If its one thing I hate to wear, it has to be office wear.

But today I had no choice, cos today was "SMU CONVOCATION 2005".

Its a yearly welcoming ceremony which all the freshies attend, along with parents if they want to come. Compulsory too, so there's no escape. Lol. So I was forced to put on a 3/4 sleeve white blouse and a knee-length skirt. I felt really warm. My worst fear was sweating too much.

As I left my home, people stared. After all, no one in his or her right mind would be seen taking buses and the MRT in office clothing on a Saturday morning. However, I didn't feel so strange once I reached City Hall MRT. The area was invaded by other SMU students in similar attire, all meeting up in their OGs to attent the ceremony. Running into a few OG mates myself, we walked together to Suntec City to meet up with the others.

After a lunch st BK, we went over to the Convention Centre, where we glimpased a small sea of people, all in black and white. The Convocation ceremony seemed to be quite a glitzy event with press and media coverage. The guest-of-honour was Doctor Yaacob Ibrahim, Mnister of Environment and Water Resources and Muslim Affairs.

Entering the enormous ballroom, I sat down in my seat and looked around. The place was huge, with a high ceiling. Slightly to my right and in front was a stage. On either sides were screens flashing pictures taken from our Orientation Camps.

Soon, the event started with the hosts coming on stage, a guy and a girl. They bantered for a while, and we watched some videos. After that, the official ceremony began.

Firstly, we got up and sang the National Anthem, the video playing on both screens. Following that was the Grand Procession, where 5 guys in suits came in carrying in 5 banners, one SMU one and the 4 school ones. Behind them came the President, the various Deans, Professors and student leaders. The cool part was that the Profs were all decked out in robes and funny hats. Some were wearing the usual square ones associated with graduates, the rest this flat beret thing that resembled a giant pincushion.

So Harry Potter, someone later told me online.

Following that was the boring part. It was speech after speech, then a long scholarhsip awards ceremony. We all tried to keep awake cos of the cameras. Imagine seeing yourself snoring on the newspapers and on TV. Not a pleasant thought.

Finally, the thing ended with a multi-cultural performance. It consisted of dance (Kathkali-Indian, Ronggeng-Malay, Salsa-Latin) and music (Jap Taiko drums, Malay kompangs, middle-eastern darbukas, a type of vase-shaped drum) performances. The most unique was the Butterfly Lovers Concerto, a combination of the two. A small chinese orchestra provided the accompniement to a violinist playing the main melody on stage. 2 "fairy maidens" danced around him, twirling coloured ribbons.

Most of us were hungry by then, but we had to hold back to allow the parents and guests to leave for the tea session first. In the mean time, we were treated to a dance performance by Eurhythmix, a SMU modern dance group as well as a rock concert by our own bands.

Finally, when my OG went out, we found that most of the food had been eaten. We made do with what was left, which was egg tarts and satay.

And then home.