Convocation weekend

As some of you may recall, a few weeks ago I successfully defended and submitted my MA thesis. This meant that I had satisfied the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in Political Science at Dalhousie. I didn't think that this was particularly big news, but it seems that a few people in my family did.

On Thursday evening, a few hours later than originally expected, my grandmother arrived in Halifax with the intention of attending my convocation ceremony. My sister and mother were to, and did, arrive on Friday afternoon for the same reason.

Prior to my mother and sister's arrival I met my grandmother at her hotel (we didn't have room for three) where we had a very pleasant lunch together. Shortly after we parted ways so that I could go to the university and pick up my academic gown, as well as submit a paper.

Not too long after I eventually made it back to the apartment I was able to contact my mother and sister, who had arrived in the intervening period, and suggest that instead of driving through the Valley in the rain they come to our apartment for dinner. Though there was a little bit of confusion about communication and when people would arrive, they eventually did show up and I cooked us all dinner.

That evening, after a few games of Fluxx, Kirsten talked my mother and I into joining her for a dip in her hotel's pool. I think that we were all rather surprised by how big and deep the pool was for a hotel pool on the second floor of a hotel. The other nice aspect of the set-up was that they had a hot tub. As I hadn't been in a hot tub in quite a number of years I was quite keen to see if I still liked them as much as I remembered liking them. It turns out that they were as good as I remember, though I think I may have stayed in a little long as I definitely felt a little faint by the time we got out.

After a group breakfast on Saturday morning we all went back to our respective sleeping locations to either prepare for the afternoon's convocation ceremony, sleep, or engage in some combination of both activities. I know that I managed to sleep for a few minutes before throwing on my convocation garb.

We all made our way to 'The Cohn' about an hour before the event was to start. I arrived at this time because that was when the graduands were instructed to arrive. The other arrived at this time because an additional ticked was needed and this was when they were planning on distributing the extra tickets. Fortunately, within moments of arriving Kirsten was able to secure the needed ticket, allowing me to go upstairs to the staging area with a relative degree of comfort that things weren't going to be screwed.

Almost as soon as I entered the area where all of the graduands I came across a, now former, classmate. We spoke for a few minutes when a third classmate joined us. As it turns out, of the 11 of us who started as MA candidates last September, we were the only three political science MA students to show up for the convocation ceremony. Actually, I got the sense that quite a number of the graduands were no shows. It was so sparsely attended that I was fifth last in the alphabetical line-up even though my last name normally puts me in the middle of most lines.

At the appropriate time the graduands were assembled two-by-two in lines. After what seemed like about 5 order checks we eventually made our way to the auditorium. As it turns out, as MA students, we were relatively near the end of the batch of graduands, though there were a few computer science types and Ph.D. students after us.

Once we made it into the auditorium and were seated things began to move quite quickly. Before I knew it they had started getting the Bachelors students up on stage. Eventually we were moved from our seats to the staging aisle. They had planned things so that once standing no one would have to stand that long.

After just a few minutes my name was called and I was making my way across the stage. Of course I am sure that I slouched and screwed up the timing, but I guess there isn't much I can do about it now. That being said, I think part of the problem is that I had no idea what to expect when I reached the Chancellor in the middle of the stage, this part of the ceremony wasn't explained to us at all. As it turns out he basically just says good luck and you move on (no hand shaking because of the swine flu). It was generally rather awkward, particularly as nothing really happens (they don't hood you like they do at MUN convocations).

After all of the graduates had been on stage they started the honourary doctorate part of the ceremony. The recipient of the ceremony's honourary degree was the Music Director (and sometimes conductor?) of Symphony Nova Scotia, Bernhard Gueller.

After Gueller's talk things wrapped up quickly and we made our way our to the lobby. Once in the lobby I again ran into one of my former classmates, and then my history professor (who happens to also, be the Associate Dean of Arts and Social Sciences). Eventually, my mother located me, and after a little chatting and photo taking we make our way across the lobby to find Rebecca, Kirsten, and my mother.

After a little bit of indecisiveness and dilly-dallying (along with a few cookies and some juice) we made our way through the building to find a place where we could take some pictures. Eventually, after a few photos, we were ready to leave.

Shortly after leaving we decided to head directly to dinner. After some more indecisiveness and a little bit of snarkiness we settled on the Mongolie Grill (so that everyone could get the ingredients and quantity they wanted). All things considered, I think that the meal went well (though I was definitely tired and not in a celebratory mood).

After dinner we returned to the apartment to kill time (and my chances to study) while my mother waited for Neil's plane to arrive so that she could head out to pick him up from the airport (he was attending a conference for matheletes in Atlanta for the better part of the week).

This morning we again went out for a group breakfast, mainly so that Neil could get a chance to see grandma (and because we all needed to eat). After breakfast Rebecca and I returned to the apartment while The Ladies + Neil made their way to the Valley for some apple picking and touring.

Eventually, the group went to the airport to drop my grandmother off for her flight only to find that one leg of her trip had been cancelled. The eventual result was that she was re-booked for a new set of flights tonight and will be crashing with us tonight (I imagine it has been a few years since she has spent the night on a futon in a student apartment).

Anyway, I am now trying to catch up on some school work and reading while the rest of them are playing euchre in the living room. If the pots get to big I may have to go in and say something, but until then I think I can probably trust them by themselves for a while.

So tomorrow brings us back to another week of school, the main difference being that will have visitors (my grandmother for the morning and my mother the next few days). I imagine that I will feel my slack work weekend in the very near future, maybe as soon as tomorrow morning's class.