I was told that the five-year college reunion is the good one: few people are married with children and there's high turnout. Everyone's in the mood to party, whatever that means. By the ten-year, the children have arrived and fewer people show up.
With this in mind, I went to my five-year college reunion at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.
Took a packed 9:15pm US Airways flight out of DCA to BDL. I'd hoped to split a cab to Middletown, but no dice at 10:30pm.
Arrived on campus sometime after 11pm. Dropping off my bags in the dorm (where reunion alums can stay), ran into an excited group of folks from my year. Spent the rest of the night enthusiastically running into old friends while an alumnus band played perfectly chosen covers. A wonderful, friendly energy prevailed. In the words of one of my classmates "everyone just needed a break from their lives."
Saturday's main event for the class of 2006 was a reception and dinner in a private tent. More reconnecting, albeit with less enthusiasm. Lots of people are teaching, with grad school as the runner-up. Five years seemed to have a positive effect, interactions were noticeably less awkward, people considerably more secure, and a social generosity seemed to prevails. A larger all-class tent party followed.
Wesleyan does a nice job of combining reunion and commencement into one weekend, with Sunday for the latter. As the designated speaker, Paul Farmer did a nice job of mixing humor with personal anecdotes from his work in Haiti. One got the sense that Farmer is cut from the same cloth as Wesleyan graduates: irreverent, critical, globally oriented, and focused on improving the world.
After the ceremony, got Indian food at Udupi Bhavan with L, S ('06 alums) and S' father + grandfather (also alums). By the time L and I got back to campus at 3ish, it was totally deserted.
A lifeless and empty college campus is a sad place to wander, particularly after you've spent a weekend wandering its walkways with hundreds of friends and acquaintances. I felt enormous relief when the taxi pulled up to take us to the airport.
Our driver was wearing a tee-shirt from Nicholson, the dorm where L and I spent our first year of college. The 2002-2003 version, our year at Nicholson.
With this in mind, I went to my five-year college reunion at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.
Took a packed 9:15pm US Airways flight out of DCA to BDL. I'd hoped to split a cab to Middletown, but no dice at 10:30pm.
Arrived on campus sometime after 11pm. Dropping off my bags in the dorm (where reunion alums can stay), ran into an excited group of folks from my year. Spent the rest of the night enthusiastically running into old friends while an alumnus band played perfectly chosen covers. A wonderful, friendly energy prevailed. In the words of one of my classmates "everyone just needed a break from their lives."
Wesleyan does a nice job of combining reunion and commencement into one weekend, with Sunday for the latter. As the designated speaker, Paul Farmer did a nice job of mixing humor with personal anecdotes from his work in Haiti. One got the sense that Farmer is cut from the same cloth as Wesleyan graduates: irreverent, critical, globally oriented, and focused on improving the world.
After the ceremony, got Indian food at Udupi Bhavan with L, S ('06 alums) and S' father + grandfather (also alums). By the time L and I got back to campus at 3ish, it was totally deserted.
A lifeless and empty college campus is a sad place to wander, particularly after you've spent a weekend wandering its walkways with hundreds of friends and acquaintances. I felt enormous relief when the taxi pulled up to take us to the airport.
Our driver was wearing a tee-shirt from Nicholson, the dorm where L and I spent our first year of college. The 2002-2003 version, our year at Nicholson.
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