Graduation week… A series of fortunate events.

Graduation week at my medical school is like a series of fortunate events.

It literally lasts a week. It is like survival of the fittest. Kind of like our orientation week.

As a result, I feel like we are getting more tired and more silly as the week goes on.

As a result, at the convocation ceremony, we did fun things like play “guess who will lose their hat.” We intend to high five each other at our very coordinated shingles night… Yes… High fives all around as we crisscross and enter the auditorium. Classy, we are.

The guy sitting next to me (my alphabetical order buddy… and template buddy… and the guy I sat near all through the pre-clinical years) is not a quiet talker. He was yelling at me that he had to pee the whole ceremony. That and I had to make sure he didn’t forget his name ticket. He is one of the smartest people in my class. He doesn’t always come off that way. But he is entertaining.

On convocation day, Patrick and I had a discussion about the stupid hats and why people throw them at the end of ceremonies (we weren’t allowed, as we have to wear them to two events). When I graduated from high school, we didn’t wear caps and gowns, so I feel like I missed out… but not really. But anyway, I just thought people did it because it was fun… Or because the hats are stupid. And uncomfortable. And they leave really silly marks around your head and hair. But, Patrick believes that it is disrespectful to wear them because they are for ceremony only.

So, I did some research. Apparently, hat chucking is from a naval academy in the U.S.. Hat chucking is not popular globally apparently. I, for one, have never chucked a hat.

I could not find anything that said not to wear a hat post ceremony. At least nothing about disrespect aside from not wearing hats that block people’s views if you are a guest and such.

Life lessons from graduations.

Other than that, I have been dying to gouge my eyes out at the mingling events. Meet-the-parent receptions, other receptions…. I just love the social stuff. I am not an expert mingler (apparently “mingler” is not a word… I am not one to mingle). I like people. I don’t like masses of people… Especially new people… In loud, crowed rooms. Screaming and flapping are generally being suppressed in such settings. Highlights, however include seeing people who look freakishly like their parents… Or not.

Tonight, at a wine and cheese, I inadvertently knocked over a glass of red wine someone left on a table… With the sleeve of my gown. All over my feet and the feet of another girl in my class. Epic fail. Classic Trisha.

Also tonight was a make fun of the class event while we got our doctor shingles. Nothing better than the dirt on other class tendency to be late and complain (when we entered 15 minutes late for the ceremony because one guy showed up late). We laughed until we cried. And heard a lot of limericks and songs. Because that is just how we roll.