In just a few weeks time i’ll have my first graduation ceremony / ball. It’s on Saturday, October 30th…
Ball Tickets
Today i found out tickets for the ball will cost about €20/€25 and the ball will be held in the Crowne Plaza hotel. I’ve stayed there once before and it’s one of the best value / nicest hotels i’ve stayed in. I already have my room booked and no doubt there’ll be a scramble once people are actually sent out this information (we’ve been kept in the dark up until now).
Robes
Graduation robes cost €25 and you can only graduate in formal academic dress, so you have no choice but to pay the €25 
Armstrong & Oxford provide the robes and we have to order them online through their crappy website. They may be able to offer the “finest quality academic dress in Ireland” but their website would suggest otherwise.
Photos
Official photos range from €33 to €198. Taken by ‘Lafayette’ Photography. See all prices here.
Ceremony
The ceremony itself lasts about an hour. There’ll probably be speeches & more speeches and then everyone will get their 3 seconds of fame up on the podium.
A Distraction
These sort of events don’t interest me at all, i’m there in presence but not in mind. It’ll go down as an historic day in my life but in terms of enjoyment, i won’t get much (from the formal ceremony part that is). Still, it’s one of those things not everyone gets to do and it’s one of those days that will be talked about and referenced time and time again.
It’s important that i hammer it in to my head that this day is a nothing day. Why am i promoting that kind of attitude? Remember, i’m in the middle of an honours degree which is more valuable than an ordinary degree so it doesn’t make sense to celebrate at the minute and pat myself on the back whilst there’s still a hell of a lot of work to do.
In truth, this is a distraction i’d rather do without until next year but it’s such big day on paper that i’d never even consider missing it.