It was today

And so it happened. Graduation.

Even though I slept the whole afternoon today, I’m still feeling a bit tired from it all, so I’ll try to keep it brief (hah!).

I didn’t get any sleep the night before. Set my cellphone alarm to 6:15 a.m. –with a secondary alarm for 7:00– and placed it right in front of my face as I tried to sleep, and every so often I’d look at the screen to check on the time. This went on until after 5:00.

My mother told me that I shouldn’t be up so early, but I wanted to be ready as soon as possible. I wanted to take my time shaving and getting dressed. She made a big deal out of the whole graduation thing, so she made sure I wore a new shirt and pants. Also tried to get me some new shoes, but the two pairs she brought were too big while I kept insisting on my years-old shoes, which I think I’ve had since my school graduation.

We got to the place early enough, and I got out of the car before my brother could park it, so that I could go to where the gown-wearing folk were. It was far too early, and hardly anyone had arrived. People were snapping pictures (I participated and helped make a few), some with the Ozama River and the Caribbean Sea as a backdrop, and others were just ground photos for Facebook purposes. It was more than an hour later that most finally gathered. In that time, I had to pay three visits to the restroom, two of them because of the annoying lump-in-throat feeling that kept coming back.

Finally, we all lined up and started marching in. A big screen above us. Cameras everyone, ranging from fancy to cheap. I couldn’t see my three guests. Thankfully, I was seated between people that I knew, more or less, and who were in the same final-project class with me. Unfortunately, there was an empty seat in my row that belonged to someone I knew, and who most likely didn’t attend for religious reasons related to it being a Saturday. Making an exception, just this time, wouldn’t have been too bad, would it?

Following our march, came the teachers, authorities and all the fancy people, most of them dressed in gowns with more colorful hoods.

During the march and at the beginning of the event, I wasn’t feeling so well and tried to distract myself playing with my cellphone, limited only to a bad version of Tetris, Poker and Blackjack. It helped a little, and eventually the lump in throat went away.

There were some really, really long speeches made, especially that one by a guest speaker who shall remain unnamed. He kept saying things like finally … secondly … I’ll be brief this time … one more thing … and so on. After the first four or five of those, the audience began to react. First, a few groans here and there, and eventually rounds of applause to see if he would get the message. His long, long speech was followed by a much shorter one by a Haitian minister, thanking the university for its solidarity following the earthquake, and for providing education to Haitian students who were also graduating.

There were also speeches made by a lady from the very first graduating class (and this was the 43rd), followed by one from one of the most recent graduates. It didn’t help that it was also the 45th anniversary of the university’s foundation. There were words about that, too.

After all the talking, they finally started handing out diplomas. I previously thought that there was a total of 1151 people graduating, but it turns out that it’s 1051 (and I’ve corrected that in previous posts). There were a few duplicate numbers (984, 984A … ), adding a few more to the total. Still, it was admirable that the lady who read through the names –and honors, when present– managed to get through them all without losing her voice!

The first fifty or so people got their share of applause, but the audience quickly realized that they wouldn’t have the energy to applaud each every person that walked up to the stage. So, the applause was mostly saved for those with honors and for the popular ones. There was a lot of cheering every time they were done with one department and moved on to the next. I thought the Arts people would be the loudest, but I the Engineering guys behind us may have won that contest.

There was a live quartet that managed to keep playing throughout the whole thing, also. I initially thought that it was a recording –which began with Pachelbel’s Canon–, but as I approached the stage I saw that there were actual people playing for us.

So, I walked up on stage, went past the former Dean of Arts –and now Vice-Rector–, who handed my diploma to the Rector (the headmaster of the university). I quickly shook his hand, my one and only interaction with this man, then took my diploma with its leather cover and walked down the steps, back into my seat. I don’t think I got any applause. Either I just wasn’t popular, or … no, I think that’s it.

Back in my seat, I noticed that some people were ready to take off after getting their titles. Even before they moved on to specialty titles and master’s degrees, there were more and more empty seats, particularly in the Arts rows. Very disappointing, as the act was far from over. No applause was heard after the bachelor’s degrees were handed out, and the lady just kept saying names. The cheering only came back when the last two master’s groups were introduced.

After everyone got their fancy paper, they called up those from each department with the highest total Grade Point Average, so a handful of people walked back on stage and posed for a group photo with their awards. With the different hood colors, it was like the academic version of Power Rangers.

Following that, a few people came back to their seats and we took an oath, with a light religious tone, after which we were told to move the tassels on our square caps from the left side to the right. There were no caps thrown in the air as you see in movies, as they were rented along with the rest of our attire and we didn’t want to risk losing our deposit.

Finally, there were speeches by the two students with the highest GPA (3.97), and one of them I knew. Speech over, and the entire event was sealed off with the rarely-heard university’s anthem, followed by an exit march from the administration, teachers and, finally, the new graduates. I could have gone earlier and missed everything after receiving my title, but I wanted to see it through.

Despite the three cameras we took, I was the one who made actual use of them, post-event! It was well after 3:00 in the afternoon when we got home. I convinced my family to skip the whole restaurant celebration thing and we got some food elsewhere and eat at home. After that, I slept …

So, that’s that for college …

Now what?

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