Tuesday, 19 May 2009

And It's All Over

Well, as of yesterday I officially finished and gave in my last pieces of work for my degree. It's done, I made it, now I just have to wait for it to be marked (hopefully generously) and I'll have some form of a degree! Somehow I managed to choose my modules wisely and wriggled out of doing an exam; it's quite a sore point with my housemates, some of whom have three or four to revise for...I'm quite hated, but now I have absolutely no idea what to do - with the next couple of weeks before everyone finishes exams and can party, with the summer, with...life! I would have thought I'd be the most excited girl around, being free to watch all the films I put off when I was working, read books, draw stuff...but already I have itchy feet and it has only been a day! This wasn't helped by the fact that I need to start emptying my room of stuff as it's going to take a few trips to get it all home (where it's going to go is another matter...perhaps for another time) and placing all my books and things into boxes just reminded me of how excited I was three years ago in halls, taking them out, finding somewhere for them to go, making a space for myself.

Perhaps this is what I'm most scared of - losing independence. It's been a little daunting sometimes the amount I've had at uni, but, it's great! I can do the living-without-my-parents thing! And I don't know how it will work going from this to sharing a room with my sister again. Obviously I've had to do it over the holidays, but I think there's a different mindset when you know that it's only temporary. Hmm. 

The English Department (legends that they are) organised a talk for us finalists after the last pieces of work had been given in, and it was lovely (despite my needing the toilet for the duration) as they outlined what we had all achieved in our time on the course. I had never really thought about it, but I have worked bloody hard at this - most of the time - and I couldn't help but feel proud that I'd seen it through to the end, and so far done a pretty decent job. What did not help, however, was everyone around me raising their hands when asked 'Who has solid plans for when they leave?' I'd like a plan. The free wine following the talk helped make me forget about this for a while though, which was nice. Especially as it was poured by my lecturers (one of which I think may have made a start on the wine beforehand, she's great! I seem to like brackets in this post.)

This was another thing that hit me - it's just typical that, unlike secondary school which I got so bored of, couldn't wait to leave, and unfortunately run into people that went there all the time, I have to leave university after a much shorter time, where I have loved being, met some amazing people, and finally just about feel like I know what I'm doing...what's up with that?! Oh well, if I try to put a good spin on it all I suppose I've been so lucky in experiencing any of this at all, and I can stay in touch with the people that matter once it's all done. Yes, I like that thinking.

For now though, I will try and take advantage of my freedom watching some crappy TV whilst doodling whatever comes into my head, as I miss it. After that, I guess I should spend some time thinking up one of these plan things that everyone else seems to have...I wonder what I was doing when they were all thinking of theirs?

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations! It's a great feeling, isn't it? My housemates are quite sore with me too, but I'm sure they all love you, really. Just be sure to take care when coming back after a night out (that is of course, unless they're silly, in which case I wholeheartedly encourage you to make a lot of noise).

    For that matter, ellipses are awesome. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise.

    I'm really glad I went to the talk as well. I was very much under the impression that my degree was only a collection of all-nighters and last-minute botch jobs, but think of how well you must know the subject now. I cursed the dreaded rule that made us pick at least one unit from each time period, but I'm really glad they enforced it, now. The course was an amazing overview of English, and I'd wager you have a pretty good idea of what happened in the grand scheme of things, when it comes to literature.

    I wouldn't worry about life after uni. In fact, I think you're further along than most people. You seem to have a good idea of where you want to go, you just need to figure out how to get there. There are absolutely loads of ways to get into journalism, you just need to pick one (or many!) and start giving it all you've got, to get your face (and blog) on the map.

    A friend brought up recently that with the advent of Web 2.0, and the upsurge in popularity of social networking, particularly Facebook, it's going to be quite hard not to keep in touch with all your friends. I completely agree with him. Sure, we won't be in the same place as each other, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what people end up doing with themselves.

    Dearie me. I've gone all sentimental all of a sudden. Enjoy your time off, while it lasts. Make the most of it. :)

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