summer is over, fall semester begins

Well, summer is over. Our fall semester starts Tuesday. It doesn't make THAT much difference for me, because I'm done with coursework and I'm not even auditing anything, and I've already been working on my comprehensive exam readings (to be referred to after this as "comps"). It is going to be an intense semester. Sigh.

The nice thing is that there is a concrete reminder that people DO finish and get their PhDs! Steve's PhD graduation was a few weeks ago, and his parents came from Minnesota. It was nice, although he finished his dissertation revisions back in January, and he's had a job for a year. The PhD graduation is pretty special, because you're supposed to bring your advisor and they sit with you, put the PhD hood on you, and escort you across the stage. Steve's advisor was at the wedding of a family friend, so he got another faculty member (who he had TAed for) to do it instead. We saw some friends who have been on clinical internship the past year, and had a good visit with his parents for a long weekend. Here are some pictures of Steve in his fancy PhD gown...

He just rented his, because they are an insane $500 to buy. (yeah, I know, what the--?!?! after putting in all that time/work to get the degree, you have to drop hundreds on a gown) He'll need it more when he has a faculty position later, so it just wasn't worth it to buy now. It is a shame that we'll probably be teaching at the same place, because otherwise we could share one! I didn't know until the graduation that the rented vs. bought gowns are different. The ones you buy are much nicer--blue, with blue velvet paneling, the university seal, etc. Here is a photo of Steve with some friends, one of whom bought hers (the girl of "the Kellys"--the married friends of ours who have the same first & last name!).

I didn't do the master's ceremony--it felt so anticlimactic, since I've been done with my master's for 6+ months, and I've already begun working on comps and thinking of dissertation ideas. It just didn't seem celebratory to do the master's ceremony when I'M STILL HERE. (A fact that the Alumni Association doesn't seem to grasp--like when they call me for donations!) However, I had a master's gown from a friend, and I put it on at midnight the night before Steve had to return his gown, and we took pictures. We were cracking up at how funny and ridiculous it was to be in graduation attire at midnight. I added a level of hilarity by not wearing pants! :-) I figured of all times when I could go pants-less under a graduation gown, this would be it. ROTFL! I was convinced my roommates were going to come downstairs and think we were freaks! :-)

I also decided that I should try on the PhD gown before Steve returned it, just to make sure it looks good on me. If not, I should just drop out of the program now. :-) But, I did like the look of it, so I guess I'll stay. ;-)