Living like Kings: You may now address me as "Master King"

Any other bloggers out there find yourselves wanting to constantly quote Julie and Julia? Because I do. So, please allow me this one reference, and thank me for leaving out the million others that I've been tempted to include. I'm not normally one to brag on myself, but Julie says that is what a blog is for..."It's me, me, me, day after day"... so let's raise our glasses to a bit of narcissism, and in a toast to my graduation. I am officially a master! To be precise, a Master of Arts in Ancient History and Archaeology of the Classical Mediterranean. Oh, and did I mention that I earned my degree while working and raising a toddler, AND I gave birth to my second daughter the week that I sent in the topic proposal for my thesis (in retrospect I think the "birth" of my thesis was more painful than that of my baby). If I knew all those cute texting abbreviations, I'm sure I'd have some great ones to put here to express my excitement. But the only one that I'm sure of the meaning is LOL, and that hardly seems fitting. So, to save myself the embarrassment of writing something that actually has a completely different (and probably inappropriate) meaning from that which I intended, let me just stick with an oldie...AHHHH!!!!!

Let me share a bit about my big day. In January Jared and I were blessed to be able to go all the way to England to attend my graduation from the University of Leicester (hint: to get the full British experience pronounce it "Lester" from now on as you read). After a cozy one-hour train ride from London to Leicester, we spent a relaxed day walking around the campus, meeting my teachers and fellow students, and, of course, graduating. Spending the day out with my man (who gave me so much support and encouragement during my program) was the perfect way to celebrate. Here's some of my takeaways from that day (and for the really dedicated, I'll offer an extended version below):

If you have to sit through a boring graduation (and if you're sitting through any graduation, it's going to be boring), make it a British one. They can do grand.
The doctoral robes were awesome (and occasionally hilarious), while the master's robes (aka mine) were dreadful.
After hearing them praise the school during the ceremony, I feel even more proud and blessed to have attended Leicester.
Wearing heals was a HUGE mistake (I haven't seen blisters like that since soccer pre-season in high school).
After finally meeting my teachers face-to-face, I'm glad to say I was working under some fantastic people.

Now for the long-winded version. Where to start...how about the robes. In case the fact that you are about to receive your graduate degree isn't enough to stamp NERD on your forehead, there's no mistaking the fact after you put on the robes. First, they are left open in the front, which, apart from appearing sloppy (in my opinion), meant that I was also constantly pulling it forward to the proper placement on my shoulders. As for the hood, apparently they have not changed since a time when only men graduated, because (since the gown is open in the front) they are meant to be held in place by placing a small loop around your shirt button. Here's a picture of Jared and me on that day...

Do you see the problem? No button. So, after mentioning this slight problem to my advisor during the reception for my school, she had half of the teachers looking for the best tool and the best use for that tool to get everything in its appropriate place. We finally ended up with one of these binder clips...

hooked to my bra. Comfortable? I think not. But the awkwardness of my robe paled in comparison to the grandeur of the teachers robes. The scene they created in the front more resembled a congratulatory bouquet of wild flowers for the graduates than a group of esteemed teachers. And if that was not a captivating enough sight, there was a huge golden scepter (among other less gaudy scepters) to hold your attention.

Teachers in their robes

The entrance of the golden scepter

This colorful backdrop was not enough, however, to keep a jet-lagged body from snoozing a bit through the reading of over 1,000 names, and it won't be enough to keep your attention either. So, we'll skip forward to the part where I got to shake hands with royalty...well, not quite. But the robes of my chancellor (including a train that is not visible in the pictures below) certainly gave the impression of royalty, not to mention his title, Baron Grocott of Telford.

Shaking hands with the Baron

Although we were supposed to be the key recipients of praise, the speeches during the ceremony offered congratulations mainly to the school. This was pretty fascinating for me. U of Leicester is rated in the top 2% of universities worldwide (let's be honest, there's a lot of schools in that top 2% because there's just a ton of schools in the world). But it's rated in the top 1% of research Universities (based upon the number of times a teacher at the school is cited in published material). Nearly half of the students enrolled are working on a postgraduate degree, which is pretty crazy. And, to top it all off, the U of Leicester just identified the body of King Richard III in Leicester. Boom! It's hard to beat that. The director of my school, Lin Foxhall, was mentioned in this article about the topic on Yahoo's front page. She graded several of my papers, and I had a great conversation with her at my graduation.

We attended a fun reception for my school (Ancient History and Archaeology) which offered a great way to meet my fellow students and teachers. I loved getting to put a face with all the names of my teachers (names I recognized not only from them grading my papers, but also from a lot of the published material I read for the regular workload or a research assignment). I especially enjoyed getting to see my advisor, Naoise, again, and introducing Jared to her (I was able to meet her earlier in the program during a week-long course in Greece). Great food and drinks made it a fantastic gathering.

To conclude this narcissistic rant, let me just add that I graduated with merit. I'll leave you now with a few more pictures and the teaser that if you like Ikea, you're going to love my next post.