Wow, it's been over a month since I last posted. Oops. :-/ It's alright, not too much outside the routine happened anyway.
But a week ago on Saturday, May 1st, I went back to Ann Arbor for my brother's, Eric's, graduation from U of MI, as well as several of my friends who were graduating grad school as well. Congrats all!!
Thursday evening, I drove down to Chicago to stay the night at my uncle's place. Early the following morning, I took a Metra train to Union Station where I transferred to the Megabus to Ann Arbor. My train to Union Station arrived almost an hour early due to the schedule, so I had some time to explore around a bit.
The Megabus ride back to Ann Arbor was . . . somewhat unpleasant. Apparently, reading on a moving bus makes me nauseous. Alas. But we arrived at Ann Arbor about 20 minutes early! :-) When I arrived, Shari picked me up from the bus station and we stopped by her house to drop off my stuff.
We walked from her house to campus, which took about 30 minutes. I'm glad it was really nice out. We met up with Alicia at the diag and walked over to Good Time Charlie's for dinner. Later, Yoshi and her sister also joined us at Charlie's. After being thoroughly stuffed, we (slowly) ambled over to Lab, a new frozen yogurt place on E. Liberty St. on the opposite side of campus. It's kinda cool. There are 4 kinds of frozen yogurt and various toppings, and you what you pay depends on the weight of your frozen yogurt + toppings. I wish it had existed while I was in undergrad. *Grumble grumble*
Me & Alicia (I love that shirt, lol)
After that, we walked around campus a bit (even slower). First we stopped by the newly finished North Quad, where my youngest brother, Kevin, will be living next year. Pretty envious of that as well.
Then we walked by the USB and Palmer Commons, overlooking Palmer Field and MoJo dorm.
Our final destination for the night wouldn't be complete without a trip to Bubble Island. I swear, I haven't found a bubble tea place in all of WI yet. Perhaps I should look harder . . .
And on the way back to Shari's house, I noticed an amusing sticker stuck to one of the bus signs. :-P
The following morning, Saturday, I got up at around 6:00am. Ugh. At around 6:20am, it started pouring. Thankfully, I bought a rain poncho the day before. By the time my parents stopped by to pick us (me and Shari's roommate, Alex) up to go to the stadium, it was around 7:30am and the rain was starting to let up.
It was a pretty insane crowd at the stadium! At every entrance was pretty intense security - metal detectors and all that. But it flowed pretty fast, so not as bad as airport security, lol. We managed to get inside the stadium and to our seats by about 9am. However, Commencement didn't formally start until 11am. Thankfully, it had completely stopped raining by the time we entered the stadium.
I love the procession of flags from each of the departments.
Why, might you ask, was the reason for this security? Well, the secret service agents standing on top of the Big House should tip you off. The commencement speaker is none other than President Obama. There were some other guests as well, including the state governor, Governor Jennifer Granholm. Her speech was rather political and sucker-up-ish, lol. I don't think anyone was particularly enthused by her speech.
Of course the star attraction was, understandably, President Obama's speech. It was truly special for him to address the graduates at this year's Spring Commencement. How I envy my brother and my grad school friends! My Spring Commencement was rather lackluster by comparison, though I did like graduating on the diag. Obama gave a solid speech for about 32 minutes. There were moments that I felt his speech was a bit too political and not quite apropos for the occasion, but he ended on a very nice note. The enthusiasm and excitement from the graduates, families, and friends in the Big House was rather overwhelming.
An excerpt towards the end of President Obama's speech:
"The men and women who sat in your chairs 10 years ago and 50 years ago and 100 years ago –- they made America possible through their toil and their endurance and their imagination and their faith. Their success, and America’s success, was never a given. And there is no guarantee that the graduates who will sit in these same seats 10 years from now, or 50 years from now, or 100 years from now, will enjoy the same freedoms and opportunities that you do. You, too, will have to strive. You, too, will have to push the boundaries of what seems possible. For the truth is, our nation’s destiny has never been certain."
And the onus is on the next generation, as it so often is.
Me, Eric, & Kevin
Shari & Me (I suppose it's time to call her Dr. Rosen)
After graduation the remainder of my weekend was pretty unremarkable. I had to get up at 5:20am Sunday morning to catch the Megabus (it takes about 1 hour to go from Troy to Ann Arbor) at 7:30am. I'm just now, in the last 2-3 days, catching up from the sleep debt I incurred last weekend. But it was all worth it. :-)
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