It's over. LCC Graduation 2007 is over. My friends are done with another year of school and mostly heading home or elsewhere early next week. Several will be in Klaipeda during May, as they'll be taking a class at LCC and so my goodbyes have been delayed for a while. Meanwhile, I leave in exactly four weeks!The ceremonies on Saturday were well organized and went on without a hitch. The weather was beautiful, and I think the flower shops in the area had a boost of business because every graduate was walking around with an armful of blooming well-wishes.
The commencement ceremony went like this: The staff and faculty lined up on either side of the sidewalk leading to Michealsen Centras, where the ceremony would take place inside. We then followed them into the foyer, where we bypassed them and went in to our seats in a mini processional. The graduates then came in and found their seats, and the speeches began. The main speaker was an advisor to the Lithuanian president, who gave his speech in Lithuanian, and then an interpreter gave it in English. His speech was very nice, but it was getting long and somewhere along the line, people in the bleachers started clapping and shouting - I thought the president had just walked in, 
but apparently they were just indicating that they had heard enough and that the speech should be over. The speaker apologized for the length of his speech and gave his closing remarks in English. It was pretty rude, and a student apologized for their behavior in a later speech given to thank the parents of the graduates. There were 95 graduating students, and each one received a Lithuanian sash with their name on it, and those who won awards received extra sashes. For example, Regis got three sashes that formed the colors of the Lithuanian flag, and Dori got three sashes too, but two yellow and one green. Most everyone's parents and families were there - and it was fun for me to see them and gauge the family resemblance. After thousands of photos were taken, the families grabbed their grad and took them out to dinner for some quality bonding time and more co
ngratulations.The LCC party was being held at 8 pm at a hall above a bar/club in the old town, and upon arriving a fashionable 10 minutes late, we found that there was not enough seating and not everyone had arrived yet. Champagne, wine, various other alcoholic beverages and many, many fancy snacks were available. There was a slideshow of photos and a dance performance by two non-grads and it was pretty fun. A good time was had by all, seating or no :)
1 comment:
The same thing happened in Russia when we went to see the ballet. I guess they were having technical difficulties, so they were showing some lame movie. People were getting sick of it so they'd start clapping and shouting. It took about five tries to get anything done, but it finally worked.
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