Graduation Day at Harvard!

Graduation Day

Finally the big day had arrived - Graduation Day! or Commencement Day as the Americans call it :)

Athol and his classmates had be at HKS at 6:45am for class photos.

We had received heat warnings for the day saying that it would be 33C and it was incredibly hot and humid - thank goodness for the occasional refreshing breeze.

The ceremony at the Harvard Yard started at 9:30am with the procession starting at 8:30am. The yard was packed when I arrived. Due to the recent Marathon bombings, security was tight, they searched all handbags and scanned all men with a metal detector wand. We had received tickets but they never even asked for tickets at the gate. About 35,000 people were expected! It was a bit chaotic as all the seats were taken. Eventually I found a nice shady chair in the Old Yard and watched it on the big screen. Oprah Winfrey received an honoury degree. The speeches were great and inspiring. The degrees were then conferred school by school. Each of the schools had something which represented their schools - the law students had a gavel, the doctors had a stethoscope, the Education students had notebooks and the Government students had a blow-up ball of the world. Not sure what the business school students had...

 

Oprah Winfrey receiving her honoury degree

 

HKS graduates

 

Video on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adw2JfRigmI

Then there was the individual school ceremonies at 12:15pm.  So I went to the Harvard Kennedy School. The ceremony was held in the JFK Park under a grand tent. The graduates marched in and the degrees were conferred to each candidate.

 

 

 

For the Afternoon Exercise, we decided to avoid the crowds andwatch it on the big screen in the Forum at HKS. Oprah gave a speech. She spoke about living your life with purpose and that you mustn't live always try to get approval from others. She also mentioned a quote from Maya Angelou 'when you get, give and when you learn, teach...'. Such wise words.  Video available on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMWFieBGR7c

Such a great event! a day to remember, another great memory.

Wits, MIT, LBS.... now Athol has conquered Harvard. Much respect to him for being the eternal student :) it was a tough year with assignments, lectures, talks, group work, early mornings, workshops, exams, 20 page papers, etc. but such an amazing experience to learn at one of the top (if not the best!) academic institutes in the world!

My husband is a Harvard graduate - how awesome! Am so proud :)

 

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Mason Certificate Ceremony 27 May 2013

 

Athol recited one of his poems "These Few" at the Mason Fellow Certificate ceremony.

 

 

 

Class Day 28 May 2013

 

 

At the Class Day, Athol received the N. Littauer Award for both academic excellence and a significant impact on the Harvard Kennedy School community.

 

 

 

Photo by Winnie Ng



5 days to Athol's Graduation, 3 weeks left in the USA

5 days to Athol's Graduation

Athol got his final results on Thursday so he has passed all his eight courses and will be graduating at Harvard on Thursday 30 May 2013. What an amazing accomplishment! I am so proud of him.

There has been so many Commencement events, actually there has been something every day since Tuesday - sometimes 2 or 3 events a day! So it's more of a Commencement 1.5 weeks :)
There is Class Day, the Mason Certificate Ceremony, presentations by the guest speakers, the actual Graduation Day, the Bon Voyage Buffet, Champagne events, lunches, dinners, last parties, etc. We even had to postpone our trip to Washington DC. Back at Wits, I remember that Graduation was just a few hours and there were definately no other evenets on other days.

On Tuesday, the inaugural HKS book of poetry was launched. This was Athol's initiaive. During the year, he got classmates to write a poem about a better world. The event was amazing, some read their poem and other sand or played music. One classmate even did 5 paintings. The guest speaker was Prof. Marshall Gantz, a legend at Harvard.

 

Athol reciting "All I Have"

Guest speaker: Prof. M. Ganz

From Monday, graduates can go collect their gowns and caps. They get to use them for a couple of days, to take photos, etc. Not like at Wits where you go pick up your gown on the day of your Graduation and then you must return it immediately afterwards.

Graduation is a big thing here, it happens rather quick after exams. Athol's last paper was due on 9 May. Families of graduates from around the world will all be coming for this event. Gradution Day begins at 6:45am with class photos!

Security will also be strict, due to the recent Boston Marathon bombings.

Oprah Winfrey will be the guest speaker on the day.

Looking forward to the coming week of events!

On Monday 28 May is Memorial Day, which is a public holiday here in the USA. It is always on the last Monday of May. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the US Armed Forces http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

3 weeks left in the USA

These last 3 weeks are going to fly by, we have so much still to do including packing up and selling off all household items, our tip to Washington DC 5-8 June and say our goodbyes to the wonderful people that we've met here.

The last few days have been rainy and overcast. This week the US has been hit by numerous tornados in the mid west. The one in Oklahoma was devastating, homes were literally flattened... very sad.

The trees and flowers are in full bloom which is really beautiful. There are lots of pollen and petals flying around, even the weather reports sometimes give a 'Pollen Alert'. A nightmare for people with asthma or hay fever.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the weather is nice for Graduation Day :)

Studies done! Now 5 weeks left to enjoy this great city. Our second Red Sox game 10 May 2013

Athol is done with his studies at Harvard - wrote his last 3 hour Game Theory exam on Thursday and handed in his last African Politics paper. Can't believe how quickly this semester went.

Now we have 5 weeks left before we head back home to South Africa. We'll be enjoying as much of Boston as we can and also pack up and sell our furniture before we leave.

On Friday we went to our second Red Sox game at Fenway Park. They played the Toronto Blue Jays and we won won 5-0. Such a great atmosphere! We met up with some of Athol's MIT classmates.

 

 

After the game, we walked from Fenway Park to MIT, the roads and T were packed. So we had a nice leisurely walk over the Charles River to MIT and then caught the bus home. We walked about 1.2 miles at 11pm at night - could never do that in SA! Fortunately the weather was nice too.

 

The famous CITGO sign by Fenway

                                   On the Mass Av. bridge over the Charles River. Smoots

An awesome piece of art by MIT

Being a Vegan

This one is for the food fans out there. Thought that I'd document some of the food products that we've been eating especially since Athol is now a non-meat, non-dairy eater.

Athol's been a Vegan (or Edenist as he calls it! for his philosophical reasons) for 4 months now. Luckily in America, there are plenty of options for Vegans. So being a 'Vegan' means not eating meat and dairy. For health reasons, Athol also needs to eat food low in fats and sodium. So we have been looking a food labels to see the exact content - % of fats (Trans and Saturated fats are bad! but Poly and Mono fats are good), sodium (salt is very bad!) and sugar (which is very fattening). Here is an example of a soy milk label:

So with that mission in mind, I've been on the look out for legit food to eat :) I've been experimenting with different food products.

Strange how society's norm is to eat meat and non-meat eaters are frowned upon and companies make 'fake' meat products (substituted with soy) and name it something funny.

We've noticed some quirky Vegetarian  or non-dairy food names, like:

'Nayonnaise'

'Soy Boy Courage Burgers'

'Vegetable Corn Dogs'

'Chik'n'

Some other products I've seen and laughed when I saw the names: 'Tofurkey' 'Cheez' 

Some of the products we've tried that are legit for us to eat:
'Soy milk'

'Whole wheat wraps'

'Cashew Butter'

'Veggie Dogs'

'Matzos'

I haven't been eating much meat at all since it is just easier to cook one day instead of two :) I've had the odd piece of chicken or fish - but not more than 5 meals over the last 4 months! I haven't weighed myself since we've been here but I think that I weigh the same :) Athol has lost some weight since December.

So this year our diet has completely changed from the American (high fat, high sodium, high sugar) foods that we were eating last year. This current diet is far healthier and really hasn't been so bad. We haven't really missed meat. I've just been creative in the kitchen by making veggie stews, curries, lasagna, pasta, wraps, soups, etc.

So here's to healthy eating and good health!