quick lunch because I have to be at the Veteran’s Coliseum, our meeting place, at 2pm, so we had Subway.

When I got to the room where we’re supposed to meet up before going to the Moda Center, it was very confusing, especially when the sign for my major, arts & letters, were not visible. It took me asking at least 3-4 people where to go until I found the group. And the uneasiness didn’t stop there, since there were a lot of white tassels, I felt like I was the only one with a brown tassel, until I found a few more with it. Even just being at the Moda Center, let alone walking into the arena part was uneasy for me because 7 months prior, I witnessed Brennan suffer his second seizure during the first quarter of the Blazers game.

The Commencement

The first time I was at the Moda Center, before Covid hits, I said to myself “I’m going to graduate here.” Even just walking into the arena, it was so hard to grasp the fact that it’s happening. It’s larger than the Bank of Cascades arena at the Expo Center in Redmond OR where I had my HS graduation, at least 10 times larger and more people packed in this space. Once we got to our seats, in which there are no assigned seating except to sit with your major, everyone is trying to locate their families, myself included; and managed to find my parents with a flashing light from mom’s phone.

The whole ceremony was something. It was the first commencement ceremony at the Moda Center since Covid and it’s the last commencement for our president before going onto the next chapter. At the start of the ceremony, we had an indigenous drum circle performance for us and it gave me chills. We had a lot of great speeches, but the one speech that stood out for me was this young woman who’s the first generation college graduate in her family. She not only did her speech in English, but also in Spanish because she’s Latina. Upon receiving my “diploma”, which is a cover for my diploma, I looked at the camera and give the “I love you” sign with a kiss before that, keeping Brennan in my mind.

Post ceremony

After the ceremony, we didn’t have a party. We did have a college graduation party in March but it was very small compared to my HS graduation party in 2017.

Since it was Father’s Day, we did what my dad wanted to do for dinner: go to the oyster bar, which was one of the oldest restaurants in Portland. And that was the first time I had oysters and it was interesting. All of us got the same thing which was clam chowder and Caesar salad, but dad got some clams as extra because he was hungry. After dinner, we went to the Cheerful tortoise, the bar where I spent most karaoke nights at and made my mark as “Rose”. We didn’t stay long enough to do karaoke at 9:30, we went back to the room and kick our feet back.

Final thoughts

Before I went to the commencement and the tickets were available, I had in mind that Brennan and I will work it out and he will attend since he wasn’t there when I got my diploma in March. Unfortunately, because of the situation we’re in as two people working it out and one of us not caring at all, he did not attend. Yes, I did miss him, and I did miss my uncle and aunt who went to my HS graduation but not this, it felt like ripoff.

When I got back to Bend from Portland, I had second thoughts about where I would move to. Before this trip, I wanted to move down to Vegas, more so Henderson; I had everything planned out for my weekend down there. But after that weekend, it made me realize that I have everything here in the Rose City, my church family, a job I’m passionate about, and a place I’ve already called home. So the next day, I reached out to my old workplace, Chestnut Lane, about re-hiring me back and boy did they not hesitate and they missed me! And soon after, I got accepted to move into the apartment complex that I was looking at and hopefully moving into prior to my sudden move in March. Now that the apartment is taken care of, my volunteer position at church is back on and will start online training for Chestnut Lane, there’s one more thing to complete and only God will help me…