Say Goodbye

I just packed up my last few belongings. Um, more like I SHOVED my last shirt into one of the FIVE bags that I have going home with me tomorrow. Don't worry-just two of them are actually oversize.....

It's amazing how much we accumulate over time even when you aren't even trying to acquire things.

I remember when I first got to Stanford University in 1999. I think I only had one less bag with me. My father complained the whole time when he had to lug all those bags up three flights of stairs to the my room in the Burbank dormitory. Thanks, Dad.

My car is packed up and ready to be stored thanks to my friend Taualai. He basically treated the whole thing like a Tetris game- and here I thought I was good at Tetris but T-Lai can see space where no where else can. Thanks, T-Lai.

I can't believe I'm leaving California. I have left this place on and off for the past six years but this may or may not be the last time I live here.

I stopped out of Stanford for the first time after my freshman quarter in 1999 to train for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. I had a great time at the Olympics with Felicia and the rest of the USA team. I even had a chance to meet Ray Allen (NBA player who starred in my fav movie, He Got Game) and I think I offered Tommy LaSorta a twizzler. He was still on Slim Fast and was waiting to have his "sensible dinner" so he opted out of the twizzler treat.

I came back after the Olympics and decided I hated school. To be truly honest, I was depressed for a long time. How can I go from being a rock star in Sydney to being a nobody on that big Stanford campus? When you are 19 going on 20 you don't really know how to handle the stress of the Olympics followed by the stress of going to a university like Stanford. On top of that-I should talk about post-Olympic depression in another blog post. Not so much fun.

Anyways, because I was having such a bad time at school and because I couldn't wait to get back to my NYC-long distance-long term boyfriend (ex now), my second move in 2003 to train for the Olympics wasn't a problem for me. I left Stanford without regret and moved to NYC. The Big Apple was great and I have a lot of close friends there but training in a big city was nearly impossible for me. For one thing-my coach of 18 years had at some point given up on himself and in turn given up on me, on us, and on our ability to win. So-I didn't make the 2004 team to Athens, I broke up with my boyfriend, and I went back to Stanford in the fall of 2004.

Two years later and I have come to love Stanford. This is all thanks to Stanford in Moscow program and meeting a few fantastic friends and professors who have never ceased to inspire and encourage me. Spacebo, Professor Dakin!

Now it is with sadness in my heart that I leave this place behind me. The sun, the clear blue skies, the palm trees, Mexican food, Whole Foods, Jamba Juice, my hair salon, should I go on-I think I'm depressed.

BUT-even though I have packed up all my belongings and headed East, it doesn't mean that I won't be back. My fingers are crossed to come back for Stanford GSB (Graduate School of Business) program. We'll see....

So-back to that one extra bag I have. What's in it?

It's actually a pretty complex answer.

Everyone always says that home is where the heart is. It's true-I love my parents but I don't always love Rochester and no longer consider it my home.

So in my bag - I carry my friendships. They are my heart. I will build my home around them. Over the last six years I have come to develop some amazing relationships. These are the kind of people that you know you'll always be friends with throughout your entire life. You know the types, the ones that even when you get together after spending some time apart it's as if you never skipped a beat.

I have plans to live next to these people when I'm married with kids. NP and Mikey-you know you're going to be my kids' Godparents. T-Lai-you are going to run football and athletic drills for my children every morning. I see it now-"Wake up Iris Zimmermann Junior, it's time for sprints!".

To my closest friends-and you know who you are, I will never let go of our friendship even when I'm miles away. I am always there for you as you are there for me.

Shout out most especially to Nicole, Mikey, Taualai, Jamal, and Anjali. I love you guys. Buy your tickets to Beijing!

And so, as people grow up and travel to far away places they always pick up a few extra things along the way. The question for tomorrow-will they charge me for the extra baggage if I tell them that it's not just clothes inside-my close friends are in there too???? Maybe not...

Bye California. Hi snow...I mean Rochester.