I Graduated Today!

I'm officially no longer a student :( sad times indeed.

(mirror posing photo to show what I was wearing! haha)

The ceremony was at the Barbican Centre, which was a lot nicer than any of my university buildings. First thing we noticed was another girl wearing the same dress as me (this one from Topshop but in navy). She turned out to be my best friend from my course, Claire! We definitely should've talked about what we were wearing before we went! Haha we were also sitting next to each other because it was alphabetical according to course and grade (we both got firsts!) so we had to go up on stage one after the other, but hopefully no one noticed we were wearing the same dress! A girl in the next group also had the dress on, so it was obviously a popular choice! It was ok though because we accessorised differently, and once everyone had their gowns on we all looked the same anyway ;) It was the whole faculty of art, media and design (as well as the faculty of computing) and there are a lot of people I lived with in halls first year studying some sort of art subject so I saw a lot of people I knew :)



Gowns are not comfortable to wear. Well they're probably ok if you're a guy wearing a tie, because you can hook them under the tie so they stay in place. But obviously I wasn't wearing a tie so I had to keep adjusting my gown and hood. We had safety pins but they were pretty hopeless. The hat just gave me a headache, and messed up my hair.



We had professional photographs taken (me and my parents) which were really awkward. I had this fake plastic scroll to hold (which my gown was clipped to to keep it in place, so I couldn't move my arms at all) and the photographer made us stand weirdly, something my dad just laughed about (hold her arm!)

(my view before the tutors and university staff took to the stage)

Then just some hanging around, talking to the few people on my course I actually want to stay in touch with. Then we sat down. I was in the second from front row, which I thought would mean I'd have to pay attention the whole time but all the action was happening over the other side of the stage so I played around on my phone for most of it. Shh naughty! Well it did drag on forever, I was one of the early ones ("also with first class honours...Hannah Curson" that felt good to hear!) so I didn't have to be paying attention for my name the whole time ;) Blah, blah, blah long ass ceremony, really ethnically diverse university so the presenters struggled with a load of the names, making it last longer. One of the tutors (who I think they said was 80) seemed to pass out halfway through so he got lead out. He was looking pretty pale and unwell the whole time before that. The final guy to be presented got the biggest cheer because everyone knew it was finally over!

Then there was mingling, more photographs, drinks, teeny tiny mince pies etc. I was looking for Claire to try and get a photo with her but couldn't find her anywhere so I returned my gown. Then of course I found her, so we got photos of her in her gown and me just in my dress. At least you couldn't really tell we were wearing the same thing!

Then home and out for dinner with my family. Expect to be drinking lots ;)

(mummy bought me a London Met bear as a souvenir! He's called Wesley. I also got a free mug/pen/badge from the Alumni Association because I got a first)

ALSO
I was meant to be starting at Royal Mail today but obviously I couldn't go. I told their recruitment agency (Angard staffing - try your upmost best to avoid ever having to work with them) three times that I couldn't make it today (in person at the reg event and via email because they refused to pick up their phone) but they just sent me the same text in reply saying my start date was the 5th. They also got my hours completely wrong, although that's actually better because I don't want to work nights anymore. Mum reckons I should just show up to the sorting office tomorrow and say 'well I told you I couldn't start on the 5th' but it's a 30min drive away and I don't want to just have to come home again, so I don't know what to do :S I really need the money though (even if it is shitty pay) so I probably will end up going.