TFSU Graduation!

Yesterday was the graduation ceremony at Tianjin Foreign Studies University. This was an exciting day for me as the first 64 students I taught at TFSU were graduating. Graduation at TFSU is much different than at universities in America. Only a few select students (those going to graduate school at TFSU or elsewhere and those with guanxi) get to attend. The ceremony is held in the small auditorium at the western end of the famous TFSU building. Here is a photo of the room right after the ceremony ended:



At TFSU, the English department makes up almost half of the university. For this reason, the English department held graduation exercises in this large room in the teaching building where students and faculty could watch what was happening at the official ceremony with President Xiu Gang on a large screen.



However, this room is not large enough to seat all of the graduates, but since many graduates were not informed of their option to attend until the day before the ceremony and had already left town, there were plenty of seats available. I was able to get a seat next to Cao Wenping, Zhu Shu, and Ma Tong:



Two of my students who were able to take part in the ceremony were Sun Yue and Liu Chen. Here is Sun Yue and her mother:



An here is Liu Chen...



Graduation is a time for reflection. A time to reflect on the past and a time to dream about the future. There is happiness in the achievement of a goal, fear in what lies next, but also sadness as friends will soon part ways. I realize that yesterday may be the last time that I am able to spend time with these students, who have befriended me and taught me so much about China and myself. Thank you all for all you have given me. God has truly blessed me with great students and friends.