聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 As of the moment I am writing this, I have officially been named one of the thousands of alumni from the University of Regina. My convocation was held on October 21.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Honestly, I don`t exactly feel all that different. Perhaps if I had my diploma, I would feel like an accomplished, educated adult, but I actually had to send my diploma back to the university. My name was, of course, misspelled on the diploma. And yes, I do see the irony is an English major and a newspaper reporter having her name misspelled.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 At least the day of convocation was exciting, and for at least that day, I did in fact feel like a professional. The day started early with breakfast before I made my way to the Conexus Arts Centre, where the 小蓝视频 was to be held. They made us come to line up about an hour and a half before the 小蓝视频 was actually supposed to start, but I feel like that was far too much time to give us to line up. Perhaps they were worried that the hundreds of university students wouldn`t be able to count, as we were all supposed to line up in order based on a number written on our folder. I may not be a math genius (that designation falls to my sister, who is about a year away from becoming a calculus teacher), but I think I can be trusted to know that 209 comes before 210.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 For the 小蓝视频 I was given a black robe as well as a hood, which was a piece of fabric that was usually black with the colour of the trim designating which faculty one was graduating from. My colour, regrettably, was white. At my high school graduation, I was required to wear white as well. I`m starting to wonder if the universe just has something against me wearing colours.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The hoods, however, were not meant to be worn. We had no idea what they were to be used for, so they instead became a topic of conversation for those of us lined up in a conference room, one that was a bit more interesting than the other topics I offered, which were 鈥榟eels are the bane of my existence鈥� and 鈥榳ho do I have to kill to get a glass of water around here?鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 We couldn鈥檛 really decide how the hoods were supposed to be worn. I suggested, according to the slideshow that was 小蓝视频 displayed on the wall that was apparently supposed to prepare us for all the intricacies of graduation, someone was apparently supposed to put the hood over us.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淥ver our heads?鈥� one of the girls asked, adjusting her hood so it was over her hair, almost like a very pointy bandana. 鈥淐ould you imagine if we walked onstage wearing them like this? We鈥檇 look like we were in a cult.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭o be fair, we鈥檙e all dressed in robes like we鈥檙e out of Hogwarts,鈥� another added. 鈥淚t鈥檚 cultish already.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I didn鈥檛 have much time to tell her not to diss Hogwarts of all places before we were filed out onto the stage.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The 小蓝视频 itself was the part I wasn鈥檛 looking forward to, but when it actually began, it really wasn鈥檛 that bad. Somehow, they were able to announce 700 graduates in the span of about two hours, which was a lot shorter than I was expecting. The one difficulty came in the procedure each graduate had to make while crossing the stage. We had to apparently stop five times: once to be hooded, once to pass name cards to the announcer, once in front of the chancellor who we were supposed to nod at so he would admit us to his super special club, once in front of the president to take a picture, and once to receive an alumni pin. I was worried I was going to forget one of the steps, but I鈥檓 pretty sure I managed to remember them all. The only awkward moment was standing in front of the chancellor. The fact that he had to say 鈥淚 admit you鈥� to every single graduate that came across his stage was鈥� a little bit cultish, I will admit.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The 小蓝视频 wasn鈥檛 a problem for me, but instead, what really turned out to be long, tedious and entirely unnecessary was finding my way out of the 小蓝视频. We were instructed not to bring any personal belongings, so I didn鈥檛 have my cell phone or my car keys. I was left with no way to contact the family members who had attended my convocation, and instead had to wade through thousands of people crammed into the lobby. I have never been a claustrophobic person, but there have been two experiences that have made me severely question my nonchalance towards crowds. The first was trying to exit the Magic Kingdom after the fireworks show when thousands of tourists were trying to accomplish the exact same thing. The second was definitely this event.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 At least when I finally found my family, I was rewarded with a nice bouquet of roses and a teddy bear. The teddy bear has its own graduation gown and a cap (which is funny, since I didn鈥檛 graduate with a cap), because even if this is supposedly a mark of adulthood, even I can鈥檛 resist something so adorable.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 That bear is going to sit on my bed every night to remind me that no matter what may come my way, I accomplished something pretty great. It will also ward off the monsters under the bed.
