Graduation weekend in Melbourne
I'm a little bit late in reporting on this one... oops!
I finished my PhD some time ago now, however I had still been waiting to graduate. My graduation was on a Tuesday so we decided to go down to Melbourne for four days by combining a couple of days off with the weekend. We got down on the Friday night and were wonderfully greeted by Mum and Kate (sister). I was great to see Kate who is pregnant at the moment and we certainly made the most of our time in Melbourne to catch up with her.
On Saturday we caught up with friends for breakfast in Warrandyte and take in a bit of op-shopping. Kath found a somewhat interesting article of clothing that she is trying to convince me to wear to an upcoming alleycat bicycle race. I'll post pictures if she can convince me to wear it, I doubt it though!
That afternoon (and it was a glorious afternoon, sunny and 30 degrees) we went to a housewarming for Stu and Kat in Hawthorn. Their place has an amazing courtyard and we got to catch up with a lot of friends without having to organise it ourselves which was fantastic.
On Sunday we had a nice sleep-in and then got a bit of grub and booze together for a family get together. We had a pretty full house at mum and dad's place and ended up partying for a long time! One of mum's friends made me an amazing quilt with ants printed on it (my thesis was about ant colony optimisation, an optimisation algorithm inspired by ants).
On Tuesday I got up a little later than expected for my graduation at noon, thanks to a fault alarm clock! It was ok though as we had allowed plenty of time and I was still one of the first to arrive at the Hawthorn Town Hall. I got gowned up and attracted a bit of attention standing on Burwood road where we met up with one of my old mates (Adam) who I did undergrad with and had also stayed on at Swinburne to complete his PhD. He's of the the USA in a couple of weeks so it was great timing to be able to see him.
We met up with the fams and went for a coffee at Haddons coffee shop in the middle of the Swinburne campus. After having a sit down we got some quick photos and went back over to the town hall to get read for the graduation ceremony. The ceremony was good and I got my 1 minute of fame as the Dean of my old faculty read out my citation while I was on the stage. I was one of three PhDs which was nice as we each got a great round of applause (maybe because we were last and that meant that everybody knew they would be let out soon!)
After the ceremony we went for some beers nearby, later when the numbers dwindled down Kath, Mum, Dad and I went for dinner at Vegie bar in Fitzroy. It was so great to get some decent vegie food again and we even celebrated with a bottle of red (Penfolds Cab Shiraz, Bin 389) that dad had been keeping for a special occasion. I think it may have been the most expensive bottle that Vegie bar has ever seen given the reaction by our waiter!
It was great to be back in Melbourne and it was hard to get back on the plane, I'm very much looking forward to getting back there in December...
I finished my PhD some time ago now, however I had still been waiting to graduate. My graduation was on a Tuesday so we decided to go down to Melbourne for four days by combining a couple of days off with the weekend. We got down on the Friday night and were wonderfully greeted by Mum and Kate (sister). I was great to see Kate who is pregnant at the moment and we certainly made the most of our time in Melbourne to catch up with her.
On Saturday we caught up with friends for breakfast in Warrandyte and take in a bit of op-shopping. Kath found a somewhat interesting article of clothing that she is trying to convince me to wear to an upcoming alleycat bicycle race. I'll post pictures if she can convince me to wear it, I doubt it though!
That afternoon (and it was a glorious afternoon, sunny and 30 degrees) we went to a housewarming for Stu and Kat in Hawthorn. Their place has an amazing courtyard and we got to catch up with a lot of friends without having to organise it ourselves which was fantastic.
On Sunday we had a nice sleep-in and then got a bit of grub and booze together for a family get together. We had a pretty full house at mum and dad's place and ended up partying for a long time! One of mum's friends made me an amazing quilt with ants printed on it (my thesis was about ant colony optimisation, an optimisation algorithm inspired by ants).
On Tuesday I got up a little later than expected for my graduation at noon, thanks to a fault alarm clock! It was ok though as we had allowed plenty of time and I was still one of the first to arrive at the Hawthorn Town Hall. I got gowned up and attracted a bit of attention standing on Burwood road where we met up with one of my old mates (Adam) who I did undergrad with and had also stayed on at Swinburne to complete his PhD. He's of the the USA in a couple of weeks so it was great timing to be able to see him.
We met up with the fams and went for a coffee at Haddons coffee shop in the middle of the Swinburne campus. After having a sit down we got some quick photos and went back over to the town hall to get read for the graduation ceremony. The ceremony was good and I got my 1 minute of fame as the Dean of my old faculty read out my citation while I was on the stage. I was one of three PhDs which was nice as we each got a great round of applause (maybe because we were last and that meant that everybody knew they would be let out soon!)
After the ceremony we went for some beers nearby, later when the numbers dwindled down Kath, Mum, Dad and I went for dinner at Vegie bar in Fitzroy. It was so great to get some decent vegie food again and we even celebrated with a bottle of red (Penfolds Cab Shiraz, Bin 389) that dad had been keeping for a special occasion. I think it may have been the most expensive bottle that Vegie bar has ever seen given the reaction by our waiter!
It was great to be back in Melbourne and it was hard to get back on the plane, I'm very much looking forward to getting back there in December...Labels: Family, graduation, swinburne, university, wine
posted by Dan at
4:56 pm
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