Anyway! Back to the trip to Virginia. UVA is a lovely campus, and the weather was great. First, I finished my dress and was pleased with it. The only picture I have though, has the dress covered by a cardigan (at the Lawn ceremony). Also it's a horribly unflattering picture (I'm short, but I'm not 3 feet tall). But...well...I promised, so here you go.
Also, my legs are so pale they're pink. Nice. Sorry about that - hope your retinas survived alright.
There were many more fashionable people there than me. For example:
This guy's robes were fuschia - hard to see in this picture. I stalked him til I could get a picture of him. Rachel met him later and asked where he went to school, and he said he graduated from Harvard, but that his robes had faded over the years from their original crimson. Personally, I've never seen crimson fade to fuschia, but hey. That's his story, and I'm not gonna argue with him.
Even the columns on the Rotunda were dressed! Actually they were covered because they're deteriorating, and the powers that be wanted to make sure no one got smooshed if a piece fell off.
Also? Did you notice this guy?
Awesome.
The first part of the graduation was Rachel's hooding ceremony, when the doctoral candidates for her division got the long hoods that hang down their backs. It was a really nice ceremony, but I forgot my camera, so the only pics I had were on my phone. And they were blurry. Big time.
The next day, the big university-wide ceremony took place on the main quad on campus (called the Lawn). There were a few people there.
The president of the university spoke, and it was a really nice ceremony. We were worried it was going to rain because it was extremely overcast to begin with. We sat under a tree, just in case it rained. Well, it was a nice thing, being under that tree, because the sun came out and it got HOT. And we all know that I don't need to get any more tan on my legs. Heh.
After the big ceremony, they had individual ceremonies for each division or school within the university. We went to the education graduation, since that's where Rachel studied. She actually got her diploma at that point. Well, actually not. They gave her a blank piece of paper so she could keep her real diploma uncurled.
The guy to the right in this picture is her friend and coworker, Adam, whose family wasn't able to attend. He gave us his tickets so we could all go to the lawn ceremony, so we were his stand-in family for the weekend. :) We cheered for him.
We didn't have a lot of time to do much of anything except attend university events, and play on the Wii Fit. Heh. That was fun. Thankfully nobody took any pictures. Because really? It's hard to maintain your dignity when you're flapping your arms like a bird, trying to keep your little computer person floating through the air in her chicken suit.
We did take time to eat though. Of course.
Note: we did not eat any John Deere fruit snacks. I just thought they were funny. We did drink Richard Childress Nascar wine though, with a checkered flag on the label. Stay classy!
After the final bit of graduation formalities, we went out to eat at one of Rachel's favorite restaurants, a South African restaurant. It was SO good. I had steak pie:
It did not survive. Because it was delicious.
They had lovely artwork in the restaurant too. This mask kept catching my eye.
So that was our big weekend in Virginia! I have to say, it's been a long time since I've been on a university campus, and it was so nice to be in those environs again. I also have to admit that when Rachel let me try on her robe and hood, I was jealous. She said it's called "hood envy." I currently have no plans to go back to school, because frankly I don't even know what I'd study this time around!
But I really did like that hood.
1 comment:
The dress turned out beautiful! You are so talented.
I love the robe with the orange on it!
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