University Life 6

A graduation ceremony

On Wednesday, May 18th, 2008, I attended my sister’s graduation ceremony, which is a fantastic activity in the University of Toronto. I arrived there with my sister at 2:00. Then, she picked up her graduation gown with her friends, and I waited for them outside of the building. There were many people who were carrying flowers standing around me; I thought that they must have been the graduates’ family or friends. At 2:20pm people started to enter the Convocation Hall. Firstly, the graduates walked in a line to enter the Convocation Hall from the main entrance. Then other people who were invited by the graduates entered the Convocation Hall by the side entrance with tickets. The Convocation Hall totally has three floors, and it looks like a huge birdcage. The roof of the Convocation Hall, which was gilded and painted, made the Convocation Hall look luxurious and magnificent.

The graduation ceremony began with the Canadian national anthem at 2:30 pm, and everyone was standing in front of their seats. Then, the chancellor of the U of T, who is around 40 years old, delivered the opening address and congratulated those students who graduated from University of Toronto. The people who were sitting under the platform roared with approval and clapped, and everybody looked very happy and excited. After that, several professors also made speeches and congratulated the graduates. At last, the most important and exciting thing was that the professors awarded the graduates diplomas. During that time, most people took pictures for their family members or friends. Of course, I took lots of pictures for my sister, and I also shot a video for her because I thought that time was very significant and unforgettable for her.

That was the first time I attended a graduation ceremony, and I felt very excited. I was very glad and proud that my sister could successfully get a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto in three years. I will definitely study harder in the future, and I hope I can get the same honours as she has gotten.

University Life 5

Royal Ontario Museum

Hi, everyone, I’m Jing. Today I would like to share my experience of visiting the Royal Ontario Museum with you. On Sunday, May 8th, 2008, I went to the Royal Ontario Museum with my friends Johnson and Jason. Actually, we went there at 5:00 pm on May 6th; however, the manager of the museum said that the museum had to close before 5:40 pm that day because they had a very important activity. Therefore, we went back home and went to the museum again on May 8th, 2008. The Royal Ontario Museum is one of the world’s great museums and the fifth largest museum in North America, and it contains more than six million items. The Royal Ontario Museum totally has five floors that include two major kinds of galleries, which are Natural History galleries and World Culture galleries.

The Natural History gallery includes three galleries, which are the Gallery of Birds, the Gallery of Insects, and the Gallery of Mammals, and all of these galleries are on the second floor of the museum. I think the most interesting gallery of the Natural History galleries is the mammal’s gallery, which has many models of mammals, such as tiger, wolf, lion, etc. (but I didn’t take any pictures there because my camera didn’t have enough electricity). However, Johnson and Jason liked the bird’s gallery because there are many fossils and models of different kinds of dinosaurs that Johnson and Jason are really interested in. The gallery of birds displays many specimens of different kinds of birds, as you can see from the picture. The gallery of insects contains both live and dead insects, such as toads and cockroaches.

The World Culture galleries include the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Canadian, Indian, and Egyptian galleries. The Chinese, Japanese, and Korean galleries are located on the first floor. I think the Chinese gallery is the most interesting one because it has many ancient Chinese sculptures, models of Chinese famous buildings, and some other Chinese cultural relics that I have never seen before. The Canadian, Indian, and Egyptian galleries are on the third floor of the museum. The Canadian gallery contains many examples of early 19th and 20th century artifacts, which are from the indigenous cultures of the Plains, Eastern Woodlands, Northwest Coast, and Arctic regions. This gallery also has some famous artworks and paintings (as you can see from the picture). The Egyptian gallery contains a wide range of artifacts, which are agricultural implements, jewelry, cosmetics, and more. There are also a number of mummy cases, including the gilded and painted coffin of Djedmaatesankh, who was a famous female musician in Egypt, and the mummy of Antjau, who was a wealthy landowner.

We spent almost three and half hours visiting the museum because it is so big and knowledgeable. I think visiting the Royal Ontario Museum was an unforgettable and pleasant experience for me because I could see and learn about many histories and cultures of different countries from the museum.

University Life 4

Speak Your Mind

On 28 May, 2008, I attended an activity which was called “Speak Your Mind” with my friend Dohee at the Art Gallery of York University. This activity was a spoken word performance, and it was organized by Nancy Kamalanathan, who is a trainee at York, and hopes to pursue social work or psychology at York.

This activity actually started at 6:30 pm. However, I could not find the place; when I arrived there, it was almost 7:30 pm. It was not a very spacious room, but it had a high ceiling. There were around 30 people in the room. Dohee and I sat in the front row. The first performer we saw was a guy who was a high school student and also wrote a journalist about fashion. He was not very tall, wore a pair of glasses, and looked like a hardworking and serious person. However, when I listened to his speech, I felt that he was very funny. Even though he spoke quite fast, so that I could not completely understand his speech, I enjoyed in his performance. The second artist, whom I really liked and appreciated, was a black man. (I’m sorry that I have forgotten his name.) He had very short hair, wore casual clothes, and carried a drum. He drummed and sang during his speech, and he swayed his hips in time with the steady rhythmic beating of the drums that made us excited. I took pictures of him.

There also were many other new and experienced spoken word artists, such as York English student Adebe D.A, who is assistant editor of York’s Existere, a journal of Arts and Literature; Blakka Ellis who is a Jamaican writer, performer and educator; Jamaican-born d’bi young who is a dub poet, playwright and actor now living in Toronto, and Michael St. George, who is an Canadian dub poet and Asian UK Hip Hop producer etc. Here is a website about Michael St. George. http://www.canadianreggaeworld.com/michaelstgeorge.htm. I regretted that I was late and missed Michael St. George’s performance because I heard that he was also good at singing, and he sang that evening before I came there.

Anyway, I think this is a fantastic activity; I really enjoyed it. Actually, that was the first time I took part in a York event outside of class, and that was an unforgettable experience for me. I hope I can attend more fantastic activities like this in the future.

( Here I have some other people’s pictures; they also performed in this activity.)