Graduation

Yesterday saw me attend the graduation of my flatmate Nicole at the Michael Fowler Centre in town. It was a great venue and on the whole a great ceremony (the only down side being the length - 2.5 hours!). I was saying to her friend Karen that graduations aren't occasions you get many chances to go to (usually just your own and your children's) so it was nice to witness this rite of passage an extra time. It's wonderful that these traditions continue and I think New Zealand have stuck to the traditions more so than the UK universities (or certainly Aberdeen). It's good to have a sense you are part of something that has been going on for years, to me it gives more sentiment to your achievement and in this case that's not a bad thing. Anyhoo, I now present the ceremony in pictures.

Prior to the ceremony there was a jazz trio playing

The ceremony was opened with a brass quintet playing a fabulously british piece full of pomp and circumstance (though it wasn't Elgar)

This was followed by the procession of staff

Then a Maori greeting (Te Whakatau)

Then a chorus of Gaudeamus after which the Chancellor gave a speech

And then the certificates were handed out. Here's Nicole receiving hers

After the ceremony we took a few photos for posterity and here are a couple.

We finished the celebrations with a glass of bubbly at Lido from where I ran to catch the bus and Nicole went to meet one of her classmates for dinner. The End.