On the 12th September 2018, after months of anticipation, I finally graduated from the University of Lincoln with an Upper Second Class Honours Degree in English. Having completed my final exam in May, it was beginning to feel like Graduation day was never going to arrive. Of course, though, it did, and as soon as it had begun it was over! Looking back at it already fills me with such fond memories, I had an absolutely brilliant day celebrating this achievement with my family and friends, and thought I'd share some of the intimate details with you today! If you enjoy personal posts, then keep reading, you'll like this one!
Tuesday 11th September
After completing my second day at Bishop Grosseteste University, I headed over to the Castle Hotel to meet my parents and freshen up. Not long after this my boyfriend arrived, followed by my grandma and brother, and soon we were headed out for an evening of pre-graduation celebrations!
We first popped into The Lion and Snake for a quick drink out in the beer garden, this is my favourite pub up Steep Hill, firstly because it's where I came when I first visited Lincoln upon being accepted into the Uni over three years ago, and secondly because it serves Berries and Cherries Old Mout Cider! If you haven't tried this yet, you need to - it's a revelation in the fruity cider world! Trust me.
My parents enjoying their drinks during our first visit to the pub in August 2015
After an initial drink we headed over to Cafe Zoot for an evening meal. I have to say that we weren't particularly impressed with the quality of our food or the service, which was disappointing! Our waitress wasn't the best and for the hefty bill at the end we weren't sure if the meal was entirely up to scratch. This was unfortunate, but we didn't dwell, instead we headed out for a few more drinks in some very picturesque settings!
These photos were taken in the Lincoln TapHouse and Kitchen on the roof terrace! Cocktails were two-for-one, so I happily sipped away at a strawberry daiquiri while we got ready for quiz night back at the Lion and Snake. Annoyingly, we didn't win, but we had a lot of fun taking part and spending some time together as a family! It's not very often that I go out for meals and drinks with my parents, and it's even rarer that we'll all get to go as a full family group - with Grandma and Joe AND Matthew! It meant a lot to me that they came down the night before so that we could spend the evening together and take my mind off the fact that I had to walk across a stage in front of hundreds of people the following day. I was so lucky that Matt could make it up to Lincoln too, and that our graduation ceremonies somehow landed on the same day!
Wednesday 12th September
I woke up, bright and early, and headed over to breakfast. I ordered myself the Full English, just as everybody else did, but then found that I was the most nervous I have possibly EVER been in my LIFE and couldn't bring myself to eat - this is NOT like me! I had been so looking forward to the day, but now that it was here I was so super anxious. As much as I was excited to finally graduate and have lots of photos taken, go for another meal, have the day off from uni to drink and be merry etc., I knew that in a couple of hours I had to get up and walk across that stage! With coordination like mine, that's really not as simple as it sounds! So, my lovely breakfast went to waste, and my stomach remained empty. Alas, tasty breakfast, it just wasn't meant to be.
It took me quite a while to find a suitable outfit for graduation. I'm really not a "dress" person, I tried a few on but quickly ruled them out and decided instead to go for a formal trouser and top look. My parents and I spent an entire day in Meadow Hall finding our outfits, after about eight hours we finally found success, and all had them sorted out, which was just as well because we definitely couldn't manage another shopping trip! Once I was dressed and ready I went over to my parents' room and watched a rather emotional video that my brother had compiled, complete with an original song and slideshow presentation - this is not a lie, and yes, I did cry. So, with my emotions now running high, me and Grandma headed over to the Castle Grounds in a bit of a rush, with only ten or so minutes to go to get gowned and ready! Then the photo shoot commenced...
Joe, Mum, Me, Dad, Grandma
Top - Phase Eight. Trousers - M&S. Shoes - New Look. Bag - M&S.
Earrings - Claire's Accessories (they're the only high-street shop I've found that do clip-on earrings!)
Fun Fact: My outfit was cleverly coordinated to match the colours of Leeds United Football club. Just as the colour scheme at my parents wedding was. As soon as we found out the colours of the hood (blue and yellow) we ran with it. Yes, we really take our football affiliation that seriously. Plus, mustard is in this season.
Joe filmed the entire day for me!
Matthew is of course on tiptoe, although I must admit that my heels were three to four inches, and when you have a height difference like ours, that's quite a significant increase! Look how handsome he looks though.
Then the time came for us to enter the cathedral. Upon doing this I discovered that I was front row, sixth to go up, so there was no way I was sitting down straight away and starring up at that stage for half an hour! Instead I took the opportunity to get some selfies with my fellow graduates!
Here I am (above) with my friend Faith, who I met very early on in the Drama, Theatre and Performance workshop! I was so relieved to be sat next to a friendly face, although I don't think we were much good for each other's nerves! Then to the right you can see me with my former flatmate and forever bestie, Chloe!
Then came the ceremony... You can all let out a sigh of relief because I did it!
I walked across, no problems, no tripping, saluted, shook the guy's hand and then collected my diploma from a table offstage. Sorted!
The ceremony was actually very touching. I had expected to be a little bit bored, but in reality, there was so much that captured my attention! Fantastic speeches, being able to watch everybody go up onto the stage, some trumpet players in soldier uniforms, Dr K Shaw carrying a big pole... it was all very exciting! I found myself feeling quite emotional throughout, and especially as we joined the academic procession out from the cathedral and over to the castle.
By the time we got over there Matt had changed into his gowns ready for the ceremony at 2:30pm, so we got some good snaps together, as well as some professional photographs that I'm going to order online within the next few days!
After our photoshoot we headed over to Gino's for some lunch. After our meal the night before we were a little apprehensive about eating out again, but we really enjoyed our lunch! The atmosphere was super laid back and the staff were friendly and welcoming, the food was really tasty and the prices were adequate for such big portion sizes, so no complaints from us! It was a relief to sit down after walking along the cobbled Bailgate all morning, we were glad of the rest! Then Grandma and Joe departed and we headed over to my parents accommodation for the evening, Longsdale Bed and Breakfast at Bishop Grosseteste University. I'm actually writing this post from my own bedroom there now, I've booked myself a room while I'm here for my PGCE throughout the week! It's Freshers so I expected it to be a bit lively, but honestly it's as if I'm the only person here! I'm very happy though and so were we when we got into their room and could chill out! We stayed there for a little while, me and Mum took our heels off, Dad read the newspaper, and then we re-emerged into the world and back to - you know it - the Lion and Snake!
The rest of the evening comprised of drinks with Chloe's family, drinks with Matt's family, another pub quiz, a Wetherspoons tea, and then a poor night of sleep ahead of my 9am lecture the following day, which I sulked through because I was sleep deprived, missed my family, and just felt on a general low after the fantastic day I'd had!
Waiting so long for graduation really made me appreciate it when it finally arrived. That was the last time I am probably ever going to see most of my cohort, and honestly, some I'm more than ready to say goodbye to... But other's I'll miss. Regardless of whether or not we were all best mates, we all went through the undergraduate experience together and graduation day was such a poignant end to the best three years of my life!
Thank you so much for reading, and apologies for my absence! As you can guess, it's been a busy week! As much as my PGCE is now my priority, this blog still means a lot to me and I'm so excited to share future experiences on here - perhaps a little less frequently than before, but nonetheless I'll still be active whenever there's time to be! If you want to subscribe then please do so via the box to the right, I really appreciate everyone that clicks that button and I'm currently reaching out to subscribers with little 'thank-you's' to try and demonstrate that appreciation! If you have a request or a general query, please get in touch via the About page (link at the top), I'd love to hear from you!