Graduation time

It's the season of graduations at the University of Southampton. Unlike some schools I've graduated from, this place opts out of one uber-giant graduation with just one day of horrible traffic and people in gowns walking around with their families and instead spreads it out evenly over a week. Basically, the rooms where the graduations are held are quite small so things are done in small ceremonies, meaning there are about 6 a day for the next week. Ergo, the campus is crawling with people in gowns with their families for the next week. And by 'campus' I really just mean the library lobby, as this is where they have opted to have the portrait photography. I tried ducking in there this morning before meeting with my dissertation supervisor and was greeted by a line going out the door of people waiting to get the moment etched permanently in time. Oh, and perhaps most importantly, when you graduate from Southampton, you wear a black gown with one of those 'hoods' that is lined in baby blue and no cap. I'm not sure if that is just what undergraduates wear or if that's graduate students as well. For the next week it looks like I'll be studying outside the library.

In other minorly interesting news, I saw a couple Mormon missionaries the other day. While I must admit this is an assumption, when you see two circa-19-year-old boys walking down the street in black pants, white button-up shirts, ties, and a whistful look on their face, you just know what's going on. I'm not sure if they were being successful, but there are at least two Mormon churches in Southampton so they are seemingly doing something right. And they were within about half a mile of one of these churches (very close to my residence, a hidden little enclave that oddly reminds me of home).

It's time to go and search for some food. Half of the food places on campus have closed, the library cafe is crawling with the graduates, and many of the open places have slim pickins.