Oh Lordy. I still cannot believe that grad school has come to a close. As much as I'd like to go on about what it all means and what a big accomplishment it was, it doesn't feel real. Maybe because I know I still need to finish that pesky thesis, or maybe I am just in denial. In any case, here are some tidbits from the end.
-On my last day of class I was about 10 minutes into my walk to school when I realized that I had left a crucial part of my final assignment at home. I ran home to get it and then had to decide if I would still walk to work (probably arriving to class about 15 min late) or take a taxi. Really, there would have been no harm in arriving late for that particular class, but I felt that after two years of punctuality and on-time assignments I shouldn't break the streak on the last day. So, I chose the glamorous New York route and took a taxi to school. Class got started late.
-On Monday I went to the FIT awards dinner and got my medal. In true FIT fashion (hah!) it was a totally weird event. It was at a fancy space and the food was amazing but the whole thing seemed to be organized to be as dull and awkward as possible. My medal was nowhere near as fabulous as I hoped. It looks ok, but on the back it has the oh-so-personal inscription: "Honors 2011."
-One more note about the awards dinner food- it struck me as totally odd that they seemed to have no alternate meals for various dietary restrictions. For the main course we were all served a plate of beef and potatoes. Hasn't the era past in which you can serve a hunk of meat and just assume everyone is fine with it?
-At Graduation we walked in to a techno-remix of Pomp and Circumstance. Not classy.
-Simon Doonan was given a lifetime achievement award by the school. His speech ended up being the most memorable, probably because one of the key pieces of advice was "Always have a drag queen in your life."
-None of the undergrads got to walk across the stage but they did read the names of everyone who was there. The largest international student population at FIT is from South Korea and there are a lot of American students with Korean heritage as well. There were about 10 people with the last name of "Kim" and after about the 6th, everyone seemed excited to see exactly how long the streak would last. When the announcer finally moved on to "Krauss" there was an audible groan.
-We were told that as graduate students we would get to walk across the stage but there was a seemingly last minute decision that we would also get "hooded." So we all had to carry our M.A. hoods in a very specific way over our right arm and walk on stage when the announcer (who had an awesome, movie trailer voice-over delivery) said our name. It was kind of a great moment. Except that once you were on stage you could see that most of the undergrads had left by that time.
-The only moment that got to me was when one of my classmates said goodbye. Most of us are staying in the city for the summer but this girl's parents were driving her back that day to her upstate hometown. I almost cried and that was the only moment it started to feel real.
-After it was over I went out for lunch with the two other classmates who hadn't had any family or friends attend. We went to a bar in our graduation robes. We failed to get free drinks.
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