Finally, I'm Dr. Christine!!

It's been a LONG LONG road, but it's finally here. I'm Dr. Christine! It didn't feel real until one of my favorite attendings gave me a huge hug and I introduced her to my parents, as Dr J. She stopped me, smiled, and said "Christine, it's Julie now to you". It going to take me a really long time before I'm comfortable calling my attendings by their first names.

Graduation flew by once it actually started. I could have done without the hour wait behind the scenes waiting for it to start. I did get to see our commencement speaker practicing his speech in the back, mainly practicing his immitation of one of our professors (ocular anatomy for those playing along at home). His speech was GREAT by the way!! After the terminally long wait... I got to walk. I got goose-pumps when we all walked in together to pomp and circumstance in full regalia. (complete with honor cords).

G was taking pictures of me while I was walking in. He managed to sneak down to the front while I walked across the stage to take more pictures. When I was hooded, both attendings doing the hooding gave me a big hug. I don't remember much about walking across. I remember lots of flashes. I remember them dropping the hood from behind me. Somehow I made it over to the Dean for more pictures. He told me something about "thanks for doing well while you were here".

After graduation ended: it didn't take as long as I thought it would... we were herded outside for a group picture. I managed to stay near all of my friends!! we were DYING of heat stroke out there. It was in the upper 80s and we were in long velvet robes with more velvet on top. It was pretty damn miserable. After that was done, I met the family (including G), Mike and his fiance, and Pete out front for even more pics.

With all the camera flashes done we headed to the school for champage and hugs with friends. We had to duck out pretty early though, as we had 8pm reservations at Fogo de Chao. If you've never been to Fogo I HIGHLY recommend it. you can't beat a 40 ft salad bar (complete with smoked salmon, artichoke hearts, whole milk mozzerella cheese, and asparagus). Then, it's time for MEAT MEAT AND MORE MEAT!! It was soooo good. Waiters with giant skewers of meat run by your table with some of the best cuts I've ever had. They keep coming til you beg for mercy. G picked out a fabulous bottle of wine, my parents complained that we had to pay for water, and somehow we managed to enjoy a very nice meal. My parents don't seem to believe in expensive food. But, G and I really enjoyed it. We'll have to go out on our own when we get to Europe.

So, now I have this huge diploma in my room (yes, it's the one they gave me walking across the stage.. its real).. and it still doesn't seem real. I'm heading to Florida shortly after two weeks in Europe. I'm very excited to have G back in my life full-time. I think I'm more excited about spending two weeks with him in Europe than I am about actually going to Europe.

At the graduation dinner Friday night I was very happy to see the friend I've blogged about earlier on. She's the student on the transplant list. She was there to support us and I was so excited to see her. many pictures were taken. I won the scholarship for Oustanding Performance in Optics. (500 bucks, whoo hoo!) I also won a raffle prize of a portable DVD player. I already have one, so I guess I'll take it back to Circuit City for credit. (or try to since I don't have a receipt).

Overall, a very exciting weekend !