Dear Students...

At the end of the semester, I always have conflicting feelings. On the one hand, I'm happy that it's over and that I'm going to get some time off. On the other hand, I'm sad that we have to disband after building our very own little international community and finally getting truly at ease with each other. So, bittersweet... 

You all should feel very proud of yourselves. You are reading, writing, speaking, living, breathing, maybe even dreaming by now, in English. This is quite an accomplishment and your levels of fluency are truly impressive. Each and every one of you has made progress. It's not easy to do what you're doing, but you're doing it. Some days better, some days worse, but you're doing it.

My advice for you? Stay focused and work hard and you will achieve your goals. The only one you are racing against is yourself. G-d gave you your potential--its your job to achieve it and do good in this world. It doesn't matter if it takes you one semester more or less to get there, what matters is that you get there. Everything in good time. Don't put too much pressure on yourself.

For those of you staying in Houston (Natsume, Paulina, Rena, Celia, Yichen, Fahad, Mohammed, Abdulrahman, and Nayef (?)--wow, that's almost all of you)--please come and visit me at the LCC or email me (holly_cin@yahoo.com) or call (713-721-3460) to say hi. If you throw a party, invite me and I will try my best to come. Also, if you need anything while you are in Houston, and I can be of help, feel free to contact me. Former students often consult with me on their academic decisions as well as their parking tickets and baby questions! Should you have a legal issue, my husband is a good person to consult. If in the future you lose my contact information, you can always call the LCC office and they'll know how to reach me. At the very least, you can remember my last name. That's Cin. C-I-N. Like cinammon. Or cinema. Of course I hope you will remember more than my last name!

For those of you entering the university (Aziz now and the majority of you later), I wish you tremendous success. It won't be easy but with hard work and determination you will achieve your goals. To be a successful student requires a good brain (which you all have) and a lot of hard work.

For those of you returning home (Mariana), I wish you a safe and pleasant journey and I hope you continue to learn and to practice, and I hope to see you in your country one of these days soon. Finally, I want to congratulate Mariana for being chosen as outstanding student. In this class there were many smart and hard working students so it was not easy to isolate the "most outstanding."

Thanks, 5A, for a really great semester. I will miss our class a lot!

Yours,
Holly

p.s. check back here on the blog for pictures. I will post them when I get a chance.