Update

[tarigwaemir]

Blair Hall Apts., on the Feast of St. Getulius and Companions

Back in New York. I graduated last Thursday. I thought about making a detailed post recounting the truly absurd level of ritual and tradition that goes into the Harvard Commencement, but I shall spare you the details and just say that Bill Clinton gave a good, if somewhat rambly, speech, and Bill Gates gave a positively inspirational one. We were also blessed by perfect weather on the actual day of Commencement itself: sunny and clear, but a nice, crisp temperature so we didn't overheat in our heavy black wool robes. Almost every event required a procession of some sort, which usually resulted in semi-organized chaos that caused us to start every event at least fifteen minutes late. But it was grand and worth the wait.

Yesterday, there was a mini-reunion of high school friends on the occasion of Mr. Randolph's birthday. A little disorienting to see people after four years because they looked so much the same. It was nice though to see how easily we could slip back into hanging out again...of course, some of us had kept in touch since high school, and the rest of us for the most part had done our share of judicious Facebook-stalking. ldmoonflower, Serena and I went shopping at H&M, the Gap and Forever 21 afterwards, which was a bit of a novel experience because I don't think I've ever really been shopping for clothes with friends before.

In other news, I have a new cell phone (LG White Chocolate), a new bike (which I'm learning how to ride), and a new computer (iMac). Needless to say, life is good. ^_^

Yours &c.

Comments

[tsutanai.livejournal.com]

Congratulations, ma'am. XD

(Actually, and personally, I'd love to know the absurd level of ritual that goes into a Harvard ceremony. Plus the history of same, etc etc.

But I'll just end with saying: heh, Cornell doesn't have guest speakers at the commencement. It's a sign of how We R Srs Business. Nyah. XD)

[troisroyaumes]

Thank you!

Hm, off the top of my head:

- Baccalaureate, traditionally a church service, now modernized to include readings from the Hebrew Bible, the Vedas, the Qu'ran and the New Testament, each in the original language and English translation (no Buddhism though, alas). We had to wait outside in full academic regalia for an hour before we began processing into the church, which I wasn't too happy about. By tradition, we're supposed to tip our hats to the John Harvard statue along the way, which I neglected to do.

- Class Day, which in addition to the Class Day speaker (i.e. Bill #1), includes two Harvard Orations (serious speeches, by student speakers) and two Ivy Orations (humorous speeches, also by student speakers). Apparently, Class Day used to be a time of drinking punch and carousing about the Yard: there was a print of drunken students dancing in circles on the cover of our program.

- The morning Commencement Exercises: we're woken up by bagpipes at 6:15 AM. At 6:45, there's one last breakfast in the dining hall with champagne and strawberries. We line up in the courtyard to begin our first procession (one of many) into the Yard, led by the bagpipers and members of the Senior Common Room, who are dressed in the colors of their own respective institutions. Senior Chapel at 8:15 AM, where the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals makes his traditional address (it was hilarious, by the way), and then we line the paths in the Old Yard again, according to House. The alumni process into Tercentenary Theatre first by order of class, then the president of the university (who wears a cassock underneath his/her robes), visiting dignitaries and chaplains, recipients of honorary degrees (most prominent being Bill Gates), and then the faculty by order of rank. There's a pretty elaborate color-coding system of robes: black for Bachelor's, black with a crimson-lined hood for Master's, and crimson robes with hoods for doctorates and above. The markings are color-coded by school as well (white for the College, purple for law, green for medicine, etc.) and by department for the faculty. Anyway, the morning exercises open with the sheriff of Middlesex County marching in and striking the ground three times with his silver-tipped staff and declaring the meeting open. Which dates back all the way to the beginnings of the university itself, apparently, when the commencement ceremony used to be open to the public and hence prone to rowdiness. The rest of the ceremony is entirely scripted, with the dean of each school coming forth to present the degree candidates, and the president conferring the degrees by a speech act (at this moment, students move their tassels from left to right). Each of the graduate schools brings little props: this year, the medical school brought nitrile gloves, while the law school brought gavels, the school of government brought globes, etc. That tradition is more recent, of course, so I don't know how far it goes back to.

- The diploma ceremony: a more recent addition since Harvard used to not give diplomas until sometime last century. We go to our respective Houses and get our names called out in the usual fashion.

- The afternoon Alumni Exercises: more marching in procession, by class. The president of the Alumni Association reports on the state of the association, the treasurer on finances, etc. This part is pretty relaxed since I think the HAA itself wasn't formed until late 19th century or so. The Commencement speaker gives his speech here, not during the morning exercises. Includes singing of Radcliffe and Harvard school songs.

There's more information on the history of the ceremony and how traditions have changed over the years in the program, but I don't remember it off the top of my head, I'm afraid. ^_^;;

[troisroyaumes]

Oh, I forgot to mention the best part. The morning Commencement Exercises also includes the Latin and English Orations. The Latin Oration was given by a fellow Lowell student, and it was titled "Iohannes Harvard, Eques Iediensis". ^_^

[serendip.livejournal.com]

BAH, Ivies. *is Ivy free and proud of it* XDDDDDD

[phoenixgold.livejournal.com]

Ooh, tell me how the Chocolates are. My phone died and am contemplating saving up monies for a new one, as I'd really not like to switch over completely to my dad's phone. (It's not that I don't like his phone, it's more like he's forgotten his voicemail password and I really don't want have to switch over to a new number. XD)

[phoenixgold.livejournal.com]

Oh! And congratulations! I'm such a flake; I meant to say it the first time I saw the post.

[troisroyaumes]

Thanks! ^_^

The Chocolate is very nice, although it takes a while to get used to the touch-sensitive buttons. The actual numerical keypad has push buttons though, so it's just the menu and arrow buttons that act differently. The other quirk is that the "end" button is on the side, but once you figure that out, it's pretty intuitive. I rather like the slider design, despite reviewers complaining about it. Apparently, the screen is prone to getting scratched, and you need to invest in an additional USB cable if you don't have Bluetooth to transfer music files to the phone. But if you're not planning to make it a full mp3 player replacement, I'd definitely recommend it. ^_^

[clocklike.livejournal.com]

CONGRATULATIONSSSSS. ♥♥♥ You've finally done it (though you have grad school). Bill Clinton and Bill Gates? Wow. That's amazing! *_*

I'm glad that you're doing well, with all your new shiny stuff ♥ You definitely deserve it and more after all your hard work. :)

[troisroyaumes]

Thanks~! And yes, we had a nice combination of speakers. We really lucked out. ^_^

[darcenciel.livejournal.com]

Congrats!!!

[troisroyaumes]

Thank you!

[lacewood]

Congratulations! XDXDXD

[troisroyaumes]

Thanks, Pei Yi! ^_^

[love_archived]

Having two Bills at your commencement is good! <3

[troisroyaumes]

Yup! We really lucked out. And now Bill Gates can finally say that he has a degree from Harvard. ^_^

[love_archived]

*laughs* <3 Lucky you.

[harumi.livejournal.com]

Oh, Bill Clinton went to your graduation ceremony too? He went to ours at UofM, but we graduate way earlier than you, April 28th. ^_~ Knowing the ridiculous amount of stupid ceremony that goes into those things, I opted not to go to my graduation. It would have been a thorough ruining of my birthday anyways. Boring graduation ceremony <<<< Awesome birthday party.

Congrats!

[troisroyaumes]

Yes, I hear Clinton's been making the rounds at college graduations lately. The ceremonies were pretty ridiculous but not as bad as I expected actually. All the speeches were pretty interesting; people clearly made an effort.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Hi fellow UofMer! The ceremony wasn't bad at all. Clinton was 20 minutes late (I hear he's always late?) but even so, the whole thing was over before noon. It almost took longer for the whole class to file into the stadium and out again than for the speeches, and the only "ceremony" was when we all stood up at the same time to be pronounced graduated (by the Dean). The student speaker was excellent, our former Prez basically riffed off him until he got his bearings.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

And to Tari: Congratulations!!!

[harumi.livejournal.com]

Woah! Are you still in Ann Arbor right now? Stace told me that she had a couple friends on LJ that go to UofM, but I've never met a single one! What's up with that?

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Yes! I am in fact writing this message from the Fishbowl as we speak!

And omggg, me neither. I mean, I've checked profiles of friends of friends and been shocked to see "University of Michigan - Ann Arbor" listed under School, but either I didn't recognize their LJ handle -- so messaging them out of the blue asking to meet up would be creepy -- or the person in question was an alum. But man, I am always so, so tempted.

[harumi.livejournal.com]

We should so meet up. I think we may be surprised if we recognize each other or something. I could use another fanfic friend. Don't have many of those IRL.

...maybe we should take this conversation somewhere else so that we don't derail Tari's thread. I gotta leave in five minutes for tutoring but will be back by seven. I am excited at the possibility of meet another person I've only heard and admired from online.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

We should! I, uh, don't have a computer at the moment (long story...actually, no it isn't. XD; My laptop's power adapter is busted and the replacement won't be in til Monday) but if you email me at onyabear at gmail I can email back with my phone number. I'll be online till eight, after that I have somewhere else to be.

So exciting! I have friends who write but they don't, as far as I know, write fanfiction. If they do they're keeping quiet about it, XD.

(Congrats again, Tari!)

[issen4.livejournal.com]

Congrats! Weird rituals give you something funny to look back to. I think there were bagpipes at mine.

[troisroyaumes]

We had bagpipes at ours too! They led all our House processions...it was a little ridiculous but pretty cool. ^_^

[derlirum.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! <3333

[troisroyaumes]

Thank you! <3

[serendip.livejournal.com]

CONGRATULATIONS. When are we going karoking? I'M WAITING~~~

[troisroyaumes]

Haha, my schedule's a bit of a mess what with having to start driving lessons and everything, but I'm pretty sure I'm free next Friday evening. Will you be? XD

[schwimmerin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we went phone pre-shopping yesterday and I really liked the cherry chocolate phone...we'll see what we'll actually get soon enough. Good to know how it is.

We have...new internet? XD which is exciting. But soon also new phones and new glasses, hopefully.

[troisroyaumes]

Yeah, I really like my White Chocolate, although now I'm starting to regret buying it because of contract issues. (My old phone was broken, so my father insisted that I needed to switch to the family plan if I wanted a new phone, which meant getting a new number, but now it turns out that I have to pay a fee to cancel the old number. Argh. I handled it really badly, and now I feel guilty because I don't know where I'm going to dig up the money from.)

New Internet is good! And so are new glasses.

[milchstrasse.livejournal.com]

This is late, but congratulations on graduating!