Barbara's got a B.A.!

Well, she'll actually get her diploma in the mail in about 7 months -- we can hardly believe that's how they'll do it! They also let anyone who's going to graduate between now and next winter be in this year's ceremony -- maybe that's why there's a delay? When Barbara's in grad school there next year, she'll still have a few months of work to finish -- but will still be in the June graduation ceremony. It just all seems funny to me..... At any rate, when she went up on the stage, they handed her a little scroll rather than the diploma itself.....

We attended the Psychology Department reception for graduates on Friday afternoon -- a really, really hot day. We did a two-car run to Barbara's storage unit and then ate dinner at Carpo's -- a hamburger type of eatery, with good milkshakes. I stayed overnight (I brought bedding and pillows and towels and a change of clothes) so that I could help Barbara pack up her dishes and kitchen items that evening, and keep her company since non-graduating students had to move out earlier that day. We then ate at a diner with local color for breakfast. Barbara had to don cap-and-gown and check in at College 8 plaza for graduation by 11:45. Steve and Mark picked me up, and we walked over to the West field at about noon.

Saturday was hot and sunny in Santa Cruz -- so the outdoor graduation ceremony was both great and trying (Mark got a sunburn because he didn't want to use the cream sunblock I had for fear of acne, Barbara's hands did, too). However, it wasn't quite as hot as on Friday, so that was a blessing! UCSC holds 11 different graduation ceremonies -- one for each of the 10 undergraduate "colleges" and I suppose one for the graduate degrees -- half on the "West" field, half on an "East" field.

Since Barbara's "College 8" is on the western side of campus, her graduation ceremony started at 1:30 and finished up close to 3:30 p.m. We all had to exit and go back to College 8's plaza for a small reception, so that the field was open and clear for the Oakes College ceremony by about 4:00. It is only now on doing a search about the college names that I found this web site that tells about College 8 graduation sign-up and info: http://eight.ucsc.edu/graduation.html

All undergraduate students, whether they live on campus or not, are affiliated with one of ten residential colleges at UC Santa Cruz. Each college provides academic support, organizes student activities, and sponsors events that enhance the intellectual and social life of the campus in addition to housing students in small-scale residential communities. Every college community includes students with diverse backgrounds and academic goals. Each provides a mandatory "core course" for incoming freshmen based on a central topic, or "theme," that is unique to each college. The college affiliation is independent of choice of major, and assignments are based upon space availability and the student's requests for affiliation. Barbara had selected College 8 because she liked the view towards the ocean.

The first 7 colleges are named after each person who donated $1million (or maybe $1.5 million) to get a college so named. The last three colleges have not had a donor step forward, and so are just named by number, College 8, College 9 and College 10.

We had just enough time after the reception to load up our two cars with stuff to go to Barbara's rented storage room -- and make it to our 6:00 dinner on the Santa Cruz Wharf just 15 minutes late. (Steve had called them to let them know we were running late). We ate at Gilbert's Seafood Restaurant -- so since Steve and Mark don't eat seafood, they selected from the few non-sea items -- Steve had Chicken Teriyaki, Mark had Fettucine Alfredo. Barbara had a mixed-seafood pasta and I had scallops.

Steve then packed into his car a few last items to come home, while Barbara and I packed up her bedding and pillows, and made a last trip to storage to get in and out before they closed up at 9:00. She'd run out of boxes, so we stopped at the grocery store and got some paper grocery bags, plus bought a package of extra-large zip-loc bags so she could move her goldfish from its little tank to bring it home. We teamed up to empty her last refrigerator items and whatever else remained in her room, and load them into her car -- and then did cleaning. We didn't get out until about 11:15 -- and she had to drive me to my parking lot at Stanford to get my car. (Steve had picked me up from work on Friday.) We didn't get home until past 1 am - and we unloaded just the refrigerables and the goldfish, and then crashed into bed.

I'm taking a half-day off this afternoon so we can drive out to UCSC for the reception that Barbara's major department is hosting this afternoon from 3:00-5:00. Steve's going to pick me up from my office at 1:00, and the three of us will drive over the Santa Cruz Mountains (about an hour or so away from the office.)

I've packed a bag (including sheets, towels and pillows) and left them in Steve's car, so that I can stay overnight with her. (One of her apartment mates is checking out today, and will leave her door unlocked for me, so I can use a bed). All non-graduating students have to be out by noon today, which is only the day after finals are over! All graduating Seniors have to be out by noon on Sunday!)

Barbara has rented a storage space for a month on a special first-month-for-$1 plus $22 startup fee plus about $10 insurance. It's space that normally rents for $77 a month, and would pro-rate the following month if she can't move into her grad school apartment in time. She's already made a few trips there. If she has enough stuff packed up, we'll all help her move more stuff after the reception. Then Steve and Mark will go home, and I'll help Barbara with more packing-up and possibly moving.

She had hoped to move into campus housing or stay where she is. They won't let her stay where she is since she's not continuing in the regular summer quarter as an undergrad. And they won't let her move into grad school housing until close to her start-up date of 7/24. She could move into specific other temporary housing for $22/day -- which didn't seem worth it. So, using storage for her many belongings (she almost has a household, since she sort of lives in an apartment now) seems cheaper than making many trips back and forth over the mountain range. She could spend $22 in gas alone on one round trip!

The graduation ceremony is outdoors tomorrow at 1:30. And it's going to be HOT, since the winds have been off-shore for the past couple of days. (If the winds were following the normal on-shore pattern, they'd be blowing in cold fog from the Pacific.) So I've packed a sun visor, sunglass clip-ons and sunscreen, too. And some water and juice.

We have a reservation for a very nice restaurant in the Santa Cruz area for dinner tomorrow to celebrate. Barbara picked the place, and Steve made the reservation a month ago, and confirmed the reservation on Monday. The whole Santa Cruz area gets busy in the summer (there's a beach, even if it's often foggy and cold; and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk amusement park) -- but it's even busier on graduation weekend.