Since the school year here begins in January, graduation is in December. So on December 4, 2010, 84 seniors graduated from La Ensenanza. It was different from any graduation I have seen before, but I still liked it. First of all, the girls all graduated in their school uniform. I asked them if they thought it was strange to wear their uniform to graduation, and they all thought it strange that I was asking if it was strange. That's the way it's always been, so why would it be strange. Secondly, graduation began with a mass at 8:30 am. The mass was very sweet and touching. After mass, everyone moved into the auditorium for the awarding of the diplomas. One of the girls gave a graduation speech, and then Gustavo read the name of every girl and she walked to the stage to receive her diploma. The last part was very similar to graduations I have been to but it was much shorter. Both the mass and the graduation ceremony were finished by 11:00. Another thing a little different here is the size of the diplomas. They are huge!
That evening, different groups of girls had parties. Some of them had a chiva (If I ever go to a chiva, I'll write about it them), some of them went to a disco, some of them had parties at home with friends and family, and some of them had parties at a venue. I was invited to a party at a venue with some of the greatest girls in the graduating class. I was told the party was cocktail party dress. Unfortunately for me, I did not bring any formal party clothes to Colombia. Laura V. told me she would go shopping with me to find a dress, but on the day we were to go it was raining heavily and we couldn't go out. We decided to go the next day, but it was still raining. Finally on the third day it stopped raining, but Laura couldn't go that day. Since graduation was the next day, I had to go. I decided to go it alone and hope both my Spanish and my sense of style (although everyone knows it is lacking almost as much as my Spanish) would get me through. As I was on my way out to Buenavista (the mall), I ran into Ana Elisa. She asked where I was going and upon learning that I would be shopping alone agreed to go with me. We headed out to the mall and since I knew the stores Zara and Mango, I figured we'd begin there. At Zara one of the dresses I found worked, but Ana Elisa thought the skirt was too form-fitting. At Mango I found a beautiful blue dress and Ana Elisa loved it. I bought it and then quickly realized that although it was beautiful, it was not a cocktail dress. We returned to Zara and, after some convincing, Ana Elisa agreed that the dress with the form-fitting skirt would work. We then found some nice black shoes and I was all set.
As is obvious from the pictures, the party was amazing. I had so much fun! I loved that the girls wanted to dance A LOT, so we danced most of the night. I even danced a type of slow dance that I have never danced before; it wasn't really a slow dance, but I danced close with a man. We had our heads together and our arms around each other, but we moved our feet relatively quickly to a 4-count beat. I can't really describe it because unless someone has seen it they don't really know what it is. The first time I saw it I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, and the first time I danced it I felt totally awkward and a little embarrassed. By the second time, though, I had it down and I felt like I was born to dance like that. (Ok, not really, but the second time was much better and Daniela's dad was super nice about helping me learn how to dance in that style.)
The 14 graduates who planned and hosted the party are definitely some of my favorite girls. I feel like I had the opportunity to get to know many of them because of activities outside of regular classes. And because of that, I grew to love them. I was so happy to be invited to their party to celebrate graduating from a school where some of them had been students for 14 years. Pretty amazing! The night would not have been the same without Andrea, Angie, Astrid, Catherine, Daniela, Diana, Giannina, Julieth, Katherine, Maria de los Angeles (LA), Melissa, Sandra, and Tatiana.
