Their ceremony was taking place at Wills Hall inside of Bristol University. When we walked into the hall the front few rows were reserved for the graduates and had their information waiting on them in their seat. There was no prior practice or rehearsal so you better be listening when they went over with you quickly how things would go.
Inside Wills Hall was beautiful! As is all of the buildings over there. Please ignore the date stamp on the picture. My camera was little off. ; )
Pre-Ceremony Pics! Their robes were quite colorful and the first robes I've ever seen that don't zip up the front. He will always have to wear a suit for graduations at SEBTS. No hiding under this robe! ; )
Benjamin chatting with the only other PhD graduate present. This is how close we sat to him. Like right behind him!
Guess who else was graduating?! Eric Smith! Ha! Not our friend Eric Smith but it was quite funny when we saw his name in there!
It's game time! We weren't allowed to take pics during the ceremony but I may have snagged a few. ; )
This was the quickest ceremony I've ever been to. They rolled through the names so fast so you better have your camera ready. Or your hidden camera ready, right?!
The way they presented things were very different than what we are used to. Instead of shaking hands and receiving your diploma you placed both hands together and bowed to the University representative and then he placed his hands over yours. It was kinda like a karate bow! You then received your diploma when you walked off of the stage.
Below is a picture of all the graduates, faculty, university representatives, and the Queen's representative who carried the scepter.
Another shot of the inside and outside of Wills Memorial Building.
He DID received his diploma!! : )
This right here friends means so much! A lot of blood, sweat, tears, and time away from family. So proud of this accomplishment for him!
Sam Hands, Benjamin's university correspondent. No one could graduate from Trinity Bristol without Sam! What a great help!
The sweet people at our Bed & Breakfast hooked us up with Jeromy who is a private cab driver. He was awesome! He took us all over the place and was a great tour guide at times. : )
The pictures below are of Trinity College Bristol. This is were Benjamin spent most of his time while he was overseas. The picture to the bottom right is of the chapel.
The bottom left is the library where he spent most of his days!
The picture to the bottom right is a very important room. This is where his defense took place back in June of 2014. He sat at one side of the table and the 2 men that questioned him sat at the other.
It's called the Tyndale Room. I can't imagine the pressure he must have felt sitting at this table! Here's a throwback to that day that he successfully defended his dissertation!
Guess whose book we found in the library! It's on the top shelf to the right.
He was SO so tired of me taking pictures.
We ran into one of his fellow students and friend, Jeff Oetter. Jeff was there 'serving' his summer term for lack of better words. The PhD students that are working long distance have to spend a certain amount of time on campus each summer. Jeff had been there for 3 weeks and had 3 more weeks to go and his wife and two kids were back in the States.
So thankful we are done with that!
One of Benjamin's friends and Trinity Bristol Theologian, Dr. Justin Stratis. He was one of the guys in Benjamin's defense. What you can't see in this picture is to the right Justin had a twin size mattress in his office because sometimes he was there studying and preparing all night. Can you imagine?!
It was neat to hear Justin's side of Benjamin's defense day. He said that most people come in nervous as wreak and scared to death that they are going to say something wrong. He said Benjamin came in so calm and talked so casually with them that he was super impressed. So different than what they are used to. Back in June on the day of his defense I had asked him if he was nervous and he had told me that he was a little but either he knew it or or didn't and there was nothing he can do about it now. That was so very true!
So the picture on the bottom right is of a grammar school in Bristol. Could you imagine sending your kids to school here for elementary?!
Meet Menstrual! She lived at the Bed & Breakfast. She was the sweetest dog and happened to be the same breed as our Zeus! Such a sweetie pie.
