Vicky's college graduation
May. 21st, 2007 05:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingSo I went to DC, and Vicky graduated (summa cum laude!), and I got to play dress-up, and we did the extended-family dinner thing twice (three times, really; I just missed the first because my flight down started at 6:09pm, and then the connection from Philly was delayed so I got in around 11pm rather than 9:45... grr) and it was good. Mostly.
The flights down went smoothly enough, aside from the 1-hour delay in Philadelphia. My parents, Ardis (my step-grandmother), and I stayed in two dorm rooms that we rented for the occasion. (Most colleges do that around commencement time; it's both useful and a source of extra income that would otherwise go to local hotels.) They were nice as dorm rooms go -- very concrete cave ambiance, but they all had little en-suite bathrooms so we didn't have to deal with trudging down a long hall and navigating communal showers and whatnot.
Friday morning we went to a small brunch reception hosted by the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics (FLL) because Vicky was a linguistics major. Then we went to the awards ceremony, because Vicky received the Dineen award for linguistics. (My sister, she is smart. And dedicated, too. *grin*) Then, joined by Aunt Jan & Uncle Bob (my dad's sister and her husband) we trooped off to Vicky's shared house and helped move some furniture over to her new shared house; she's subletting her new room for the summer, but in the fall she'll be back at Georgetown getting her Masters in linguistics.
After touring her new place, we had dinner at W Domku, a really cool little Polish/Baltic/Scandinavian restaurant and bar. The food was wonderful, though unfortunately we were too early for the bartender to be around so I couldn't try peculiar Slavic cocktails. :-(
That night (Friday) was the Senior Ball, for which Georgetown rents out Union Station and packs 4,000-10,000 people in starting at 9pm. It was very, very loud. The snacks and desserts, however, were quite nice, and the free alcohol was nice too. (I stuck to champagne, one glass, because I'd already had wine with dinner and I don't have as high an alcohol tolerance as I used to. *sigh*)
You know something? I honestly don't remember how people managed to keep track of each other at large occasions before the invention and proliferation of cell phones. They are wonderfully useful in such situations.
Anyway, the actual commencement ceremony was on Saturday. Georgetown rotates their four undergraduate schools each year, and this year the general college got the 9am slot. Each ceremony gets about 2 and a half hours, and then they have to clear out for the next school: 9am, 12 noon, 3pm, and 6pm. There were 800-odd students, and I nearly fell asleep before we reached the letter 'N.' But Vicky got her diploma, and the commencement address (delivered by Rev. Jim Wallis) was quite good as these things go.
Saturday night was the big family dinner with Vicky, me, my parents, Ardis, Aunt Jan & Uncle Bob, my cousin Brian, Uncle Charles & Aunt Ji-lan (my mom's brother and his wife), and my cousins Michael and Benjamin. Large group. We went to an Italian chain restaurant that will serve family-style to large groups, so we each got a plate and then they brought out big serving platters of the entrees we'd pre-ordered. The food was lovely.
And then, on Sunday morning, I came home.
All in all, it was a good trip, though I now want a vacation to rest up from my vacation!
The flights down went smoothly enough, aside from the 1-hour delay in Philadelphia. My parents, Ardis (my step-grandmother), and I stayed in two dorm rooms that we rented for the occasion. (Most colleges do that around commencement time; it's both useful and a source of extra income that would otherwise go to local hotels.) They were nice as dorm rooms go -- very concrete cave ambiance, but they all had little en-suite bathrooms so we didn't have to deal with trudging down a long hall and navigating communal showers and whatnot.
Friday morning we went to a small brunch reception hosted by the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics (FLL) because Vicky was a linguistics major. Then we went to the awards ceremony, because Vicky received the Dineen award for linguistics. (My sister, she is smart. And dedicated, too. *grin*) Then, joined by Aunt Jan & Uncle Bob (my dad's sister and her husband) we trooped off to Vicky's shared house and helped move some furniture over to her new shared house; she's subletting her new room for the summer, but in the fall she'll be back at Georgetown getting her Masters in linguistics.
After touring her new place, we had dinner at W Domku, a really cool little Polish/Baltic/Scandinavian restaurant and bar. The food was wonderful, though unfortunately we were too early for the bartender to be around so I couldn't try peculiar Slavic cocktails. :-(
That night (Friday) was the Senior Ball, for which Georgetown rents out Union Station and packs 4,000-10,000 people in starting at 9pm. It was very, very loud. The snacks and desserts, however, were quite nice, and the free alcohol was nice too. (I stuck to champagne, one glass, because I'd already had wine with dinner and I don't have as high an alcohol tolerance as I used to. *sigh*)
You know something? I honestly don't remember how people managed to keep track of each other at large occasions before the invention and proliferation of cell phones. They are wonderfully useful in such situations.
Anyway, the actual commencement ceremony was on Saturday. Georgetown rotates their four undergraduate schools each year, and this year the general college got the 9am slot. Each ceremony gets about 2 and a half hours, and then they have to clear out for the next school: 9am, 12 noon, 3pm, and 6pm. There were 800-odd students, and I nearly fell asleep before we reached the letter 'N.' But Vicky got her diploma, and the commencement address (delivered by Rev. Jim Wallis) was quite good as these things go.
Saturday night was the big family dinner with Vicky, me, my parents, Ardis, Aunt Jan & Uncle Bob, my cousin Brian, Uncle Charles & Aunt Ji-lan (my mom's brother and his wife), and my cousins Michael and Benjamin. Large group. We went to an Italian chain restaurant that will serve family-style to large groups, so we each got a plate and then they brought out big serving platters of the entrees we'd pre-ordered. The food was lovely.
And then, on Sunday morning, I came home.
All in all, it was a good trip, though I now want a vacation to rest up from my vacation!
