Graduation and some fun :)

This weekend, we flew down to Ann Arbor, MI because AB and his sis J were getting their graduation degrees. We reach Detroit (A2 does not have an airport, believe it or not. A US town does not have an airport!!) and rent a car from there onto A2. Meet an excited J and talk until late night (actually until I heard AB's snores).

It was a good morning in terms of weather (US is SO obsessed with weather reports, I say!), and it seemed like we brought great weather to a cold and windy A2! So, off we set, the three of us to quickly go on a round of the famous (or one of the Big 10, as they call it here) University of Michigan or U of M (constantly heard as UFM). I was shown the North campus which is where life happens (or not ;)) according to a workaholic J, while AB sniggered and argued that it was Central campus that was full of life (You see, his department was there). After this regular argument and my astonished face which saw an impeccably green and scenic campus. Looking at the place, I figured I could not have possibly studied here, but I may have had a romantic liasion or two ;) (Okay, Ma! I was kidding :P), what with the serene Lake Huron speckled with the ever sporty, active American students on the canoe and some, well, lots running around the lake. (I would not have done this either..hmm...maybe leisurely walks around the lake holding hands..hmm...err..kidding again Ma! :P)

Well, to get down to brass tacks, AB resided right NEXT to Lake Huron, and decided to show it off to a city bred, snob like me who stayed in a smog filled Hyderabad and was proud of it. Yes, 'was.' Sigh, I wish I lived somewhere like that! Then, we went on to meet his colleagues at the Department, and his advisor. We were treated to a sumptuous pizza lunch and were given a surprise vacation, a gift to AB from his advisor on graduating. Some people are genuinely nice :) I'm thinking beaches, what about you?

Then we went on to go home and rest. Later in the evening, we attacked the Briarwood Mall (J loves malls, so I was told, and so I believed after the mall experience with her) and then had a surprisingly tasty dinner at a Thai restuarant recommended by J. You see, I am not a great fan of Thai food. But this restaurant made me one :) Previously, we attended a graduation ceremony where all the Masters students like J walked together, as a group onto the stage while only Doctoral students' names were called. AB went on to receive his degree while the rest of us cheered at him!

The next day, we had another graduation ceremony lined up. This was the actual University one, with all the graduating students, be it Undergrads, Masters or Doctoral students participating in it. They marched from a fixed venue onto a place called the Diag within the University campus. Apparently, there is a huge Michigan logo (which is a maize yellow M emblazoned in blue) on the area of the Diag. The story goes that if any students steps on this logo, they are sure to fail or not clear their first exam! What an irony, I thought, that the graduation ceremony was held there!

This ceremony had some eminent UFM alumni being awarded honorary Doctoral degrees. The list included Bob Woodruff. I remember reading about him when he started talking of his experiences at the Iraq war. Though his speech was quite funny and kept the audience attentive (well, he is not a newsman for nothing!), I found it evocative too. His experience of the war and the returning soldiers, very like him, trying to recover, trying to figure out what next, left me in a hollow state. It did not help that I remembered a scene from the movie "All the President's Men" where a lawyer Donald Segretti accused of being the Head Co-ordinator of the 'Let's sabotage the Democrat campaign' as part of the whole Nixon Re-election Committee's activities says something in the lines of coming back from the war (the Vietnam war) and being desperate for direction in life and career, leave alone any concrete job. And he decided to take on this job (being the Head Co-ordinator) because someone offered him this, and not because he really wanted to. I know this seems very insignificant and very vague in terms of effects of the war. But it surely set me thinking. What happens to those who returned from the Iraq war? I see posters in the airport and every other public place about how we will not forget these brave men or those bumper stickers on the cars of the soldiers' family and friends. It hurts. Its sickening. I want to shake all these people and say, stop doing this to yourself. Do not believe in the government propaganda. Come off it, I say. Iraq war is a sham. Sigh, I wish I could just stand and tell the whole world and make everyone believe this. Like I do. I'm no big shot political strategist or a social critic, but if I know what is happening is wrong, then I believe every Tom, Dick and Harry does.

Back to all the fun we had (somehow we always do, don't we, irrespective of what is happening around us. I guess that is how we all live), we attended a small reception party hosted for all the new graduates and us, specially, thanks to being newly-wed and all that :). Met more people, heard more Chemistry (corrected by AB as Macromolecular Science and Engineering) ideas thrown about, probably saw some more future possible Nobel prize winners (not that it is enough to have 2 of them at home!) :) Yes, it was enlightening. I did not understand anything, but knew most of it was important and more than that, it was all a discussion which was so passionate. Each one, passionate about those polymers, ions, and other such words :)

Oh, we also went to his little charming, very German town called Frankenmuth. They mostly have fudge shops here, small museums sort of places, with very European artefacts or small antique kind of stuff to sell. We saw fudge being made, bought some. Yes, some of it was not chocolate thanks to AB, but most of it was thanks to me and J! Yay! We also went to this place called A- Maze-N Mirror which was a maze full of mirrors. We had to find our way to a coloured waterfall kinda looking mirror. Of course, we found it quite fast, butg could not manage to do the same backwards!

The whole town was very cute, very European. There was a cheese shop too, where we sampled crackers and some amazing cheese until we saw the sign to sample just once. Well, the three of us made a meal out of that shop ;) J also bought some cheese fondue which she slyly slipped into my bag while I was packing. Thanks J. Am sure it will work for what you wanted it to work for, though, may I say that we do not need it right now, but will surely think about it if ever, we need it, say, 20 years from now ;) But, thanks again! We also visited the world's largest Christmas store, Bronners which was simply AMAZING. I wished I celebrated Christmas with the fervour of Christians when I saw that shop! :) Very very beautiful.

Well, I'd love to settle down in A2 because it is a small town, a University town with all the charms of a big city, but is not one yet. And J, this post is for you and to all those people who think sisters-in-law are mean people :) You are not.

Bring-aways from A2, thanks mostly to J:

-some great fudge (equally divided between our eating at the fudge place to eating at J's place and leaving some there and bringing some here, thanks to J)
- well shaped eyebrows. Thanks J, yes? :)
- Loads of pictures where I looked good thanks to neck straight, chin down, and that smile ;)
- Stories to remember
-Some chemistry knowledge
-A good friend, yes, J?