My Graduation...
13 December 2007 - Monash University's graduation ceremony for International students. This day marks the day I conclude my life in university, and having succeeded in pulling through and survived the entire masters degree course of 1.5 years, which was no doubt very challenging.
The ceremony on the 13th has two different sessions - 4pm and 8pm. But my ceremony was at 4pm. There's still another graduation ceremony on the 18th December too. I think we were one of the first batch of students to attend the ceremony.
It was a grand day, though I wasn't quite prepared for it. Honestly, I was at a loss of what to wear too, so I just wore a simple white blouse and a black skirt which doesn't seem to match very well, and looks just awkward. Either way, what I wore wasn't very noticeable after the gown has been put on, so it doesn't really matter anyway. We all look smart in our gowns and mortar boards.
Congratulations to all the graduands, and especially to the people who I've fought the 1.5 years with throughout my course in Communications and media studies. Thank you Riesa, YC, Peach, Vivien, Yuka, Joanna and Candy. You guys rock! And we MUST MUST MUST keep in touch ok! I know some of you are returning to your home countries, but it doesn't matter the distance and time differences, we have to keep each other updated. And don't forget to invite me to your weddings (if any) yea! Kekeke... I will miss u guys so much!
And a special thank you to my supervisor, Mark Gibson, who specially made a trip down to our graduation ceremony to congratulate us, as well as for a couple of photos with us.
Anyway, we media students were the last people to receive our certificates. We were seated at the very last row of all the graduates for the afternoon, therefore we need to go through the never-ending reading of names, and clapping our sore hands every now and then to cheer for them. But when it was my turn, I wasn't very nervous, but somehow my legs seem to be stuck on the ground, unable to move, and it took me some effort to tip my hat and walk shakily to the chancellor, shook hands, receive my cert, and shook another hand of the head of Arts faculty (who I avoided eye contact cuz I just wanted to get off the stage!), then finally walked down the stairs. Everything happened so fast, in seconds, that when I finally returned to my seat, the feeling's all vanished into thin air. The magical moment... over just like that... The ceremony proceeded with a supposedly-inspiring, yet dry and boring speech, then after that, we graduates were presented to all the guests by exiting Robert Blackwood Hall by going on stage together. The procedure was exactly the same as my undergrad, just that this time round, the number of graduates was half the amount (because my undergrad was Business and Economics faculty, and that faculty has a MASSIVE amount of students!).
Took more photos after that... We're all proud graduates!
Graduation ceremonies are never complete without our families with us. Unfortunately my parents couldn't get a flight over in time to attend my ceremony. Actually all of us, except YC and Riesa, did not have our families over, so I'm not alone. Furthermore, this time round, I had the honour of my good friend Chris, as well as my dear, Edwin, to attend my ceremony. And after that, my piggy-mate Sharuen also came to take photos with me. Oh... and Szerene was there as well for her friend's graduation, and she was looking for me. But by the time she found me I have already returned my gown, but we still managed to snap some photos. :)
Ok... photo time!
Yuka, me, Joanna
Just me...
Joanna's bf took this photo for me. And I think the background was really well chosen. Or maybe he just have really good photography skills. hehe...
With our lecturer, and my (and YC's) supervisor, Mark Gibson
My 2 guests for the day... :)
Thank you for coming and support me! :)
:)
And after the ceremony...
The only 8 media graduates for that day...
Masters of Communications and Media studies
We all worked hard!
Congratulations to all of us!!
The funniest part here was trying to find back our hats when they landed on the ground all jumbled up. hahaha...
With Peach and Vivien
With Riesa...
With Candy...
With Yuka...
With YC...
With my dear...he's my bag carrier of the day... oops!
Partners in 'crime'... well... not really...
Sharuen and I...
With Chris... and his infamous YO sign again.
With Szerene...
The certificate...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the ceremony, Szerene brought us to her friends' graduation party at their house somewhere near Oakleigh and Chadstone. I cannot remember the 2 girls' name, but I think I remembered one of their names was Michelle, and they are Malaysian Indians. The food they've prepared was excellent! I was kinda awkward because they were not my friends in the first place (though I've seen them before when I was working in Chom Chom) and I crashed into their party just like that. However, Grace was in the same situation as me, and she had decided to come along with us. Edwin was their friend as well though, so it's not a problem. They welcomed us warmly as well, and we just ate, looked around their beautiful house, and listened to their speech of happiness, deep thoughts and gratitude. Didn't stay too long, but we did stay longer than we have intended to...
Grace and me~
3 exceptional beauties...
(ok.... maybe just 2 lah... )
Edwin's sleepy already... and he had a runny nose... :(
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Wednesday night (12 December 2007), I had the honour to attend Chris's graduation ceremony with RMIT University, which was held at the Telstra Dome. RMIT's graduation was very different as compared to Monash's. RMIT has a more vibrant and 'young' feel, whereas Monash's is more solemn and grand. RMIT does not read out all their graduates' names (their names are screened), whereas Monash reads out the name one by one. Despite the risk of pronunciation errors with Asian names, however, I feel that Monash gives a more personalized feel to read out everyone's names. Either way, I attended Chris's entire graduation ceremony, which lasted for 3 hours (!!) and accompanied his family during the ceremony.
Unfortunately there are no photographs available at the moment... I didn't take any photos with my camera, so I gotta wait for Chris to send them to me and I'll post it in my next posting here. So watch this space!
Congrats Chris for completing your studies! It's now time to pursue your dreams! :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now the transition from being a student, to being a potential full-time employee will start. However, people always says that "毕业等于失业", therefore I am really keeping my fingers crossed that I will get a job in a related field soon!
One thing for sure, for now, is that I would not want to go on studying any further. I think I've had enough for now.
I hope my parents are proud of me being a Masters graduate already, even though that doesn't really mean anything much to me. I am no doubt a level higher than a bachelor's degree, however, I must not forget that there are also many other Masters graduates out there. With the paper chase society, a Masters degree is the minimum that one should get. But to me, in terms of determining what a person is like, and the goodness of his/her heart, the piece of paper that we spent so much money to buy will never be able to determine a person's personality. Throughout this course, I've learnt alot - be it studies-related or other areas of experiences. I've known many great people who have inspired me, or have been there for me somewhat or rather. I've also had alot of fun doing something that I am interested in, instead of forcing myself to study and digest what I can never understand.
Moreover, I am happy that despite that I am utterly disappointed that my parents couldn't be here, I am elated that I still have a someone special to share it with.
I also know that the people that I've befriended with during this 1.5 years, will be missed by someone like me, who just doesn't like the idea of letting people I've built close bonds with go. But them, we are all going to pursue our quest for a better future, therefore, we will all have to make full use of the cyberspace to keep in touch!
I am not sure if I should say that I am all set and ready to face the challenges that lie ahead of me, because I am also not sure what lies ahead for me. But I must say, I will try my best to face everything that comes in front of me. Ever since 6 days ago, I have a newfound courage to face many challenges that possibly might be faced, and I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. The rain is ceasing, and the dark clouds are easing. I hope to see the other end of the rainbow soon, wipe all the tears away, and untie all the knots that has ever existed.
Best of luck!
The ceremony on the 13th has two different sessions - 4pm and 8pm. But my ceremony was at 4pm. There's still another graduation ceremony on the 18th December too. I think we were one of the first batch of students to attend the ceremony.
It was a grand day, though I wasn't quite prepared for it. Honestly, I was at a loss of what to wear too, so I just wore a simple white blouse and a black skirt which doesn't seem to match very well, and looks just awkward. Either way, what I wore wasn't very noticeable after the gown has been put on, so it doesn't really matter anyway. We all look smart in our gowns and mortar boards.
Congratulations to all the graduands, and especially to the people who I've fought the 1.5 years with throughout my course in Communications and media studies. Thank you Riesa, YC, Peach, Vivien, Yuka, Joanna and Candy. You guys rock! And we MUST MUST MUST keep in touch ok! I know some of you are returning to your home countries, but it doesn't matter the distance and time differences, we have to keep each other updated. And don't forget to invite me to your weddings (if any) yea! Kekeke... I will miss u guys so much!
And a special thank you to my supervisor, Mark Gibson, who specially made a trip down to our graduation ceremony to congratulate us, as well as for a couple of photos with us.
Anyway, we media students were the last people to receive our certificates. We were seated at the very last row of all the graduates for the afternoon, therefore we need to go through the never-ending reading of names, and clapping our sore hands every now and then to cheer for them. But when it was my turn, I wasn't very nervous, but somehow my legs seem to be stuck on the ground, unable to move, and it took me some effort to tip my hat and walk shakily to the chancellor, shook hands, receive my cert, and shook another hand of the head of Arts faculty (who I avoided eye contact cuz I just wanted to get off the stage!), then finally walked down the stairs. Everything happened so fast, in seconds, that when I finally returned to my seat, the feeling's all vanished into thin air. The magical moment... over just like that... The ceremony proceeded with a supposedly-inspiring, yet dry and boring speech, then after that, we graduates were presented to all the guests by exiting Robert Blackwood Hall by going on stage together. The procedure was exactly the same as my undergrad, just that this time round, the number of graduates was half the amount (because my undergrad was Business and Economics faculty, and that faculty has a MASSIVE amount of students!).
Took more photos after that... We're all proud graduates!
Graduation ceremonies are never complete without our families with us. Unfortunately my parents couldn't get a flight over in time to attend my ceremony. Actually all of us, except YC and Riesa, did not have our families over, so I'm not alone. Furthermore, this time round, I had the honour of my good friend Chris, as well as my dear, Edwin, to attend my ceremony. And after that, my piggy-mate Sharuen also came to take photos with me. Oh... and Szerene was there as well for her friend's graduation, and she was looking for me. But by the time she found me I have already returned my gown, but we still managed to snap some photos. :)
Ok... photo time!
Yuka, me, Joanna
Just me...
Joanna's bf took this photo for me. And I think the background was really well chosen. Or maybe he just have really good photography skills. hehe...
With our lecturer, and my (and YC's) supervisor, Mark Gibson
My 2 guests for the day... :)
Thank you for coming and support me! :)
:)
And after the ceremony...
The only 8 media graduates for that day...
Masters of Communications and Media studies
We all worked hard!
Congratulations to all of us!!
The funniest part here was trying to find back our hats when they landed on the ground all jumbled up. hahaha...
With Peach and Vivien
With Riesa...
With Candy...
With Yuka...
With YC...
With my dear...he's my bag carrier of the day... oops!
Partners in 'crime'... well... not really...
Sharuen and I...
With Chris... and his infamous YO sign again.
With Szerene...
The certificate...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the ceremony, Szerene brought us to her friends' graduation party at their house somewhere near Oakleigh and Chadstone. I cannot remember the 2 girls' name, but I think I remembered one of their names was Michelle, and they are Malaysian Indians. The food they've prepared was excellent! I was kinda awkward because they were not my friends in the first place (though I've seen them before when I was working in Chom Chom) and I crashed into their party just like that. However, Grace was in the same situation as me, and she had decided to come along with us. Edwin was their friend as well though, so it's not a problem. They welcomed us warmly as well, and we just ate, looked around their beautiful house, and listened to their speech of happiness, deep thoughts and gratitude. Didn't stay too long, but we did stay longer than we have intended to...
Grace and me~
3 exceptional beauties...
(ok.... maybe just 2 lah... )
Edwin's sleepy already... and he had a runny nose... :(
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Wednesday night (12 December 2007), I had the honour to attend Chris's graduation ceremony with RMIT University, which was held at the Telstra Dome. RMIT's graduation was very different as compared to Monash's. RMIT has a more vibrant and 'young' feel, whereas Monash's is more solemn and grand. RMIT does not read out all their graduates' names (their names are screened), whereas Monash reads out the name one by one. Despite the risk of pronunciation errors with Asian names, however, I feel that Monash gives a more personalized feel to read out everyone's names. Either way, I attended Chris's entire graduation ceremony, which lasted for 3 hours (!!) and accompanied his family during the ceremony.
Unfortunately there are no photographs available at the moment... I didn't take any photos with my camera, so I gotta wait for Chris to send them to me and I'll post it in my next posting here. So watch this space!
Congrats Chris for completing your studies! It's now time to pursue your dreams! :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now the transition from being a student, to being a potential full-time employee will start. However, people always says that "毕业等于失业", therefore I am really keeping my fingers crossed that I will get a job in a related field soon!
One thing for sure, for now, is that I would not want to go on studying any further. I think I've had enough for now.
I hope my parents are proud of me being a Masters graduate already, even though that doesn't really mean anything much to me. I am no doubt a level higher than a bachelor's degree, however, I must not forget that there are also many other Masters graduates out there. With the paper chase society, a Masters degree is the minimum that one should get. But to me, in terms of determining what a person is like, and the goodness of his/her heart, the piece of paper that we spent so much money to buy will never be able to determine a person's personality. Throughout this course, I've learnt alot - be it studies-related or other areas of experiences. I've known many great people who have inspired me, or have been there for me somewhat or rather. I've also had alot of fun doing something that I am interested in, instead of forcing myself to study and digest what I can never understand.
Moreover, I am happy that despite that I am utterly disappointed that my parents couldn't be here, I am elated that I still have a someone special to share it with.
I also know that the people that I've befriended with during this 1.5 years, will be missed by someone like me, who just doesn't like the idea of letting people I've built close bonds with go. But them, we are all going to pursue our quest for a better future, therefore, we will all have to make full use of the cyberspace to keep in touch!
I am not sure if I should say that I am all set and ready to face the challenges that lie ahead of me, because I am also not sure what lies ahead for me. But I must say, I will try my best to face everything that comes in front of me. Ever since 6 days ago, I have a newfound courage to face many challenges that possibly might be faced, and I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. The rain is ceasing, and the dark clouds are easing. I hope to see the other end of the rainbow soon, wipe all the tears away, and untie all the knots that has ever existed.
Best of luck!
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