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Graduation is a time when family and friends come
together collectively to celebrate individual achievement
and the passage from one phase of life to the next.
Graduations are a time to reflect on the past, to
smile, relax, enjoy the moment and feel optimistic
about the future. A week ago a dear friend Jaruwan
Supolrai received her diploma from Ubon Ratchathani
University, a college with about 5,000 students some
15 kilometers south of the city. It was indeed a celebration
but hardly a spontaneous or stress-free one!
This graduation was an explosion of color. Reds bled
to crimson, baby blue and shimmering golden hues!
Nervous, smiling students dressed in their most fancy
uniforms, shirts and skirts for the young women and
tight white suits for the boys. Each graduate wore
a lacy, baby-blue gown. The graduates carried multi-colored
flowers carefully cradled in the arms of teddy bears.
This colorful scene was hardly serene. The crowd
was noisy and boisterous. Thai people love to take
pictures and there was a constant whirring and clicking
coming from every direction. Proud parents, happy
students, smiling brothers and sisters, confused babies
masked the underlying tension the graduates felt.
Jaruwan explained that the preparation that went into
the event was "exhausting and formal." Rehearsals
were rigorous, lasting for hours for two days before
the actual ceremony. Also Her Royal Highness Princess
Maha Chakri Sirindhorn was there to hand out the diplomas.
This was nerve wracking; there is no room for error
in the face of royalty. Jaruwan explained, everything
had to be perfect. The princess is a scholar having
earned a doctorate in Development Education from Srinakharinwirot
University in Bangkok in 1987.
Next there was time pressure. Some 1,140 students
had to collect their diplomas in around 1 minute meaning
that 35 students had to march to the front and receive
their diplomas each and every minute. The graduates
worked on their timing in practice, even counting
the number of steps they had to take every second!
The day of the ceremony was so stressful that Jaruwan
said there was "no time for sleep." Wake-up time on
graduation day was promptly at 3 a.m. for a pre-dawn
hair and make up call. The scene was hysterical. Imagine
a queue of half-awake girls standing in the glow of
a dimly lit convenience store dressed only in their
nightgowns waiting to get into a nearby salon just
outside the University gates. Soon there was a second
line, the same girls parading out of the salon, still
in their nightgowns, but with made-up faces aglow
and freshly coifed hair carefully arranged into swirls
atop their heads.
Jaruwan dressed for the day at 4 a.m., a quick and
simple task; first slip into the neatly ironed shirt
and dress, then the gown. Next a quick breakfast;
there would be no time for more food until much later
that afternoon. Exhausted and not yet dawn, Jaruwan
headed out to meet her classmates. Soon she would
parade formally into the gymnasium where the Princess
waited.
The gymnasium was graduates and students only. The
processional and the ceremony were worth the frenetic
middle-of-the-night effort. The graduates, identified
by their flowing blue gowns, marched in first. First
and second year students stood on either side solemnly
singing the school song. Jaruwan said she was, "nervous
because everything was so formal." Later she said
that when the 52-year-old Princess entered the gymnasium
and the Royal Song played she "got goose bumps all
down" her arms.
An hour later the ceremony complete the students
emerged clearly relieved the formalities were over.
"I did it!" was a common exclamation. Now, the celebration,
the graduation party could begin! First year students
honored graduates from different faculties surrounding
them singing or dancing to show respect. There were
flowers everywhere. Thousands, every color of the
rainbow, purchased from street vendors that morning
were showered upon the graduates. I felt like a beast
of burden carrying more bouquets than I could handle;
so many had been given to Jaruwan.
The formal party began to wind down. Families that
have traveled far distances get back in their cars
or vans and headed go home. The graduates headed out
for food and a moment of relaxation. Everyone was
exhausted but there was one more celebration, one
final party. The graduates headed out to the bars
for a last college bash before taking that next step
into the "real world."
About the author:
Eli Sherman
is a graduate of Montpelier High School in Montpelier,
the capital of the state of Vermont, USA, and a "young
blood writer" living in Ubon Ratchathani, Isaan -
Northeastern Thailand. He's been to Isaan four times
in his short life. Once on a cross cultural exchange
with Montpelier to Thailand Project; once coming for
five months as an exchange student at Benchama Maharat
school in Ubon; and again coming as a guide for Montpelier
to Thailand Project. He now works as a volunteer at
the Institute of Nutrition Research Field Station,
Mahidol University in Ubon Ratchathani and is writing
to present Isaan Life to the world, and especially
KhaoSanRoad.com visitors.
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