After our very late dinner on Thursday night, we had to wake up early on Friday morning and go to a special Catholic mass ceremony for the graduates and their families. Alexandre totally didn't want to go but he went for his mom.
About the mass? It was mass, and I'm not Catholic. Or religious at all. So it was pretty, but boring. The worst part was that the families had to sit really far from the graduates (who were all sitting together in the front), which meant that I couldn't sit with Alexandre during the ceremony to snicker and make offensive jokes about religion. He went to Catholic school as a little boy. He has quite the arsenal of wisecracks saved up.
It always amazes me the way that Catholic people memorize all these little phrases and rituals. Like someone (usually the priest) will say something, and then everyone knows that when he says that, they're supposed to say something else. Super interesting.
The majority of the speeches were bible readings that were foundations for people to say thank you to God, to their families, to their teachers, and to their patients. I just kept thinking the whole time how a Catholic mass as part of a graduation would NEVER fly at an American public university.
I really like my dress!
same exact spot as the last picture
My shoes, however, were another story. They were probably the most painful shoes I've ever worn. Seriously ridiculous. If you want to put me into a bad mood and get me started on feminist rants about machismo culture in the world, the most efficient way to do it is to put me in a pair of cheap and uncomfortable heels. During part of my ranting to Alexandre on the car ride home to get new shoes before going to lunch, I said, "Water boarding be damned! If you really want to torture political prisoners, make them walk in these goddamned heels!"
We had a nice lunch with Alexandre's family at a fancy Italian restaurant that we had never gone to before because we would've had to pay for it. Haha.
In a perfect world, we would've gone home to sleep after lunch and before the formal dinner, which started at 10pm. But Alexandre had a bunch of errands to run, so I kept him company. I had made an appointment for my and my MIL's hair at 7pm, so we didn't have much time anyway. Had to get prettied up for the formal dinner!!
Alexandre's mother is from Bahia, and so is my hair dresser. They're also close in age and very religious. So just as I imagined, they hit it off and spent all of both hair appointments chatting it up. I had been prepared, and I brought a book. Haha.
Oh, and I got to see the process of fazer escova in action!! Alexandre's mom's hair came out so nice. BUT. It's not something I'd ever pay for. Her hair is super thick and she can go 3 days without washing it. That is not my case. But I see the appeal for someone with thick hair.
After the hair appointments, I rushed back to the apartment to do my makeup. Then we had to go!
look at handsome Alexandre in his suit!
Yay! I think it was the most dressed up I've ever been. As my awesome friend Natasha put it, I looked like a "prom princess." Hahaha.
The dress was Alex's sister's, and it was a little too small. A lot too small. I had on my trusty knockoff Dr. 90210 girdle, which made it possible to close the thing, but I wasn't able to go to the bathroom by myself, because I needed someone to help me get it on and off. But I sure did look skinny!
I was the designated driver on Friday night - Saturday, so it was a pretty calm night for me. Lots of dancing around like a dork with Alexandre and dear buddy Bruna. I also made friends with a graduate's sister because she had lived in Canada for a while and was tipsy and wanted to speak English with me. She was fun.
dear buddy Bruna and me!
Oh also the dance hall where the dinner was held was super fancy. It had a little lake and everything. There was a sort of bleacher/stage thing set up facing the lake that had comfy couches and armchairs on it. It was easy to miss, so there was always seating available. We took lots of breaks from dancing up there, and stayed until 5am! Woot.
I'm not sure what the problem is, but the quality of these pictures seems really bad. Ya know, I think it's because I usually write blog entries on our laptop, but now I'm on the desktop, and it has a massive screen. Do the pictures seem "pixelated" to you guys?
Anyway, the next entry will be about the beautiful diploma ceremony and the dance!
Oh, we have a new and not-so-secret reader. One of the graduates, also named Daniele, drunkenly admitted to reading my blog. (I think she found a link to it on Facebook.) Hi, Daniele! Feel free to leave a comment! :D
Read about the rest of the formatura here.
Read about the rest of the formatura here.
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Great report-back. You look fabulous in both of those dresses, and your stylish glasses accessory is perfect! But I pitty the girdle thing. My MIL bought one of the official DR. whatshisname things, XXL. It was so tiny it would barely fit on a leg!
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic thing resonates with me as well. I went to a Catholic all-boys HS torture camp. I gave up religion for lent about 32 years ago.
Oh - and the shoes... grrrl, don't you know you are supposed to spend more on your shoes than anything else? Go get a foot massage.
Looks like you had fun :P
ReplyDeleteBtw, the picture problem can be for two reasons:
1. Check the ISO setting on the camera. Most cameras have the settings of 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 and so on... the higher it is, the more grain you get on the pictures, no matter the conditions you take the picture.
2. The formatura pics were taken mostly in dark situations, so if the camera is set to AUTO, it´ll compensate the darkness with a higher ISO. Try taking a picture with some sunlight or a bright room and see if it´s still like that.
Cheers! :D
jeez - what a marathon - I don't know where you get the energy for all this! And you do look like a prom princess!
ReplyDeleteDanielle,
ReplyDeleteAwesome pictures, you look great! and so does Alexandre.
Everything sounds like a lot fun with the exception of the church moment...
I guess when a majority of the people is Catholic, they get away with a lot...
I honestly was shocked to see the same kind of Catholic "shove down your throat" behavior in Rhode Island, where 98% of the population is Catholic, mostly Irish, Italian and Portuguese...
I never liked it, I always thought of the few people that are not Catholics...and had to put up with it.
I had to deal with the Jehovah's witness on my door step just last week...oh joy!
My own graduation in Sao Paulo had a mass at a non-denomination church.
There were many of us who protested because about half the class was made up by Jews, Muslims and Budhists.
Keep updating us.
Have fun
Ray
You look so cute!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, aren't parents taking you to restaurants you can't afford, the best? When my dad came to Chile I felt like we had way more of a culinary experience in one week with him than we had had in the whole rest of the time I've been living here!
Loving all the recaps!
ReplyDeleteAnd I love that dress too! (the white one!) You look fantastic in it! And both of you just look fantastic anyway! Sorry about the shoes...its so hard, ones that i think will be comfortable end up being torturous every time!
Ohhh yes, Catholic church. My brother and I used to play "count the cotton balls" during mass. You sit in the balcony portion, and count how many cotton balls you can see (ie. old women with short, curly, white hair).
ReplyDeleteYou look beautiful in your fancy-pants dresses. You definitely pull of the super formal way better than me! As for shoes, Brazilian women's feet are built differently and it allows them to wear painful heals everywhere. That's my story and im stickin to it!