Commencement!

The scale of a graduation at Ohio State University is almost unimaginable. I'm not sure how many people graduated today but my husband estimates that there were close to 2,000 undergraduates.

The Ph.D.s alone (if you look closely at the photo above we're the ones in the scarlet and gray robes at the very front) numbered about 300, and then there were another 600 or so masters' degrees handed out.

We all crammed into the basketball stadium, which, unlike the football stadium that is used for the spring graduation, is air conditioned, and went through a three-hour ceremony that seemed absolutely endless. While the Ph.D.s were the only ones who had their names called out when we received our diplomas from the university president, every single graduate today received their diploma from their dean and had the chance to shake the president's hand. That's what makes this ceremony particularly lengthy, if also very special to everyone there.

At Harvard, they just pronounce you graduated and you get your diploma in the mail. It makes for a short and sweet ceremony but one that's oddly disappointing because of its anonymity. No so today's, when I had my name read aloud (the dean further Hispanicized my middle name rather than giving it its French pronunciation) before the president handed me my diploma and congratulated me very nicely.

As I walked back to my seat, where I would spend the next seemingly interminable 2 hours, I actually heard my sister's very loud cheer and waved in the direction of my family, who hardly could see me as you can see from how small I am in all these photos that my husband took. But the fact that the photos maintain my anonymity works since I can share them with you here.

Tomorrow, my sister and my mom leave, and I attend an academic fair in the morning and then take Rusty to his new vet here in the nearby town in the afternoon. On Thursday the semester begins and I start teaching Friday. Summer is, indeed, over, and my third academic year at the small college on the hill will begin somewhat soon.

But a lot has changed since I first drove up this hill two years ago. I've now literally earned the stripes that allow me to, finally, play in the major leagues. Let the game begin!