Graduation

After finishing my studies back in June, today was the day that the past three years of my life have been working towards - my graduation. Never having been to a graduation before, I really wasn't sure what to expect of the occasion but it certainly didn't fail to disappoint. 

It was far more formal than I had expected, with professors from the University of East Anglia and the University of Essex (they are currently the awarding body for my university) in attendance. At the start of the ceremony, a mace was carried down the centre aisle. Traditionally this was to prove the official's authority, so that was rather reassuring to know that the whole thing wasn't a farce!

I really enjoyed dressing up in robes for the day, especially as it is something I have looked forward to since I was a little girl! 

Most importantly, I can finally say that I am a graduate rather than a graduand! It marks the close of a huge part of my life and the start of new adventures.

Have any of you graduated recently? 

Life update

I am well aware that it has been far too long since my last real blog post. I would apologise but there is very little that can be done to help this. My final year of university has begun, and boy has it hit like a tonne of bricks! Not to worry any future students out there, but when people warn you throughout your university life, that final year is difficult do listen to them. I had several people complaining to me about how stressed they were but I thought ‘hey you know what, so long as you’re prepared then there’s nothing to worry about’. Unfortunately however prepared you are, the people around you will stress you out. That’s what has been happening here, and it’s why my blog has been so rarely updated lately (for rarely updated, read 2 whole months!)
However, things are looking up! I’ve sent off my application for a postgraduate course, and am working on finding anything which will support my application. This includes putting my name down as interested, for an array of sign language courses, which I would love to do even if I am not lucky enough to get onto my postgrad. This morning I found out about a Speech and Language Therapy careers talk, which is happening at the local hospital in December. I will go along to that and am hoping that they may offer alternative methods of getting into the careers that I am so passionate about. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before, but on a course of 70-80 places, there are usually about 700 applicants. This is why I am considering other methods of getting into my career…because if I haven’t got any back up plans, I know how devastated I will be if I don’t manage to be one of that 10%.
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I’ve become far more involved with the student union this year. Consequently, tomorrow I am taking a trip to a couple of our other campuses. I’m very excited about this as I’ve never really been to other areas within the learning network (that’s what the university calls it-I’m not just making up random phrases!) Of course, this does mean that I have serious amounts of reading to get on with beforehand-guess what today will consist of?!
I will try a bit harder to keep on top of the blogging, but there is only so much I can write about doing work before people get fed up of it all!