"Bachelor Night"
On Monday evening Fabian celebrated his graduation from the Dual University of Baden-Wurttemberg (the DHBW).
Margit and I left Kleinbottwar at 4:30pm, dressed to the nines, and arrived at the convention center near the airport an hour later for the champagne reception. We met Fabi (in his spiffy new bowtie) and his father there. I helped Fabi put on his cap and gown correctly. The business school of the DHBW celebrates graduation in the Anglo-American style, with pomp and circumstance and funny costumes. Not even the public universities in Germany do this, so it was a really special evening.
After champagne and jazz music in the foyer, the 2,000+ guests made their way into the hall and took their seats. The celebration opened with dancing girls, acrobats, a muscle man balancing on stilts, and a 15-foot glowing puppet in the form of a man, who "ran" through the audience in pitch darkness, controlled by 5 real people. It "reached" the stage and threw its arms up in the air as a sign of triumph.
And yes, we're at a graduation, not the circus.
Then the director of the DHBW gave a short talk, and handed things over to a local radio celebrity from the SWR station. Next came the "graduation talk," a round-table conversation about corporate social responsibility, lasting about 20 minutes. The radio personality, in true journalist style, asked probing and almost uncomfortable questions to the CEO of Porsche, who responded gracefully before praising Porsche's relationship to the DHBW and its students.
Then four professional actors and actresses from the local musical scene (from current shows like Mamma Mia, Tarzan, etc.) came onstage and performed a set of pop songs.
The honoring of the graduates came next. Eight hundred names were read with speedy German efficiency, while cameras scanned their happy faces and projected them onto two 40-foot screens hanging from the ceiling. After the first 400 names, we had another pop-musical song, and then they read off the remaining students.
Then, if you believe it, we had even more dancing and singing, and then the graduates were invited to switch their tassels from the right side of their caps to the left. With a countdown from three, they tossed their caps into the air, and epic film soundtrack music blasted from the speakers. Two giant cannons shot confetti over the crowd. Then there was more singing and dancing.
Finally, the DHBW director came back on stage and thanked everyone who made the evening possible. He encouraged the graduates to become active and involved citizens, and to support the education of the next generation as much as possible throughout their lives.
Fabi's parents and I toasted to him with white wine back in the foyer after the ceremony, and we took a few more photos before heading home. Fabian went out with his classmates to the after party at a club in Stuttgart, but the three of us had to work the next morning.
Margit and I left Kleinbottwar at 4:30pm, dressed to the nines, and arrived at the convention center near the airport an hour later for the champagne reception. We met Fabi (in his spiffy new bowtie) and his father there. I helped Fabi put on his cap and gown correctly. The business school of the DHBW celebrates graduation in the Anglo-American style, with pomp and circumstance and funny costumes. Not even the public universities in Germany do this, so it was a really special evening.
After champagne and jazz music in the foyer, the 2,000+ guests made their way into the hall and took their seats. The celebration opened with dancing girls, acrobats, a muscle man balancing on stilts, and a 15-foot glowing puppet in the form of a man, who "ran" through the audience in pitch darkness, controlled by 5 real people. It "reached" the stage and threw its arms up in the air as a sign of triumph.
And yes, we're at a graduation, not the circus.
Then the director of the DHBW gave a short talk, and handed things over to a local radio celebrity from the SWR station. Next came the "graduation talk," a round-table conversation about corporate social responsibility, lasting about 20 minutes. The radio personality, in true journalist style, asked probing and almost uncomfortable questions to the CEO of Porsche, who responded gracefully before praising Porsche's relationship to the DHBW and its students.
Then four professional actors and actresses from the local musical scene (from current shows like Mamma Mia, Tarzan, etc.) came onstage and performed a set of pop songs.
The honoring of the graduates came next. Eight hundred names were read with speedy German efficiency, while cameras scanned their happy faces and projected them onto two 40-foot screens hanging from the ceiling. After the first 400 names, we had another pop-musical song, and then they read off the remaining students.
Then, if you believe it, we had even more dancing and singing, and then the graduates were invited to switch their tassels from the right side of their caps to the left. With a countdown from three, they tossed their caps into the air, and epic film soundtrack music blasted from the speakers. Two giant cannons shot confetti over the crowd. Then there was more singing and dancing.
Finally, the DHBW director came back on stage and thanked everyone who made the evening possible. He encouraged the graduates to become active and involved citizens, and to support the education of the next generation as much as possible throughout their lives.
Fabi's parents and I toasted to him with white wine back in the foyer after the ceremony, and we took a few more photos before heading home. Fabian went out with his classmates to the after party at a club in Stuttgart, but the three of us had to work the next morning.
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