Commencement Dinner
Last night was a special night for us in International House (IH). We had our first commencement dinner, one of the four formal dinners we will have in a year.
Everyone dressed up in shirt and tux. That was probably the only time i’ve seen something like this since IMU ball 2006. For once Ganesh was not in his loose-collared t-shirt.. :o) And on top of the formal wear, we’ve got a cloak which was aptly named the ‘harry potter’s cloak’ by ganesh.
Ganesh, Rahul, Me, Darren, Chungyew, Wenhao
We gathered in the Junior Common Room (JCR) before proceding to the dining hall. A minor cocktail was served there. It was then we realised that our seats are allocated, which was good too. I din know anyone on my table.
Random: Reika’s cousin is in IH too!!!
Dinner started promptly at 630pm. It was quite a pleasant surprise that our dining hall was transformed into a very classy place. there’s 8 person to a table. It was draped in white table cloth with 3 candles in the middle and decorative flowers on its sides.
The ceremony started with the head of IH (Jane Munroe) and all the tutors, accompanied by reps from the student union, marching into the dining hall. Jane gave an inspiring speech on little bit of IH’s hisory and how IH wishes to play a part in integrating the whole world. We had a toast for ‘fraternitas’ which means brotherhood (she added: in our context, sisterhood too!).
It was a 3 course meal. Entree was salad prawn with olives and some vege. :o) (sounds good?) Main course was beef steak. Throughout the dinner, there were speeches going on.. by the dep head of IH and also the reps from student union. But most of us were more engrossed in our conversations and food!
The desert was served in the university, which is about 20mins walk away. Right after dinner, still in our formal wear, a whole bunch of nearly 300 of us strolled to the university and colonized the little cafe. Cakes and soft drinks were served.
After that, the congregation splitted. Most of them went on to clubbing, but we chose to drink chocolate in Kokoblack. :o) the most wonderful chocolate in the world is found there (visit wenhao’s blog for more details)!!
It was a good evening.
