Graduation day at University of York was fantastic! There were some hiccups along the way there, and it was slightly stressful but the overall event left me feeling warm, fuzzy and super proud.
Driving to York from London
My graduation was 4.30pm so we decided to drive in the morning of the graduation rather than go the night before because we only wanted to stay 1 night in York. If we had driven the night before we’d also have to stay another night as well since our ceremony started at 4pm and ended around 7pm and it was a 4-5 hour drive! We’d be driving home way too late. On the way there it started snowing really badly and there was a yellow warning issued D: I was a bit scared but we just drove carefully and got there all in one piece 🙂
Highly regret trying to get there on the same day. I kind of wish we arrived the night before because it was all SUCH a huge rush when we got there as the traffic is temperamental *Cries*. Also when we got there it was already getting dark and SO COLD. Since my graduation was in February. Basically all pretty out door photos was a no go. Absolutely poo poo about that.
No Taxis
Although we drove to York we stayed about 5 minutes away from the uni but the uni do not let you park anywhere near it on the days of graduation since I think it’s too many to accommodate. So we had to get a taxi BUT it was quite hard to get one – every single place we called up were all booked up! Uber was not locating any drivers nor were any accepting our request since the drive was only 5 minutes. We had to keep calling and checking for over 30 minutes all the taxi. I’m not sure if it was because it was because of graduation day and EVERYONE was using taxis or usually it’s hard to get a taxi on a Thursday night in York but we struggled to get an Uber too. After leaving it searching for almost 30 minutes whilst we look for local taxis we eventually found one.
I think if you’re staying the night and want to book a taxi from where you are staying – do so in advanced. If not you can also get the local bus to the uni. We left it way too late to get the bus as well *doh* lol.
When we got there I was lost. I went to get my robe from a room about 10 mins walk from the Hall and because I was so late I was seen to straight away and they were really nice and set me up and gave me a smaller … everything… than what I had ordered regarding my measurements.
We sat in a hall… with each row a specific pathway (for computer science york course anyways) so everyone on my row did Artificial Intelligence. And ofc, I recognised NO ONE. My big mouth started talking to everyone around me like “who are you”, “what’s your avatar look like on Slack?”. I was trying to piece together anything – some thing. I recognised about 2 of the names which was nice! At least there was some one I had vaguely heard of or well… seen the name of online. Some people hadn’t even heard of the slack channel which I was gobsmacked about. How an earth did they survive without interacting with any other students beats me. I felt like the slack channels saved my mental health.
It’s weird doing your course online because a lot of the ceremony they talk about building all those friendships and relationships during your uni years and stuff but I only ever met one person (you know who you are gurrrll) who had the same last name as me, similar age and lived very close to me. But that was it! Over 3 years everyone was just an avatar on Slack. I probably interacted with only about 5 people 1-on-1 in personal chats which was nice but it felt surreal spending all this time studying, going to graduation and knowing basically no one!
In comparison to my Bachelors degree. I knew basically nearly every single person in my year not just my course but all in the other courses too because of the SU nights and house parties. This was so different.
The actual ceremony service was about 2 hours long. It was kinda long but being in that environment it was pretty nice seeing so many people who had worked so hard achieve their degrees 🙂 The vibe was good! Lots of cheering and happy families/friends. They went through every single person getting their Master degrees in STEM not just Computer Science. It included Maths, Economics and some sciences too.
Beware of The Photo on Stage
No one told me they took professional photos when you’re on stage. Or at least I didn’t hear them mention it. So naturally, I walked on stage waved hallelujah at my fam and they took the most fugliest photo of me.
Of all the pretty faces I was pulling on stage they took one where my mouth was wide open 😭😭😭 But you know it was funny so I had to buy it.
After the ceremony I got my profesh photo taken. I don’t know whether it’s worth it but I picked the cheapest one which even that was about 45 squids. The entire thing is such a scam. The expensive robes you borrow, to all the photos you buy. Cost me an arm and leg and I still gave them all my money even after knowing it’s all a money making scam FML.
Anyways my photo turned out o.k. I have that super American cheese grin and the shine makes my face looks slightly chubbier than it does IRL but I think I look half decent and super chuffed that I now got my CompSci degree (he he he)
Ceremony After
Then there was an after ceremony drinks. And FINALLY 1 person was like “BECKY” and ran up to me and it was someone who I had done one of those Group projects with at the beginning of the course and we’d chatted back and forth in different Slack channels as we shared several classes together. It was so nice seeing him in person as we chatted through our ups and downs and shared experience of the dissertation. It made my day really to finally find someone who I knew from the slack channel and share something. It made my entire experience not feel like I was alone shackled up in a small dark bedroom every night for 3 years lol.
Anyhow, the whole day was so fun. My partner, mum and I went for a lovely meal after at The Star Inn the City. The food was delicious but most of all the atmosphere was perfect. It was warmly lit and had a cosy rustic feel to the place and was the lovely end to a fantastic day!
I felt super happy and proud of my self for what I accomplished and it made the past, almost, 3 years totally worth it.
Thank you for reading!
Lots of Love,
Becky x
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