Fun in the Summer @ Dartmouth (click)

Before going home!!
haha

Reunions

Picture from Dartmouth Homepage: Class of 1949

Reunion is a very interesting phenomenon in Dartmouth. Every year, right after Graduation, where you send off the latest batch of Seniors, Dartmouth welcomes back graduates of 5, 10, 15 and up to 50 years!! Since this is 2009, the class of 1949( those who graduated 50 years ago and are 70++ years of age) celebrates their 50th year reunion.

Within 10 days, tents are set up in almost every patch of green ( field) you can find on campus: In front of library, in between dorms, back of the church etc. Every time I past by those tents, I see graduates of the same year, reminiscing their years in Dartmouth and sharing about their current lives.

In the ten days, I was experiencing a phase of life of MANKIND and expectations that follows in a particular age. As the 10 days progressed, the age of the graduates become younger and younger, from 70 ++, to 65++, 60, 50, 55 and finally the last batch of 25++).In those tents,wine glasses and fancy gowns and coats slowly transformed into beer in plastic cups and casual jeans and dress ;Music from the 50s slowly progresses to rock n roll, soft rock and live band concert; and People strolled in the form of 2, 5, 2, 5. How do you explain this? So the old graduates (60 to 70 years old) come back in 2 (obviously their children are not with them), the couples in the mid 30s to 50s come in 5 ( they have big vans and all their children tagged along, its a family trip), the engaged couple in their late 20s and early 30s come in 2, and finally the graduates who are single come in 5 ( with their best friends from college).

As for the students who are working for the reunion like me, work very hard to accommodate to these Alumni. We work in catering, housing ( they live in the dorms) and additional programs for the family. Dinning tables and dorm rooms are designed differently to suit the need of the Alumni. Students babysits, play with the teenagers, serve dinners in the tents, clean the rooms etc. As for me, I worked with the toddlers ( children from 2-5 years old, they are soooo cute!), playing games, making crafts and coloring. During the program, I hear almost identical conversations from the parents: how they talk about their kids, how they talk to their kids, how they talk about Dartmouth, etc.

For me, this reunion is not about the successful, loyal and wealthy alumni, but the REALITY of life. It amazed me and scared me at the same time how most people do the same thing at certain age! NO matter who we are, we are FOLLOWING the circle of life: graduate, develop a career, settle down, start a family, maintaining the family, retire and companionship. Even our taste for music, wine, food evolved as we aged( we are still doing the same thing like the rest!) .Are we forced to do this? We are in such hurry that we always give ourselves a limit by setting goals so that we can meet with all these expectations,for example, " I have to figure myself out ( passion, ambition, purpose of life) within this 5 years, so that I can have a job and get married!" " I have to know about wine tasting at the age of 30!"

How many of us are planning to stick to this PHASE OF LIFE that I see in this reunion and how many of us are not?

Graduation 2009

Picture: President Wright's last graduation ceremony at Dartmouth.

Witnessed for the first time what it's like to graduate from Dartmouth.987 Seniors in their Graduation gown, showing off their titles ( membership to a Senior society, secret society, black-American society etc) with a scarf or a cane in their hands, with their family sitting behind them, cheering when their names are called. Graduation is indeed a significant moment in life, one of the moment that you always look back to, whether to look for the best times of life where you achieve things, reach for the sky,and are allowed to search for the self , make mistakes, choose your passion, and maybe to KNOW.

You are allowed to be confuse, to try new things, to fit in, to be original. As I read back my posts from Thailand, I noticed that I told myself, " if you can't change the environment, let the environment change you, or fit in, or be one of them! " I optimistically chose the later, thinking that there's nothing wrong to fit in. But in Dartmouth, fitting in becomes a matter of principles, values, boundaries and the self. Was I not myself when I try to fit into the Thai community? Am I defending the 'self' when I refuse to be a REGULAR Dartmouth student? That always become a dilemma.

I teared when I listened to the Commencement Speaker, Louise Erdrich, talking about her experience being the first batch of women and the first batch of Native American in Dartmouth back in the 1972. She's now a well-known poet and writer. She talked about the experience of "fear". "The only two things we fear are perhaps failure and humiliation, but without taking things personally, we will move forward". She motivates us to conquer fear, and most of all, have love(for the world) alongside with whatever things we are pursuing in life.

Most speakers at the ceremony, including the President, the valedictorian (perfect GPA graduate) and Louise Erdrich pull in different instances so that we are connected to them. The murals in the library, the lone pine, the snow sculpture and even the famous drinking game , Pong, on campus. The lesson to take home is perhaps, whoever you are, graduate or not, you'll always belong to Dartmouth. The Dartmouth experience will always be shared generations after generations, starting from strolling on the campus where many have come and go, to the different traditions that we are all made to believe and love.

Maybe, at the end of my Dartmouth years, I will learn how to love the traditions: the bonfire, the winter carnival, the night outs in fraternities and sororities (which are mostly events for partying and drinking).Though at this moment, I still do not believe these experiences can answer the question of "who I am", but more like, " we are sons and daughters of Dartmouth because we did all these things, therefore we are family and therefore I will return you any favor for that!" Maybe, in the middle of all the traditions, we will find our 'self's. Maybe finding the 'self' and finding the connections are two different agenda. Friends became assets and stepping stones in addition to the simple form of soul mates. What do I want to carry away from this institution?