It's all about class

December. The season of graduation.

Throwing of the graduation cap.

The graduation march to the town hall with mayor Peter Chin leading the way, the sound bagpipes reminding me of that memorable day in Studholme (2006) when we were woken up at 4am-ish for interhall sports training/orientation.

Wearing the regalia. With white grosgrain lining (I had to google image "grosgrain" GOSH)- I always thought that honours degree graduants would also wear hoods with fur linings, but sadly, there will be no fur. The colour of my hood will be "salvia blue" btw =) it sounds pretty.

stolen from Greg's facebook heheh just to illustrate to you non-Otago people
see how nice those hood linings are? compared to this next photo...

how grosgrain looks like. To me, it's just like any ordinary RIBBON.
of course, I have yet to see an honours hood upclose before, must remember to ask for photos from Jaq. photo by greenolive*

Taking photos (of course) in front of the clocktower.

More photos around university. Where we had lectures, spent the whole day in labs, had lunch at St David cafe & the link, Studholme hall, archway, burns, central library, computer labs, the bridge leading from the halls to St Davids, the river which even had couches thrown in before,... etc the scarfie life.

Showing off the degree certificate.

Smiling and posing for photos until your facial muscles no longer know the meaning of relax.

... guess I'll have to wait 1 more year to experience all that.

It's a strange thing, studying at varsity. 3, 4, or even 5 years for a bachelor's degree (6 or more for those professional health science courses), which may or may not guarantee a job- many who graduate with say, biochemistry, might never even work in a laboratory environment after graduation. But just having that nicely printed piece of paper with YOUR name written on it makes all the late night crammings worthwhile, doesn't it?

I wonder just how much I'll miss Uni of Otago: rushing to lectures, the beautiful architecture, the student life, etc. I wonder how much I'd miss being a student. Well, it's true that we never stop learning bla bla BUT.. you get what I mean. I wonder if I'd stay in Dunedin OR go to another city in NZ for work OR continue on with postgrad OR decide to *gasp* leave NZ (which is highly unlikely but GAH pleeeeease save me the "So-are-you-staying-in-nz-after-graduation?" questions- those are for me to find out next year and for you to find out when I know the answers myself, thank you very much.

Oh, and it does mean a lot having the chance to celebrate the Pancakes' graduation this coming May =) having missed out on the major grad ceremony 2 weeks ago.

Sometimes I wonder if I CAN push myself to get that "1st class honours" title in front. It does seem flash, you get called out first when receiving the certificate, the chancellor probably smiles a little more wider at you (who knows?), and I wonder does it really matter or how would it affect my job offers BUT like Ron said (which makes sense too I guess): we're already doing honours, might as well walk that extra mile to get that 1st class (well, I paraphrased a bit).

This is what happens when I look through too many graduation photos on facebook =P