Ceremony

Graduation day itself was a whirlwind of activity and emotion. I've always been a crier - especially when a large group of people is doing something together (dancing, singing, chanting, swaying). When we sang the national anthem as a class, I cried and couldn't sing because I kept thinking, this is the last time we're going to sing together. As a class, we are incredibly talented and always put on a great show at our annual variety show. Singing with the class has just been part of school.

We were accepted by the vice - chancellor to be graduates from the class of medicine (phew) officially making us all MDs. That was a bit freaky and still makes me nauseous when I consider what that really means.

The ceremony itself was lovely and suited our class perfectly. There were irreverent moments and times of great solemnity. It was exactly what I had hoped for.

Until the recessional tune was started by the string quartet.

My class has always gone berserk for Journey's Don't Stop Believing. It's a huge part of what I think it is to be a 2011. We all run for the dance floor and fist pump to the song whenever it's on in whichever bar we've taken over.

When the string quartet started playing Don't Stop Believing, I was treated to our class singing together again. I tried to sing along too, but frankly, that's incredibly hard to do when one is bawling at the same time. It was the most wonderful surprise I have ever experienced. I'm still a bit in shock that the perpetrators of the surprise were able to keep it from me - I thought I knew just about everything that was going on in this class. Nothing could have made me happier and sadder at the same time.