On Thursday I graduated from the University of Leeds, and I got a 2.1 in BSc Psychology!
I am so happy and relieved that my degree is over and that I successfully survived the whole experience! University is without a doubt one of the most stressful experiences I have ever endured. That being said, I am definitely sad that it is over! It's just so scary going from knowing exactly where you are going to next in life; from school to college, from college to university, to then not being exactly sure what the next step is. I am hoping to go back to university do a masters one day, however I feel that I need a slight break from education. But I am definitely going to miss being in education, and learning new knowledge; thus I have to keep reading and learning new things.
On Thursday my graduation was at 3.45pm which is fairly late for a graduation, but we set off from Preston at 12ish to get to Leeds in plenty of time. Once we got to Leeds we parked up and went to sort my tickets, gown and photos. Nobody had informed me of how heavy the gowns actually are, and on Thursday it was one of the hottest days of the year so I was melting in the gown. Hopefully my makeup hadn't melted off too much in the photos either! I had professional photos done too, which was alright, but I just found the guy doing the photos to be a little bit creepy and awkward, and they were done so quickly, I even had to ask him if I could see the photo before I left. I asked my boyfriend to take photos throughout the day too and they turned out pretty well.
The whole graduation ceremony was over so quickly, before I knew it the speeches had been done and all the names had been called out. If I could do it all over again I definitely would. I also managed to not trip or fall over when I went to get my certificate thankfully! Also my university did not allow us to rent or wear the graduation caps which is a shame, but in my professional photos I was wearing the cap. The ceremony was done around 5pm and we returned home, with a side detour to a pub for some tea and a drink.
On the Friday night I celebrated again with family in Preston, by going for a meal at Angelos in Preston city centre, which was really good fun and it was great to see my two Aunts, as one of my aunties came down from Sandbach to come for the meal. The food was really great at the restaurant and I really did enjoy myself. We then went for a drink and a friend joined us to go out for a short while.
I am really glad that I have completed my degree and that it is over, but at the same time I do wish I could do it all again and have a different experience. I did love my time at university but I do wish that I had spent more time in Leeds or explored the city more whilst I lived there. But isn't hindsight a wonderful thing... Maybe one day I will return to Leeds and live there again in the future.
This is the outfit my giant gown was covering when I graduated.
Has anyone else graduated recently?
Anyone got any advice for graduates?
