It's DR. Froyoyo now (Graduation Weekend)

Graduation was a whirlwind weekend. Not only did I have two ceremonies, my sister was also graduating from Georgetown the same weekend and also had 2 ceremonies to attend, one of them on the same day. My poor family. During my med school graduation ceremony, they left immediately after I was called down and hooded and sped through DC traffic to make my sister's convocation ceremony. To add to matters, some of my aunts and cousins were visiting from China and New Jersey, respectively, and so our house was full for the first time ever. The whole weekend involved one event after another, with my ceremony #1 and her convocation on Thursday, my ceremony #2 and her gala on Friday, a family reunion lunch and her commencement on Saturday, family dinner and then my good-bye party on Saturday night. I even squeezed in some kayaking in Annapolis Sunday. 

Though it was a chaotic and frenzied couple of days, it'll also be a weekend I will never forget (The thousands of pictures that were taken probably help too). It was the last time our med school class would be together, all 160 of us. It was the last time I would see some of my friends in Baltimore. It was the last time I would see my remaining college friends in Maryland, too. It was a time for celebration, but also bittersweet. Unlike when I graduated college, my medical school graduation had a feeling of finality to it, especially since I was moving across the country.

My friends are going all over the country! From left to right, NJ, LA, SF, DC, NC, SF, PA, Baltimore, and NJ

I was so grateful to my friends from both near and far who suffered through my commencement ceremony (with the worst keynote speaker in history) to see me graduate. S is one of my best friends in Baltimore. We met as random roommates on Craigslist but that year turned turned out to be unforgettable because of the lifelong friends I made in that creaky old Victorian. As much as we both have our issues with Bmore, it was still an important chapter of our lives, and I'm glad to have shared it with S. I'm hoping she can join me in the Bay Area soon! 

These guys are some of my oldest and bestest friends in the entire world. R & D especially flew in from Chicago for the weekend to attend my graduation! And J took a day off work and came up from DC as well. These guys have been my sounding board for 12+ years now and I have no doubt will continue to be be wherever in the world we are.

BFF pelicans forever

After the ceremony, we hustled over to the inner harbor for a photoshoot in our graduation garb before everyone scattered with their families. Gotta showcase that $120 cap and gown.

 

Special shoutout to W who took over my camera and took hundreds of candids, every blogger's dream. Your statistical signifiance might have been low, but the sample size was quite high! And it was fun sorting through my range of facial expressions.

Posing in Davidge hall, or as Maryland likes to brag, the "oldest building continually used for medical education in the US." The first doctors who trained here used to perform dissections and watch lectures from these very seats over 200 years ago.

On the second day of graduation (the first day was just our medical school graduation), the University wide graduation including schools of Pharmacy, Dentistry, PhD, Masters, Nursing, Social Work, and where we officially received our diplomas, we got a pic with our University president!

Again, special thanks to A's dad for being the best photog and getting these pics. Nothin like having not one, but two dads being your personal paparazzo's on your graduation day!

With my dad, or paparazzo #1

The people I spent 99% of my time in med school with!

Last photoshoot on our apartment's roof

My med school besties! So thankful A will be in SF with me. But will miss my roomie C so much!

 

Redwood love forever

Post-grad toast in A&W's apartment

The whole graduation crew

That evening, I rushed back home in rush hour traffic to get dolled up for Georgetown's senior gala, a celebration for all the Georgetown graduates and their families at DC's Union Station. 

Mommy and me date

After speeding through the DC monuments and waiting in the ridiculous line to get into Union Station, we finally met up with my sister and her roomies.

The next morning, we woke up to a full house as two of my aunts and my cousin and her husband had all arrived from New Jersey (one aunt came from Beijing). Usually it's just my parents, my sister and I in Maryland and with the exception of one cousin and her husband in NJ, our extended family is all in Beijing. So to us, the fact that so many could come down to see us graduate was a big deal. We had our first family reunion brunch nearby and then drove down to DC for JJ's commencement ceremony. 

First ever family reunion celebrating the two graduates

JJ and her best friend/roommate K! And my future roomies in SF (anxiously awaiting your arrival...)

After JJ's ceremony, we went back home for a home cooked meal by my parents to welcome JJ's bf's family to Maryland (they're from Palo Alto) and then I went off to a goodbye party with all of my remaining friends in Maryland. 

In the final months of med school, I haven't kept up with my college friends as much as I should have with all of the away rotations, interviews, and world traveling I was doing. As a result, I hadn't seen some of them for almost a year! 

Thankfully, many of them came out to say goodbye and we had one last night to catch up and go out, College Park style. I'm past the partying phase I went through in college, but something about these guys brings it out of me again. I'm just happy I didn't Yoyo out! 

London friends, 5 years later. Older and wiser perhaps?

Blair forever--K is staying in Baltimore for her ophthalmology residency at Hopkins, that smarty pants.

Andddd then my memory goes blank after this. Not a good start to Dr. Froyo, but at least it was spent in the company of those I love most. Thank you again to everyone who shared in my graduation weekend with me! I'll never forget this weekend (except the night with me vs. R's Honda Accord).