admits that "Idol" has taken over her life since her initial audition, she is grateful for the experience. As she said, " It's exposure, it's a future and I'm very grateful for the judges to get me as far as I did to let America judge." She's taking away a lot from being on the show. Ramiele said it taught her humility, and to be courteous to each and every person that works on the show, as everyone was there to help. As far as advice for any future contestants, Ramiele said, "Totally be yourself and enjoy every single minute of it because if you think too far ahead you're going to miss the fun stuff, when you look back. And I'm just glad that I took everything in and I didn't regret anything."

She might have no regrets but Ramiele does admit to some missteps along the way. When asked about singing Heart's "Alone," which Carrie Underwood tackled so wonderfully during season four, Ramiele said she knew what she was up against. She watched Carrie's performance, but her whole goal was to get back to the great critiques she was getting earlier on in the show. In fact, Ramiele said that the initial praise she received didn't seem all that important at the time, and she even let it get to her head. But once she started getting some criticism, she really started over-thinking things, and that's when she thinks things fell apart.

When asked about her lack of experience in comparison to some of the other Idols, Ramiele downplayed the value of that, saying that they were on an "even playing field," as they were all learning the same things from the same vocal coaches, etc. As she put it, the judges chose them all for various reasons, and experience wasn't the end-all, be-all feature they were seeking. Her diminishing confidence throughout the competition, however, did play a big part, and Ramiele said she never should have started second-guessing herself.

Ramiele did say that each Idol seemed to handle the pressure in different ways, and her outlet was definitely her crying! Her emotions were her way of getting out the stress that she was feeling. She also decided not to read the things being said about her on the internet, as she felt that would only make it worse. To boot, Ramiele also felt some added pressure to not only live up to her own expectations as well as her family's, but to other Asian-Americans that were in her corner. When asked about the toll that Simon's comments took on her, Ramiele was surprisingly upbeat about the critical judge. She called him a "very nice guy," and said he even offered her a shoulder to cry on after the show. He told her that, ultimately, song choice might have been her downfall, and she seemed to agree.

Ramiele admitted to listening to her family way too much toward the beginning in regards to song choice. Her family would get upset when she wouldn't pick what they wanted her to sing, and she decided that it wasn't a healthy way for her to go about choosing. As far as her song choice this week went, Ramiele had never even heard the Dolly Parton song before. However, she was pleased with herself that she took a song in a genre she wasn't comfortable in, and she made it her own.

The biggest thing that Ramiele seems to be taking from the show are the strong bonds she formed with the other Idols, as many probably noticed from watching her week to week. She called the Idols one big family, and said that none of them even thought about it as a competition until Wednesday nights, when they realized someone would be going home. When she got back to her room the other night, Brooke, Syesha, and Kristy Lee had left her a very sweet card saying goodbye. Kady Malloy sent her encouraging text messages after she left. Even David Archuleta, who's actually younger than Ramiele, treated her like a younger sister and would come and pat her on the head! But the strongest bond she formed was with another fallen Idol, Danny Noriega. She said she talks to Danny every day and they are going to move in together after the tour, calling them a "friend duet." When it came to naming a winner for this season, Ramiele was at a loss. In other years, she said that people probably had an inkling at this point in the competition, but with everyone being so good this year, it's anyone's to win.

As far as the future goes, Ramiele couldn't be happier to be a part of the upcoming tour. After that, she says she will try to pursue a singing career here in L.A., and would even like to do some acting. If that doesn't work, she said she will probably go back to school to pursue a career in nursing. As far as what her fans could expect from an album, Ramiele said, "I grew up listening to a lot of what my parents listened to, a lot of 60s, 70s, 80s ' a lot of 80s ' and I would love to just make an R&B solo album and kind of just make it a little bit more upbeat and add my flavor to some old songs or covers or something."

Watch Ramiele's exit interview now to hear her talk about the emotional journey that is American Idol.