New Year

"It takes a lot of understanding, time, and trust to gain a friendship with someone. As I approach a time of my life of complete uncertainty, my friends are my most precious asset."

All good things must come to an end.

Much to my amazement the calendar reads January 6th, 2010, a date that conveys that rapid rate at which I believe this year will pass. Chaperoned by a full moon in the arctic sky the new year rolled in quickly leaving us to look back on the accomplishments of the prior year and to perhaps set new resolutions for 2010. I have heard many say that they believe it will be a good year, and I could not agree more. With the economy grappling its way back out of the trenches and an overall ambiguity of the job market we can be sure that 2010 will be full of surprises, some good, some bad. A new decade is upon us, and we will be sure to make the best of it. Glancing once more at the calendar I have realized something momentous... In just two days, I will be leaving Orlando and heading back to Oregon.

My last two weeks here have been riddled with obstacles and touched with the emotions that go alongside having to part from some of your best friends. The Disney College Program is unyielding in this regard, giving you almost a complete lack of closure and a sure sense of loneliness. Some people leave before you, some with, and some after. Whatever way it happens, saying goodbye is difficult in more than one sense. The memories that were created here will never be lost, the friendships will never be abandoned, and the experience gained will never go to waste. I will miss the diversity that I have been encompassed by for so long. I will miss getting on the bus and feeling, quite literally, lost in translation. My eyes have been opened to a world far more vast than the one in which I permanently reside. The world is full of beautiful people, people that are just like you and I, contending to find the same camaraderie and happiness that we all seek. I am grateful to have been a part of this experience and would not exchange it for anything.

Thank you to the readers that have followed me this far, and thank you for bearing with me the weeks that I struggled through and could not find any inspiration to write. I hope that you continue to follow me through whatever may come.

-Derek