Few people know that I'm moving to Philadelphia in September, to be a graduate student in Drexel University's Master of Public Health program.

Looking back, Irvine has been like a bubble to me - an amazing, informative, good bubble, but a bubble nonetheless. I've found amazing roommates & friends here, as well as the love of my life. So I'm leaving, not because I dislike it here, but because the future and the things I want for my future are too important to leave up to chance and complacency. I can only trust that, when I one day return to California, my true friends and my one-and-only will still hold me as closely in their hearts as they do today, even if that reunion is years from now.

I think time tests all things worth keeping... friendship and loyalty and trust and love most importantly among them. I'm already dreading leaving and fearful of not knowing anything about living on the East Coast, but at the same time I could not be more excited. I know I'll have many fun times to come in the remaining months (AX2009, Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince opening night, Krew meetups, romantic rendezvous, etc.) that I will carry with me wherever I may be. And that makes leaving, if nothing else, okay.

This is the end of an era and the beginning of the rest of my life. Here's hoping for the best~