Graduation
On Thursday the 9th of July 2009, I graduated from university.
I got a ride to Dundee with my Mum and my Grandad- my guests attending the ceremony. My sister was supposed to be there but she had a flight to Barcelona that afternoon and wasn’t able to make it. On arriving in Dundee, I had to head straight for the Caird Hall to get my official photograph taken. This involved going backstage at the hall, something I thought was pretty cool. I got to see all the various committee rooms and also saw the “artists lounge”- where the stars hang out.
It took about 45 minutes for me to work my way through the photography process- there were different stages- check order, get a USB pen drive with order details on it, go to a photography room, wait, hoose your best image, get a cd with the image on it, find the frames area. Quite tiring actually.
After all that, I got back to Caird Square where I met up with some of my friends. We entered the hall at about 2.30pm and took our seats. Mine was in the 5th row- seat E17 if you really wanted to know. Graduation didn’t start ’til 3pm so much yapping was done until then. Looking at the Graduation booklet we were given, it was so strange to note that only 6 of us were graduating with BSc (Hons) Computing- back when we were young, bright-eyed 1st years, there were 40 of us!
The ceremony began with crazy Phantom of the Opera music. I have no idea what was being played. In fact, I don’t even know if the organist was playing a distinct tune. Perhaps they had a basket of cats which they emptied over the organ, and allowed them to step all over the keys? It was loud, ominous and to be perfectly honest, would have been more fitting at a funeral.
The ceremony itself was pretty boring. Throughout the first half, I felt quite nervous, because you know what I’m like before I have to go appear in front of people. This is definitely the largest crowd I’ve been in front of- approximately 2000 people. Before long it was time to go on stage. I thought I’d be really nervous right before I walked on but interestingly, at the moment, I felt very calm and totally ok with it. The dvd of the graduation ceremony I received afterwards tells a different story- I seem to be unable to smile. In my defence, I was concentrating on not tripping over my own feet (I’m a bit clumsy).
After that, I just had the rest of the ceremony to sit through or, as it my case, I had the rest of the ceremony to talk (quietly) to the people sitting beside me. What can I say? I was bored. We knew the hall was probably going to get very hot during the ceremony and thought we might be able to get some water, but no. We ended up sharing a bottle of water that Kevin brought with him. I’m fairly certain some of the academics gave us funny looks when they saw 4 of us sharing the same bottle. Rest assured, we were not drinking alcohol- it really was just water.
At the end of the ceremony, we had to leave the hall, row by row and we were greeted in Caird Square by a Pipe Band which was quite nice 
. Of course, my family noted that during the procession out into the Square, I still didn’t stop talking…oops.
I took some pictures in the square, talked to my friends then headed back to return my robe. I had a message from my mum saying that she was at Starbucks with my Grandad so I made my way there to grab an Iced Chocolate. After a long day (it was 7pm by this point) it was time to head home and relax.
When I got home, my family told me how proud of me they were and how proud my dad would be if he was still with us. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d ever get this far. Back in 2002, I was just a devastated 14 year old, coming to the end of her 3rd year in High School. I didn’t ever want to go back to school after I lost my dad so it’s a testament to my friends, family and teachers/tutors for getting me this far. Thanks guys
That’s it. 4 years, approximately 39200 miles travelled, 2 days where I was snowed in, that time I was up for 3 days straight, sleepless nights, days of stress, tears, laughter, good times in Whitespace, Ice Cream cake, the best Lentil Soup ever made, playing Hangman in lectures, rants about Scotrail, great friends, travel buddies, that time we got sent home because of the powercut, PC vs Mac, PC vs Linux, laptop wars, bring back the curly fries and a partridge in a pear tree. Ok, the partridge thing didn’t happen.
The current economic climate isn’t exactly conducive to finding a job. Even during the graduation ceremony, the principal pretty much said that it would be tough getting a job in our desired field. After 4 years of really hard work, that’s a little disheartening to hear. I know, I know- no one said it would be easy.
Here’s to new beginnings I guess, however they may turn out in these uncertain times.
Good luck everyone- I wish you all the best with whatever you choose to do
nostalgic Music : Closing Time by Semisonic
