Officially a Doctor

The day before my graduation I was due to leave the house I was staying in. I was very grateful to be able to stay for as long as I had, but unfortunately - not just for me - all honeymoons have to end. House sitting is fantastic when you are homeless and house sitting for over a month is even better. Therefore as I was going I left a few bottles of wine, a bunch of flowers and the house as clean as I could make it. I then headed over to my aunt and uncles place where I am house sitting for the next week - I will then go to the farm for a week, followed by 10 house sitting in Melbourne. I'm really getting into this house sitting thing.

Thursday was Date Night but the drive across town took me 2 hours thanks to the weather, well more correctly due to everyone driving through the city because the weather was awful, so I missed the movie, but made it to the pub afterwards for a few drinks.

The boys at Date Night

I really should have gone home earlier. I had arranged to meet Steven - my fellow graduand - for breakfast before the main event. I left the house in a bit of a hurry - forgetting the tickets for my guest (although I was pretty sure tickets wouldn't be checked) but more importantly I forgot both my cameras and didn't even manage to do my hair. Breakfast without chilli is a very strange thing for me, but I enjoyed the meal just the same.

After being dressed in our gowns Steven and I found our seats. I knew we were the only two PhD candidates in the ceremony so we were in seats one and two - my surname coming earlier in the alphabet so I took the first seat. We were instructed on the procedure for receiving our degrees and it was advised to just follow the person in front. This didn't really apply to me.... The graduation went smoothly - at least for me, three girls fell up or down the steps - luckily my father and sister-in-law both arrived just in time to see me receive my doctorate. The guest speaker position suggested he would give an interesting address, however this promise was not fulfilled. Instead of motivating and congratulating us, he described to us the events that lead to this being the first graduation he had ever attended even though he had obtained several degrees... And then it was over.

So we filed out with the academic procession and into the Main Quad. It was freezing and grey, but at least it wasn't raining at that precise minute. I was congratulated by family, friends and strangers (???), had a few photos and glass of bubbly and then headed out for lunch. It was a lovely day but it was all over so quickly as my father and his partner had to catch a plane...

Finally a Doctor

Steven and I after the grad

That evening we headed out for drinks at the newly re-opened Kuletos bar for numerous cocktails before continuing the night at various bars/pubs in the area. It was a fantastic night. I even got to dance.

The rain held out during the day but later in the evening Newtown flooded.
These cars were parked.