During his keynote address at the Stanford commencement ceremony, Sundar Pichai recalled his own time at the university — revealing how he once cut class to visit Las Vegas. The CEO of Google, who holds a master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University, was invited back to his alma mater on June 14 to deliver the keynote address at the commencement ceremony.Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc, recalled skipping class as a student at Stanford. (Bloomberg)Addressing the students at Stanford Stadium, Pichai, 54, said that while grades, scores and extra-curriculars matter, they are not the only thing that shape a student’s experience.“While these things matter in the moment, they are much less consequential than you might think. You could have failed that biology test, skipped a class, never learned to play the tuba. And you’d still probably be here today,” he said.“Let me tell you a story of how I started to learn this for myself,” Pichai added, before remembering the story of how he once skipped class to visit Vegas.“I had never skipped a class”Pichai said that while he was a student at Stanford, he had a classmate named Pat who, to his eyes, looked “really edgy” with an earring in one ear. Pat came from Long Beach and owned a two-door Honda Prelude convertible.Pichai, on the other hand, had come to Stanford from India and had never skipped a class. Before Stanford, he studied at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur.The CEO of Alphabet and Google recalled how, during his first winter quarter at the US university, he decided to skip class at Pat’s urging.He also admitted that his parents, who were sitting in the audience, had never heard of this incident before.“One Wednesday morning in January, my first winter quarter, we were on our way to class. He was like, ‘Do you want to go to Vegas instead?’ I had never skipped a class,” Pichai recalled.“I had definitely never taken a road trip before. (In fact, this is the first time my parents are hearing of it.) And yet, I said, ‘Sure.’ So we went back to our dorm rooms, grabbed some things, and set off.”(Also read: Sundar Pichai's latest post is proof that even being CEO of Google is not enough for Indian parents)Skipping class for VegasPat and Pichai set off for Vegas on a whim. The 54-year-old Google CEO recalled how it started snowing while they were driving to Vegas. Coming from India, Pichai had never seen snowfall before.“I stuck my hand out to grab it, and I couldn’t believe the softness of the flurries. Pat stopped the car so I could get out; It was really beautiful, a moment I’ll never forget,” he told the students at Stanford.After nine hours of driving, they finally arrived at Las Vegas, where Pat taught Sundar Pichai how to play blackjack. Sitting at the blackjack table, Pichai started with $5 and won about $15 more before calling it quits.The next day, the two Stanford students started their drive back to campus. Pichai said that it was the first time he realised that the world would not end if he relaxed a little.“No one seemed to notice that we had missed class. For the first time, I realized the world won’t end if I relaxed a little,” he said.(Also read: Stanford students stage a walkout as Google CEO Sundar Pichai begins speech)