Graduation

So, the big day finally came! I went with Mutti and Martin to St Albans, where we met up with my Vati. We then got onto one of the uni shuttle buses to go to the Arena. Once there I picked up my tickets and my graduation garb, and then felt like a scholar for the first and last time in my life. I spent a lot of time sweeping around outside, saying that I was a ghoul. It was at this point that I was reunited with Jo! We spotted each other and ran over and hugged, it was all very romantic. We caught up and laughed a lot and it was so nice to see her!

Then, of course, was the obligatory photo session (I also got a professional portrait done but I won't receive that for a while):

We holed up in Costa for a while as it was still around three hours before the ceremony - here I got a white hot chocolate with cherry sauce and it was divine. The walk down to the cathedral was lovely; St Albans is such a pretty town.

That photo is, of course, the cathedral. My crap iPhone photo doesn't do it justice, it's huge and absolutely stunning. Outside, Jo found me again and we were soon joined by Molly - many fond memories of second year ensued. We had a laugh together as we froze to death waiting for the doors to open. I'm gutted that I couldn't get photos of the inside of the cathedral - I didn't take my phone in with me, which I now regret. The ceilings are insanely high, the place is absolutely massive and it's so beautiful. I got this photo from Visit St Albans to give you a bit of an idea of how amazing it is:

This was the point that my nerves kicked in a little bit, although I was pretty calm for the whole thing. It took bloody ages to get everyone into the place, there were so many of us. Luckily the students all got sat down pretty quickly because we had allocated seats (we were called up to the stage in alphabetical order). The ceremony started with the academics coming in and sitting on the stage. Our vice chancellor stood up and welcomed everyone, before awarding an honorary doctorate to a guy who basically told his life story - seriously, he talked forever. The students all started sniggering because we were all thinking a combination of 'he doesn't even go here!' and 'remember when this is our graduation'.

Finally, the names began to be read out, and people started going up to receive their degrees. Spoiler alert: You don't actually get your real degree on the stage - you get a fake one and swap it for the real one at the back of the room. I was shocked and appalled. There was also a piece of paper on all the students' seats telling us where to walk and what to do when we went up, it was all very efficient. There's not an awful lot I can say about people going up onto the stage when their names are called, apart from the fact I saw a lot of gorgeous shoes.

My turn came eventually (curse my surname being in the latter half of the alphabet!), and I had to walk across the stage and shake hands with the vice chancellor, who congratulated me. I then took the fake degree from a woman on the stage, walked down the steps without falling over, and down the (extremely long) centre aisle, past everyone's friends and family. I then, finally, got given my real degree. It was a really surreal moment - all that money, everything I'd worked for, three years of my life, was all summed up in this one certificate that I now held in my hands. It was an amazing feeling, and the first time I've felt properly proud of my degree and of myself.

After everyone had collected their certificates, we were congratulated yet again by our vice chancellor, and then one of the students made a lovely speech about how well we'd all done; everyone was smiling by the time she finished, and she got a huge round of applause that went on for ages. She couldn't have summed up student life and the trials and tribulations of getting a degree better. Finally, mercifully (because my back was killing me from the ridiculously uncomfortable seats), we were dismissed back out into the freezing night.

I had a really nice time at my graduation and am so grateful to Mutti, Martin and Vati for coming to it. It hasn't really sunk in that I have my degree (even though I bought a nice frame for it today).



P.S. I found Jackson like this yesterday, peeping out of his house like a small furry spy:

8 Days Till Final Exam

Here I am, back at uni again - I've been back for just under a fortnight now. I ended up locking myself in my room for days to get my assignments done, but they're finally finished and that's all that matters. They're out of my hands now. I've already received marks back for two of the three pieces I had to finish - 2:2 for both, not bad considering I did them in a matter of days.. Kids, never grow up to be like me. DO UR WERK.

Anyway, the night I was finally free of my work, which was Friday 25th, I decided to get absolutely blotto to celebrate. I haven't been properly drunk for a very long time, probably not since the ending-up-in-Manchester fiasco, and it was a very amusing night. It started with Jas, Sophie and I popping over to Club de Hav to have a few jars while they played a few rounds of pool and were crap at it. It was nice to sit in the bar and put my feet up though, without the thought of all the work I had to do weighing on my mind. I was quite content with my pint of dark cider and glass of whiskey and coke (yes I had two drinks at once), watching Sophie and Jas.

We returned to the flat, where we were joined by James, Anand and Jake. I got my water speakers and laptop, and the whole night consisted of Spotify playlists and random requests from all of us. I can't remember much of the night, but I think it can be summed up in its entirety by the most beautiful photo I have ever taken:

For my America trip, I have everything sorted apart from my visa - this will be sorted very soon though, as my appointment at the US Embassy is on Tuesday! I'm still waiting to be placed, but there's still plenty of time for that. I'm getting a bit antsy, just because I want to know where I'm going! I'm so excited and scared. It's gonna be such a big adventure, I can't wait!

As for Spain, I just need to tweak the Powerpoint I was required to make, then I can send that off and that's it - it's entirely up to them after that. I hope I get the internship, it'll be so awesome! One of my bucket list items is to teach English in a foreign country, and Spain is such a beautiful place. I am also incredibly excited that I will be learning a new language when I go over there, and experiencing a different culture for around 8 months. Plus Spain will be warmer over the winter than horrible England, which is always a bonus.

Also in September, between coming back from America and (hopefully) heading off to Spain, I have two exciting things. The first is going to London with Caz to see Kate Bush! I'm really looking forward to it, and I'm amazed that Caz managed to get tickets. The other exciting event, which is coming up a mere four days after the Kate Bush gig, is Arron and Kim's wedding. It's gonna be lovely, I adore weddings! So, by the look of things, the rest of this year is going to be a busy one, considering I also have my graduation ceremony in November (more on that later).

As the title suggests, I only have a Clinical Linguistics exam on the 12th, and then I am completely done with university. All the blood, sweat and tears (not to mention the mountain of cash) that I've put into this will have finally paid off, and my police certificate will no longer be the most expensive piece of paper that I own. I can't believe uni is pretty much over already; at times it felt like it was dragging out forever, but now... I feel like I've only been here for five minutes. Funny how time goes. I have to spend this next week revising my backside off for the exam, but that's no real hardship because Clinical Linguistics really interests me and I had the best lecturer ever for it as well.

I was looking up my graduation the other day, eeeek! I know a bit more about it now - it's going to be on November 20th. I will be there in a gown and one of those stupid hats, and it's going to be brill. The students at my uni get to graduate from this absolutely beautiful place (St. Alban's Cathedral):

I am so excited to graduate. That'll be the final closure of my university career; it'll also mark the last bit of education ever ever (unless I decide to do post-grad someday).

If I get the Spain job, my German friend Sou and I have hatched a diabolical plan to visit the Berlinale Film Festival in February. We're going to go there to try to catch a glimpse of August Diehl, and I am also excited to go because a) Berlin is a city I've wanted to visit forever and b) finally meeting Sou in 'real life'! I hope this all works out. We also have a not-quite-normal plan to scale the Brandenburg Tor, something Sou claims she's always wished she could do. Either way, it'll be hilarious and I'll get to spend time in a beautiful city, with a fantastic person (and hopefully see August Diehl too lol).

Today, it's Caz's birthday. Being the best friend that anyone could hope for in the whole bloody world, I sent her a card with dead flowers on it, and told her to die :)

Final Sprint

I'm so close to finishing university forever. Good lawd. It's been simultaneously the most fun and most stressful experience of my life. I've met many people, had many experiences, and grown so much as a person. I'm incredibly glad I took the plunge and came to uni; it was a massively scary decision, but it was necessary. Without university, I wouldn't have become an adult. I wouldn't know how to pay bills and support myself, how to get through the day with a raging hangover, how to take a deep breath and dive head-first into anything that takes my fancy, and believing in myself enough to know that I can go places and do things. In extension to that last point, I wouldn't be going to work in America this summer or potentially teaching in Spain in October for a year, if it wasn't for getting through assignment deadlines and the university environment itself without giving up, despite wanting to a few times. I did this with the added burden of my continuously fluctuating mental health, and it hasn't been easy. So I'm allowing myself to feel a bit of pride that I've come this far and gotten to the other side - scratched, scared and £20,000+ in debt, but still standing and ready to get out there and see the world.

This month and a bit is the last push. I have around 40 hours of lectures, 5 assignments and an exam left, and that's it. It's terrifying and exhilarating and unbelievably surreal.

I'm currently looking forward to going home for the Easter holidays, though! I have a multitude of to do lists, right up until April 2nd (I go home on April 3rd), in order to keep myself as busy as possible and to get as much work as I can out of the way so I can recuperate and enjoy the break. This week involves making my video and submitting my Wordpress design for Online Journalism; 4 remaining hours of lectures; sending Mothers Day cards for Mutti and Kath; starting on my History of English and Communication & Cultures assignments; getting my prescription; sending off the forms for my police certificate for the States; and going swimming for the last time this term. Next week will be a little less hectic, with only 10 hours of lectures and hopefully I will have finished all the pre-Easter assignments I have due by then.

I'm giving blood again too! I was feeling crap because I haven't done it since my first time in July, so I was browsing to see if there would be any sessions at home while I was there. No go, but I stumbled on a session at a hotel five minutes away from me here in Hatfield on Monday, so I'm going to go to that one. It'll be good to give blood again, as I felt so pleased with myself last time, and it really is such a great way to be charitable if you're a pauper like me!

Oh, and it is 13 days until I turn 22. I cannot believe how fast that's come around. My flatmates won't stop laughing at me because I'm 'so old'. Well, except for James - he turns 22 in May so he feels all my pain!

Bonus photo of Lana and I:

She came over on March 14th, for the weekend. On the Friday night, we went on a dinner date to Frankie & Benny's as we'd never gone out for proper dinner before, and on the Saturday, we went to Camden and spent hours exploring the Stables Market. It was an all-round great weekend (obviously interspersed with boozing with the flatmates), and definitely stopped me going round the twist from being cooped up on my own, beating myself up over my lack of productivity.

A New Semester

I said I wanted to blog more here. It is now the early hours of January 22nd - so much for that resolution! I have accumulated several things to talk about, so here goes...

I have started the utterly terrifying process of looking for and applying for jobs, internships, etc. I've found several media companies that sound promising, and I'm going to see one of the Careers Advisers at uni to talk about whether there's more I can do to find graduate positions. One internship I'm especially excited about is a travel writing one! Obviously, that's the area I want to work in, so that's a good start, but it's also good because it's online/home-based so I can start immediately and fit it around my university work. I applied last week, and received an email yesterday saying that somebody would be in touch with me. So, fingers crossed that that works out! In the meantime though, I'm going to continue poking around and seeing what I can find in the way of other opportunities.

I've also started the ball rolling on going over to the USA in the summer to be a camp counsellor! I had my first interview via phone yesterday, and I've been filling out the application today. It's quite daunting, there are a lot of things I need to think about (renewing my passport, going to the US Embassy to apply for my visa, medical and police checks, etc), plus it's quite a bit of money that I'll have to part with to make it happen, but I am determined! The camps run for around 9 weeks, so I'll spend that time helping the kids with activities and games etc. Then afterwards, I'll have a chance to travel to some places in the States with my little wage packet that I'll earn at camp - I haven't decided exactly where I'm going to go yet, but my top 5 currently stands at: New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, maybe venturing to Canada or Mexico. So, watch out America (more like, watch out Kayleigh you are a pasty English girl and you will melt in the unforgiving sun)!

Second semester started this week. I had two classes on Monday - History of the English Language and Online Journalism. History of English was so interesting, and I'm really excited about the module, plus the lecturer is really nice. It'll be good to know more about where my language originated and what changes it's gone through.

Online Journalism is also a great module that I'm really excited about. Basically, we all have to set up a site about a topic that will be relevant to the sort of career we want. Of course, I immediately decided that mine should be about travelling! I'm going to review places I go to (places of historical interest/natural beauty, museums, landmarks, etc), and talk about lesser-known destinations in order to clue people in to places that are a little different to the usual holiday locations. I'm really excited to start working on it - I already have a page set up, but I'm looking forward to actually writing on it.

I am starting to swim in earnest now, as part of my 'get fit or die tryin' lifestyle kick. Yesterday I did 30 laps of the pool and felt great when I was done. I'm really enjoying the swimming now I've realised I'm not as unfit as I feared. I'm going again tomorrow, and then next week I'm going to up the ante and go swimming three times a week, like I originally wanted to.

Therapy is also going well; my counsellor is a really nice guy, and we get along well, so I find it quite easy to speak to him about any difficulties I have. I'm going to be seeing him more or less once a week right up until I finish uni, in the hopes of giving me a bit more peace of mind. I must say, having a neutral space to fight out all of the conflicting thoughts and negative feelings is a good thing. When I saw Richard on Monday, I came out of the session feeling incredibly light and less downtrodden than I had before I'd gone in.

 I'm excited today because Lana is coming over on Friday for the weekend! I'm really looking forward to seeing her as it's been a good long while since the last time, and Friday is the day after her birthday! So this weekend will be a kind of birthday celebration too; I have posh scotch for the special occasion. On Saturday, we're going to go to the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum in London - I've never been before, so it's going to be a lot of fun and really interesting. Plus I'm going with one of my favourite people in the whole world, which makes it a thousand times cooler. A feature/review on the Grand Museum Outing will quite possibly be my first post on the aforementioned travel site for Online Journalism.

I also get to show Lana The Counterfeiters, a new favourite film of mine (and not just because it contains my favourite German actor - and possibly favourite man - August Diehl); I'm looking forward to that because I know she enjoys World War 2 stories. The Counterfeiters is based on a true story from the war, and it's an absolutely great film. Also, August Diehl.

I will attempt to blog more. Note that I say attempt. I'm hoping there will be enough going on in the coming weeks to be able to have plenty to talk about, but I can't make any promises.