
{"id":2702,"date":"2019-05-22T10:26:29","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T10:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/academic-blessing-i-graduated-in-lingua-mortua\/"},"modified":"2025-04-04T09:25:19","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T09:25:19","slug":"academic-blessing-i-graduated-in-lingua-mortua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/academic-blessing-i-graduated-in-lingua-mortua","title":{"rendered":"Academic blessing: I graduated in lingua mortua"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">Seven months after\u00a0finishing my MPhil, I have finally attended my graduation ceremony. I had heard it was weird, involving a lot of Latin\u00a0and an invasion of personal space. This much was true. But it was also actually really cool.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">As an American, graduation ceremonies are loud and proud. They involve speeches, hours of calling out each student\u2019s name, and hundreds or\u00a0thousands of people. They often take place in stadiums or outdoors and sometimes include celebrity speeches. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">And sometimes they involve acrobatics.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">As an undergrad at the University of Chicago, I looked forward to walking at graduation\u00a0as a marker of surviving four challenging but amazing years. Experiencing that ceremony meant so much to me.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">So, when I learned that graduation ceremonies in Cambridge\u00a0are less\u2026 celebratory, I was a bit disappointed. I wouldn\u2019t be able to graduate with friends from my\u00a0program because\u00a0one\u00a0graduates with his or her\u00a0college, and the ceremony itself is\u00a0much shorter and smaller, taking\u00a0place in a small building called the\u00a0Senate House. No applause, no microphones, no speeches. It sounded complicated. And even a bit gloomy.\u00a0But I wasn\u2019t exactly shocked that the British don\u2019t allow emotions even in a graduation ceremony. I wanted to attend the ceremony regardless; I was curious but did not expect much.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">Graduation begins at the\u00a0college. I returned to my former college, Magdalene, to\u00a0line up with fifteen or so other graduate students receiving their degrees that day. A few students had come back from new jobs for the ceremony and others like myself were still at Cambridge pursuing another degree. A\u00a0very reassuring\u00a0<a style=\"color: blue; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Praelector\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">praelector<\/a>\u00a0demonstrated what we were to do in the ceremony, and then we walked as a group from the college to the Senate House. Just as in some\u00a0graduations in the States, this\u00a0walk is meant\u00a0to be symbolic. In reality, it\u2019s a bit awkward. On a Saturday morning, our small group of traditionally clad graduates, in flowing black Harry Potter robes (no hats though, sadly), meandered our\u00a0way through throngs of tourists who found us quite the attraction. Others ignored us. A few parents followed us like paparazzi. It was rather anticlimactic.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">We stopped in our line outside the Senate House alongside groups from a few other colleges who were graduating during the 11:30 ceremony. We waited outside for what seemed like forever until we were brought inside the building\u00a0to wait even longer.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">I was not expecting to see what I did when we entered the Senate House. One royal-looking chair sat in the middle of the hall and a small pew was placed in front of it. Family members sat in a few rows of pews\u00a0on each side. The graduates stood near the entrance and the chancellor of the university, wearing a red robe, was waiting to receive us.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">It looked like we were about to be knighted. I looked around for swords. No swords. Maybe this was a coronation? No crowns either though.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">But boy was this cool! My inner American grew anxious and excited all at the same time. I anticipated having to kneel before the chancellor. What if I tripped? I chuckled to myself.\u00a0I wondered if anyone would react or if I would look up to find\u00a0stoic faces glaring\u00a0down on me in disappointment.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">My thoughts were interrupted when the ceremony began. Ninety percent of it was in Latin, announcing something or the other about the graduates and presenting each graduate to the chancellor king guy. It sounded like the Latin text used in blank templates:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><i>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">Hmm, yes\u2026 I looked around the room to see if the audience was pretending to follow along. They were.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">After decades of waiting for the other colleges to be called (Jesus, then Christ College, hehe), Magdalene was finally called forward. My legs were tired from standing. How was I supposed to walk and kneel?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">I silenced this inner crisis of clumsiness to take it all in. We were presented by the praelector in groups of three or four. Traditionally, thousands of years ago, praelectors presented graduates individually to the chancellor by taking their hand and announcing in Latin that this graduate is to receive a certain degree. Because the university has grown in size since then, they compacted this process by having three or four students each take a\u00a0<i>finger<\/i>\u00a0of the praelector\u2019s right hand.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">How was I ever going to keep a straight face? It was already hard enough as\u00a0Magdalene\u2019s praelector was so much louder and more enthusiastic than the others so far in the ceremony. Somehow, I managed.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">When my name was announced, I\u00a0kneeled in front of the seated chancellor and put my\u00a0hands in prayer position. It was at this moment I discovered that the pew for kneeling had nothing to hold onto. That would have made it far too easy.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">The chancellor then leaned in far too close for comfort and grasped my hands. I peered up at him, trying not to break my pleasantly stoic expression (we were told this is the moment an official picture is taken). This moment I will never forget. He had a kind face and passionately bestowed upon me my degree in a way\u00a0that implied he wasn\u2019t simply going\u00a0through the motions. It felt like a moment from a choreographed Wes Anderson film.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">It was like an academic blessing. And even though it was in Latin, it didn\u2019t need translating.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">I then got up and fumbled a bit to take a step back and bow. I nearly tripped on a step I didn\u2019t see, hastily grabbed my diploma from someone waiting near the exit, and walked out of\u00a0the building to wait outside for the ceremony to end. I breathed a sigh of relief.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">Woah. That was not at all what I was expecting.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">It was an experience I was glad not to have missed. After experiencing both Chicago\u2019s\u00a0and Cambridge\u2019s\u00a0ceremonies, I think it\u2019s safe to say that Cambridge\u2019s\u00a0graduations are\u00a0definitely underrated.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">Then hunger, which adrenaline had told to kindly wait until after the ceremony to\u00a0annoy me, hit me. Good thing there was a lunch to follow!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i>Melissa Gatter (<\/i><a style=\"color: blue; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/melgatter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>@melgatter<\/i><\/a><i>) is a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge. This story was published on May 8, 2017, on Melissa\u2019s blog, <\/i><a style=\"color: blue; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/theworldbehindthecurtain.wordpress.com\/\"><i>The World Behind the Curtain<\/i><\/a><i> (available <\/i><a style=\"color: blue; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/theworldbehindthecurtain.wordpress.com\/2017\/05\/08\/graduating-in-lingua-mortua\/\"><i>here<\/i><\/a><i>), and has been republished here with her permission.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seven months after\u00a0finishing my MPhil, I have finally attended my graduation ceremony. I had heard it was weird, involving a lot of Latin\u00a0and an invasion of personal space. This much was true. But it was also actually really cool. As an American, graduation ceremonies are loud and proud. They involve speeches, hours of calling out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1454,"featured_media":33313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2414],"tags":[2666,2454],"new_categories":[],"new_tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-researcher-stories","tag-phd-life","tag-researcher-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Academic blessing: I graduated in lingua mortua<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Seven months after\u00a0finishing my MPhil, I finally attended my graduation ceremony at Cambridge. I had heard it would be weird, involving a lot of Latin\u00a0and an invasion of personal space. 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