Graduation Final Re-Cap--the Big Day/Night

Re-Cap #3 ended with "I'm fairly certain that we all ate our body weight that night." Thursday evening was a treat because some of our campus friends met up with us for dinner. Keep in mind that as distance students, we often team up with campus students for school projects but still have never met each other, other than voices over the phones or overheard during lectures. So two of our former campus team-mates came in, Jill and Michelle, and we ended up wandering the streets of DC until we came upon a posh little place to eat with some good outdoor tables. We chatted about school, kids, husbands--you know, the usual female-chatter. It was just so nice to finally meet them in person--made me feel more connected to the school, rather than an outsider looking in. I didn't have my camera with me, but Ms. Hoffman did--she owes me some pictures of all of us together.

Friday morning many of us checked out of the hotel. I mentioned in earlier posts the billing mess that started as a result of the unhelpful front desk guy--well it kept going from there. I'll just say that after the week-long fiasco and the final billing issues, I will never, ever stay at another Club Quarters nor will I let someone I don't know place room reservations for me (I was not the only person who had major problems). Since my family was en route to DC and we would be staying at another hotel, I dragged my bags with me to my final day of school and then onto the Metro to the new hotel. I learned when I went to Japan that negotiating subways and trains is much, much easier with little baggage...apparently I forgot learning that lesson and showed up at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel sweating, exhausted, and irritated from dragging all my friggin' bags everywhere!

Fortunately, this hotel was 180-degrees away from Club Quarters, and in a great location for sight-seeing. By the time we checked in, grabbed a late lunch, and cleaned up for graduation night, it was time to get to the ceremony. I was actually a few minutes late to line up, so I didn't get any pictures in my "regalia" with my classmates...then our crappy camera didn't focus well in the arena so I don't have any of the ceremony! I was able to get a few good ones with my family: