- May 16, 2025, Friday.
- I can finally breathe now!! And yes, I am now officially a doctor! (Not that kind, the other kind. Yes, that kind. Not the hospital kind.) And yes it was something I've been hiding for so long from almost everyone. Mainly, it's because I wanted to surprise everyone, but also because I needed the peace and quiet I needed during the past 6 years of doing my doctorate. My family also did not know (they only knew there was an awarding, but not a graduation!) so they were very shocked and clueless at the same time. Honestly, the surprise reveal was the highlight of my whole Melbourne trip!
- My set up was quite unusual as it was a co-supervision agreement between La Trobe University and my home university here in the Philippines. I was fortunate enough to be chosen as a recipient of this full scholarship. My cohort (there are six of us, but I was able to finish ahead by miraculous reasons and a ton of hard work) got to do our research mostly offshore, in the Philippines. This set up was most convenient especially after the pandemic hit! We also were eligible to stay in Melbourne for 4 months (hence, my very long "work-related" or "research-related" stay in 2022!)
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| Finally here! |
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| My family still doesn't know. By the way, I'm wearing something that reminds me of the Philippines, Australia, China, and India. The colors not only remind me of these countries, but the colors also match the toga!! The shirt was also custom-made by a good friend! The necklace is a brass necklace handmade by the Tboli people, as a way to honor my country. I'd like to think that the three gongs symbolize three aspects of my identity: Chinese (by ethnicity), Filipino (by citizenship), and Indian (by scholarship). Yes, I really put so much thought into what I wanted to wear to graduation and why. |
- My doctorate is by research (no coursework), and interdisciplinary, which is the norm in Australia and many other universities that follow the British system. In my diploma it just says PhD and the title of my dissertation (and it was about the Indian community in the Philippines). My main discipline in La Trobe was community planning (where my supervisor was part of), but I also incorporated sociology (my Philippine supervisor's field), and communication (my field). I investigated how Indians in the Philippines express, understand, and communicate their identities through private spaces like homes to public spaces. I wanted to know how they make their mark in the Philippines especially since they are rarely noticed and understood unlike the Chinese diaspora (the biggest diasporic group), which I'm part of.
- La Trobe was a long way from the city (86 Tram to La Trobe University) but an Uber ride was also convenient and reasonably priced given that there were three of us. We got off near Union Hall where the graduation was to take place. I had to stall my family because we arrived a bit too early and I wanted to surprise them when I was gowned up in my toga! I think their reaction was a little bit underwhelming, from shock I guess. But I think they finally understood why I was extremely busy in the past years.
- The whole ceremony lasted only an hour since there were just around 25 PhD graduates for our ceremony. (Not sure why the other PhDs joined the other graduation ceremonies, but all I know it our graduation session was a PhD-only graduation ceremony.) Although I was not one of the few lucky ones who were given a shiny research medal, I wore a necklace that looked like three medals HAHAHAHA. (But honestly, I only realized that minutes before the ceremony. I really just wanted to wear this necklace and I saved this occasion to wear this necklace for the first time!)
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| My family finally knows. |
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| With my La Trobe supervisor, Dr. Kiran Shinde. (My Ateneo supervisor, Dr. Czarina Saloma-Akpedonu, was not in Australia during my graduation.) |
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| Preparing to march! |
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| Finally! |
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| I am so glad my eyes caught the photographer taking candid photos of us, and I smiled right away. The photographer sent this to me as a complementary VIP photo! It's one of my favorite photos of the day! |
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| Alumni walk - we had to march along a certain path outside Union Hall all the way to the bar. |
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| Walking with the other PhD alumni! (The undergraduates had a black toga, master's graduates had a black toga and maroon hood, while the PhDs had a colorful red and blue toga (see I told you my shirt inside matched the toga!) |
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| Another photo with the school name WITH my diploma (which we call a "testamur"). |
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| I look like Professor Quirrell from Harry Potter (imagine Voldemor hiding behind my head!) I got to take the fancy hat home but not the toga huhu. |
- I was happy that my family was finally able to meet my supervisor and other key people in making our co-supervision set up a success. We had a brief school tour after our post-graduation cocktail and post-graduation photography session. I used the time to print out my transcript of records from the library as well (convenient!) It was also a good chance to pay a visit to the inverted statue of Governor Charles La Trobe, whom the university was named after. Erected (is it still the right word as it is upside down?) in 2007 by artist Charles Robb, there are many reasons as to why he is upside down. Apart from raising attention and eventually awareness of Charles La Trobe's contributions to the development of Melbourne, it also wants to send a message that universities must "turn ideas on their heads".
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| Yes, he is! |
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| With Dr. Anthony Moran, our coordinator, and Dr. Martina Boese, my colleague's supervisor! |
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| Now with my testamur. |
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| The food was amazing, to me at least. |
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| The agora, the central meeting point of our university. |
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| I really wanted to see Charles La Trobe's head. |
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| Bye for now, La Trobe. |
- That evening, we rode the tram back to the city and celebrated in Brunetti Oro (Flinders Lane), one of my favorite restaurants in Melbourne for Italian cuisine.
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| Riding the tram home. |
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| Brunetti will forever be food for the soul!!!! |
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| This place serves pizza, pasta, sandwiches, and an infinite variety of Italian desserts omg. |
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| Gnocchi and some mushroom focaccia. |
- This day was honestly surreal and I couldn't be happier that I can now finally breathe, and my doctorate is now public knowledge. I really want to thank everyone who was there for me (whether you knew, knew not, or sort of knew). I also want to express my thanks not just to my advisers and colleagues, but also the Indian community which really helped me during my data gathering stage (I literally won't be able to start my research without the community's help!) Because of this milestone, I really wanted to use my next days in Melbourne to not just explore and catch up with friends, but also to take a brief pause from many things.
** Check out my other adventures in Melbourne/Victoria here!
Part 1: Revisiting Melbourne's Central Business District (CBD) - here
Part 3: Werribee - here
Part 4: Geelong - here
Part 5: Melbourne Central and Titanic VR - here
Part 6: Bendigo - here
Part 7: The Lume and Dax Centre - here
Part 8: Hot Air Balloon, NGV, UniMelb, State Library, and Hello Kitty Cafe - here
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