Commencement (or, the end of the road less travelled by)
This past weekend was Commencement, otherwise known as my graduation from Amherst.
It was a rather whirlwind weekend: starting with parties and random events and happenings on Friday. Various family activities and more strange partying on Saturday, and the actual gathering on Saturday.
Let me start by saying I was pretty stressed out by everything before hand: families coming, events happening, people I may or may not see. I twittered Friday afternoon "I just want this weekend (commencement) to be over, but I'm sure at the end I probably won't want it to end." And it ended up being very true.
Friday started with rehearsal for graduation ceremony (sitting there listening to the Dean of Faculty read off every name in our class) and then dinner with Dan's family in town. Had a good time talking with them and then we had our graduation party with friends. I migrated between a few different parties. Played Kings during one and chatted a bit, then ran off with Van and Gina back home to pick up stuff, then helped my parents back to their dorm while I was a little tipsy. That was fun.
Then Saturday was the crazy day. Woke up early to run back to the apartment to shower and pick up everything I needed for the day and graduation. I realized the room on campus they gave me as a '10E worked great and I even had enough room for a friend. So I utilized that, went to two talks, one by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales which was entertaining and interesting. Then tried to nap, but failed. Had our little family gathering that Jesse's family wound up doing a lot of work for. It went well, but was very stressful and there was a lot of confusion about who was coming to dinner with Dan and family that I just was being overly anxious about. Sometimes when you're confused, you're better off talking and relaxing. I was anxious about that during all of dinner but eventually things got settled out and I also had a room that Jesse was able to give me for Nancy that had come from BCC.
Then came the Saturday tent parties... in which I was for a time being my usual self and unable to interact with people. I felt really out of place and I had not had a single drink. I went to go mope on the War Memorial about my problems... mostly being single and feeling out of place around everyone else. I sat there for a while and was all set to just go to bed when I wound up running into a few friends outside of Cohan and talking to them, then running into Victoria, Jesse and siblings again and hanging out. Then wandered back to the tent parties I had left a while ago. Saw some friends I knew and stayed there till they shut down. Sometimes it's also fun to just watch, rather than take part.
Then there was graduation on Sunday. That was pretty awesome. I was next (alphabetically) to a few people I knew, so during the lead-up to graduation I was able to chat and listen a bit. That was fun. Just being there, in a cap and gown with a bunch of other people taking the long walk up Memorial Hill that many others have taken before me was a great experience. And then the moments during: the class speaker, Tony Marx's speech, walking on to the stage, throwing my hat in the air. All wonderful moments.
Afterwards I was a little stressed out by my parents. They did not come running for me afterwards. They did not call me to find out where I was. I finally found my mom at the luncheon and she said she had gone back to their room to take a shower. I then got upset at her for something: she wanted my spelling help. Finally settled down, but for much of the after graduation I wasn't sure what to do and just wanted to relax.
After final photos and seeing people, I went out for one last dinner with my parents and Nancy. My mom had pointed out Fresh Side when they first made it into town and I realized that would be the perfect place to take them for a last dinner. My mom didn't seem to realize why I wanted to take her there (it felt like she forgot she had even noticed it... so much for me paying attention to my mother's interests).
Came home and was really stressed out but finally made it to sleep after the busy weekend.
It was a rather whirlwind weekend: starting with parties and random events and happenings on Friday. Various family activities and more strange partying on Saturday, and the actual gathering on Saturday.
Let me start by saying I was pretty stressed out by everything before hand: families coming, events happening, people I may or may not see. I twittered Friday afternoon "I just want this weekend (commencement) to be over, but I'm sure at the end I probably won't want it to end." And it ended up being very true.
Friday started with rehearsal for graduation ceremony (sitting there listening to the Dean of Faculty read off every name in our class) and then dinner with Dan's family in town. Had a good time talking with them and then we had our graduation party with friends. I migrated between a few different parties. Played Kings during one and chatted a bit, then ran off with Van and Gina back home to pick up stuff, then helped my parents back to their dorm while I was a little tipsy. That was fun.
Then Saturday was the crazy day. Woke up early to run back to the apartment to shower and pick up everything I needed for the day and graduation. I realized the room on campus they gave me as a '10E worked great and I even had enough room for a friend. So I utilized that, went to two talks, one by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales which was entertaining and interesting. Then tried to nap, but failed. Had our little family gathering that Jesse's family wound up doing a lot of work for. It went well, but was very stressful and there was a lot of confusion about who was coming to dinner with Dan and family that I just was being overly anxious about. Sometimes when you're confused, you're better off talking and relaxing. I was anxious about that during all of dinner but eventually things got settled out and I also had a room that Jesse was able to give me for Nancy that had come from BCC.
Then came the Saturday tent parties... in which I was for a time being my usual self and unable to interact with people. I felt really out of place and I had not had a single drink. I went to go mope on the War Memorial about my problems... mostly being single and feeling out of place around everyone else. I sat there for a while and was all set to just go to bed when I wound up running into a few friends outside of Cohan and talking to them, then running into Victoria, Jesse and siblings again and hanging out. Then wandered back to the tent parties I had left a while ago. Saw some friends I knew and stayed there till they shut down. Sometimes it's also fun to just watch, rather than take part.
Then there was graduation on Sunday. That was pretty awesome. I was next (alphabetically) to a few people I knew, so during the lead-up to graduation I was able to chat and listen a bit. That was fun. Just being there, in a cap and gown with a bunch of other people taking the long walk up Memorial Hill that many others have taken before me was a great experience. And then the moments during: the class speaker, Tony Marx's speech, walking on to the stage, throwing my hat in the air. All wonderful moments.
Afterwards I was a little stressed out by my parents. They did not come running for me afterwards. They did not call me to find out where I was. I finally found my mom at the luncheon and she said she had gone back to their room to take a shower. I then got upset at her for something: she wanted my spelling help. Finally settled down, but for much of the after graduation I wasn't sure what to do and just wanted to relax.
After final photos and seeing people, I went out for one last dinner with my parents and Nancy. My mom had pointed out Fresh Side when they first made it into town and I realized that would be the perfect place to take them for a last dinner. My mom didn't seem to realize why I wanted to take her there (it felt like she forgot she had even noticed it... so much for me paying attention to my mother's interests).
Came home and was really stressed out but finally made it to sleep after the busy weekend.