I got my PhD!

In the news article on the website is a photo of me receiving my PhD from JAIST university president. I finally graduated!

My name is up on the wall! No, Savvy Kenya is not the name on the wall LOL.

Three weeks ago, on the 21st of September, surrounded by my family and friends, I finally received my doctorate in Information Science. It was a culmination of 4 long years of hard work.

My family and friends turned up to help me celebrate this special day!

However, a few days before that, I had gone to Tokyo to receive my parents, brothers and friend at Narita Airport. We spent a day in Tokyo sightseeing at Tokyo Skytree (the tallest tower in the world) and Asakusa.

Family photo outside Tokyo Skytree

A candid moment at Asakusa

  We took the shinkansen to Ishikawa, and then a university shuttle bus to JAIST for the graduation ceremony. After graduation, it was no time for rest! We took a road trip along the scenic Hakusan White Road to Gokayama Traditional village. We were lucky to catch some traditional gun performance in action.

At Gokayama

A day after the road trip, we took the express train to Kyoto (thank God for JR train passes, right?). We went to Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine and Nara Park the following day.

At Fushimi Inari Taisha

My family left for Kenya on Sept 25th. They must have spent more times on trains than actually sightseeing, and next time I should definitely have a less intensive schedule. They experienced culture shock of course, and I had forgotten how hard it was at first to adjust to Japanese food. I moved out on the same day my family left. I had to move out of student housing to a new short-term apartment, so it was a really busy time for me. It is now almost 3 weeks since then I feel like I am just coming to terms with the fact that I’ve finally finished the formal education journey (of course actual learning never ends). I’m finally PhinisheD!