Monday, May 4, 2009

Pomp and Circumstance

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009, my husband, Ian, graduated from the University of Florida with his Masters in International Business!

I am so proud of him, for all of his hard work and diligence. He completed his Masters in 10 months, starting one week after we got married! It's been quite a whirlwind of group meetings, projects, classes, and long nights of homework.

He is really ready for a break, because, honestly, he hasn't had more than three weeks off since he started college! He is taking the summer off, and then, this fall, we will both be starting seminary classes from Southern online, in order to meet our requirements for our new job.

The day of graduation went pretty smoothly. Ian's dad arrived in town at 8:30, and we drove over to the school, parked, and entered the O'Connell center where his graduation would take place. My father-in-law and I found good seats, and chatted the morning away. The processional started at 9:30, taking almost 45 minutes for all of the graduates to be seated, and the ceremony lasted until 12:30! It lasted so long because thsi ceremony was for all Master's and PhD students, so it was a more formal event, with the Doctoral students getting "hooded," individually.

After the ceremony, we met Ian at the car, where he got out of his regalia, then we walked across the street to some restaurants for lunch. Then, at about 1:30, we headed back tothe O'Connell center to watch the business college's graduation, which started at 2:30 and ran to 4:30. We had several friends graduating in this ceremony, including Ian's BFF Sam, Sam's roommate Andy, old friends from home, and several of the students we teach in Sunday school..


After the second ceremony, we loaded up and went to one of our favorite restaurants around here, Peach Valley Cafe! Sam's family (mom, dad, and brother,) met and ate with us, and although I ordered a Cajun Chicken Pasta, it did not taste good. Like flour and milk as the alfredo sauce. I was pretty disappointed so I pigged out on the Fresh Apple Fritters instead.
We finshed dinner up around six and we were exhausted! We drove back to our apartment, said our goodbyes, then plopped down on the couch, where I watched 4 hours of 24, and Ian played a computer game. Then we crashed for the night. It wasn't until the next morning when I realized I hadn't really taken any pictures of Ian's graduation gown! I remedied that the next day (post to come.)





















7 comments:

Brittne said...

Congrats!!

Hannah said...

Congrats! too bad you wont be taking classes from Southern at Southern... then we could be friends IRL :) SBTS is great though and if you ever come visit... let me know we can all go out to dinner

Kaylyn said...

Yay! Congrats to Ian! So, I am laughing hysterically at the last picture...so, how short are you or how tall is your hubby?? So funny! You are like in their arm pits. Too good. Forgive me...also, they guy in the bandana reminds me of Desmond on Lost. :)

Love is the Movement said...

Haha I agree, that last picture is hilarious.

Also, Peach Valley Cafe is right next to my apartment complex, and my roommate always raves about it too.

I might just have to go tomorrow and check it out!

Callie said...

That's exciting! Good luck on the classes you guys have to take this fall!
P.S. Thanks for the book ideas, I'll have to check out Dee Henderson!

Jessica said...

Congratulations! That's a lot to accomplish in 10 months!

OlyviaNoel said...

Congratulations to Ian! And I agree with Following Forward... the guy in the bandana does look like Desmond! :) You two have so much to look forward to in the months to come! *Love your dress, by the way. You two look very cute together!