bodldops | (no subject)

Details on graduation, started last night, and worked on this morning:

So I woke up this morning to a truck laying on the air brakes.

Not the most romantic or interesting way to start a story, but whatever. Air brakes.

Dad went to go fetch coffee from the lobby, and returned without coffee, but with news there was a wreak in Davis near the school, which hastened the getting-ready-time considerably. From watching the news, it looks like some sort of glue tanker turned over.

Breakfast was nothing to write home about, but the lady was all 'eeee!' about me graduating from vet school (she was worried I hadn't liked breakfast, 'cause I didn't eat much, 'cause I was all nerves).

Got to Davis in plenty of time, and to the Mondovi center, which is where the graduation was held. I went pretty much all the way around the building with my sis trying to find the 'artists entrance' which... I don't think we ever found, because other people came in some other way, but the door was open and there were classmates there, so. Whatevs.

The waiting room soon became a scene of mass chaos. Everyone was in black robes, most everyone dressed up, though I know at least one person went the jeans-and-workboots route. The crowd never did settle into one arrangement - we had to pick up name cards (more on that later), new hats for those who's hats refused to stay on, switch out gowns for ones that were ridiculously long or ridiculously short, sorting out which side the tassel should be on, and generally being ridiculously giddy.

Eventually the administrator lady, who has more patience than most people, managed to cat-herd us into rows, so we could march out to our ceremony. I was with two of my friends, since they didn't make us line up in any sort of alphabetical order. We filed out into the lobby, up a long flight of stairs (giving those of us who hadn't been in heels for at least a year a bit of trouble), and we paused just outside the back doors to the auditorium, shushing each other and continuing to gab, alternately.

Then the music started, and we headed in, and I tried not to cry as I walked in (and of course the sleeve of my gown caught on the railing, it wouldn't be me if my gown/coat/whatevs got caught on something when I wanted to get somewhere) but my parents say I was grinning like a loon so I must have been successful. Seeing them there was fantastic - they got excellent seats, right next to aisle I went down. Then we were ushered through the maze at the back of the stage, and up onto the stage itself.
Then the MPVM students filed in, but they were seated down in the audience, since they already have their DVM degrees. The residents who were finishing this year filed in too, and then the faculty. Dr. B and Dr. H were there, Dr. B grinning and Dr. H staring at us all. Dr. J was there too, in the most ridiculously blue shiny outfit I've ever seen for academic dress.

Then came speeches - the Dean first, who was a bit reverb-y, so I'll have to watch his speech again online (we got it copied online, how awesome is that?), then the awards for three DVMs who have done cool things in the last year. Then the MPVMs were given their degrees by a guy in this awesomely red oriental-ish academic outfit, though his accent was more France than Japan/China/etc. Then they honored the retiring faculty, all 3 of them - one of which I can't say I'm sad is going, and one of which was an awesome lecturer. Then the residents were honored, and we cheered the ones who we loved - Dr. P, from soft tissue surgery, who did his best to help out the students in a truly hellish rotation, Dr. G, the French critical care resident, who was entirely to much fun to work with and helped out a ton on my last three weeks of internal medicine, Dr. T from shelter medicine, who is freakishly adorable and played ABBA while we were working on shelter questions, Dr. P from dentistry who had a wry sense of humor and played 'Spamalot' during one of our superlate surgeries. Poor Dr. G's name got slaughtered by Dr. L, who was announcing them, but his name always gets slaughtered.

Then Abel and Calaveras were called up to speak, and went over our four years. Abel slaughtered the class by speaking to his family in Spanish, and when he broke down, so did the rest of us.
Then Dr. Pollard gave a speech, and she was utterly made of awesome as always, and advised that now that we were done, we should go skiing. Or have fun in some other way, but enjoy the fact that we don't have to be here anymore.

Then the Provost recommended that we be allowed to graduate, and the Dean conferred upon us the degree of DVM. We were filed out of our seats, row by row, then down off the stage, around back, given our hoods which they carefully draped over our left arms, then looped around back towards the stage. My friend Trapper went right in front of me, and then I handed my card to Dr. L. The cards, not only for IDing pictures they want to sell us later, had a space for spelling our names phonetically so they'd be pronounced correctly.

He still said my last name wrong, but it's the way he's always said it, so when he said Doctor Sara (incorrectly pronounced last name here), it was still completely fantastic. Then I was hooded, and the lady Provost who did so patted my shoulder and wished me good luck, and then I shook the hand of the Dean and... um. Someone else in rather impressive robing, and then a series of professional photographs. One lady asked me, right before the second one, how the hood felt. I think she was asking if it was choking me or anything, because they're rather heavy, but all I could think was 'very, very full of responsibility' so I didn't much answer. Sorry, whoever you were.

I was half-way through the class, so we spent the rest of the time cheering our classmates and mocking the mis-pronunciations of Dr. L.

And then it was over - Congratulations, class of 2009, and we were rather confusedly ushered out of our seats and back down through the auditorium and I was able to pause and hug my mom on the way back up and why yes I was crying again and then we all had entirely too much fun introducing ourselves as Doctor to one another and then the families came and swept us away.

More later on the after, we're going down to my new hometown to see the possible apartments and such.