Goodbye Pittsburgh, I'll miss yinz

For all you true Pittsburghers out there, I know I misused "yinz" in the title since it's only a plural pronoun, but I thought the use of yinz and slight grammar mistake was very fitting.

All kidding aside, I'm really going to miss this city. I've spent the best 4 years of my life here. I've grown enormously as a person, and there are so many people to thank for that. I have a wonderful family and wonderful friends who have always been there for me. I worked in a great lab with great coworkers who became both mentors and friends. And I have so many great memories from this school and this city.

This past year has been a rocky one for me. I experienced the highs of getting into grad school, snowboarding for the first time, graduation, Europe vacation and skydiving. But I also experienced the lows of bomb threats, my family moving from New Jersey, breaking up from a great relationship, and losing my best friend. Cameron, none of us has gotten used to you being gone. The pain is still there, and we all miss you all the time. I still wear your necklace every day, although I had to change the cord since the last one wore too thin and broke. I'll never forget you, man, and I hope you're watching over me and have my back like you always did.

I have too many friends to shout out to everyone. There are friends who I had and don't talk to much anymore, and there are friends who I just met this summer. To those who I got to see before I left, thank you for making an effort to come see me. For those who I didn't get to see, I will be back to visit, I promise. And to everyone, please keep in touch! I'm serious, there's no excuse for lack of communication when we live in a world where "Facebook me" and "FaceTime me" are commonly used verbs.

For my first picture on this blog, I think yinz should see the amount of food that we are going to take on this trip. George's mom kindly bought "a few snacks" for us at Costco:

I told George and Anthony there might be room for only one of them now.

And that doesn't even include the bags of fresh fruit that she bought for us. I know I mentioned getting some great barbecue in Memphis but we may not even need to buy any food on this trip.

Well, it's time to finish some last minute packing. There's not a whole lot to say that can encapsulate what I'm feeling. Sad, excited, nervous, anxious. Thank you Pittsburgh, thank you friends, thank you family. I'm starting a new chapter in my life, but I hope that you all can stay a part of it. Oh, sorry, I hope that yinz can stay a part of it.