Graduating University

As of 8:45 this morning I now know for sure that I will be graduating on July 10th and that I will be graduating with my target grade of Second Class Honours (First Division) meaning that my University experience is now over. 

For anyone just about to start university in September, I'm sorry that this post isn't all sunshine and roses, my university experience wasn't perfect but it was mine, yours might be perfect but chances are you'll be crying into your cornflakes for one reason or another during the three or four years.

I'm sad to be saying goodbye to a lot of good friends that I have made over the years, but honestly, I'm so ready to not be in education anymore that the thought of no more 9am lectures and 3x2000 word essays at the end of a semester, is like being told I've won the lottery. 

Other than pure joy, I don't really feel any different finding out that I'm going to be a university graduate. I still need to find a job, save up some money and find a place to live, but for now I'm going to take five minutes to breathe and let all of this sink in. University has been a grey cloud hanging over my head for at least a year and half now, so now that the skies are clear I feel like I can do anything.

At university you will likely do some of the following; question whether or not you chose the right degree, this will usually happen in year 2. Wish you had moved home/moved out, whichever you did not do. Decide that all the nice things you bought in first year with your student loan were stupid, and you now wish you had some money left over for a holiday. That's okay though, maybe not everyone is in the same boat but there's enough of us that you don't have to feel alone. University is so different from high school, it's tough but you will learn, it'll probably be too late to stop you buying a shiny, new Macbook when you should have just bought a tablet (stay away from Chromebooks though). 

The last six months of university have been the best by far, I finally got a taste at a normal uni experience. I got to go away with my friends to somewhere I've never been before, I was lucky enough to attend a huge media industry conference, met one of my idols by accident on a red carpet, got my first 1st in a module I didn't think I'd do well in and I stopped caring what people think and started blogging. You might also find that with the end in sight you get a lot more motivated, my grades from my last semester are between 6 and 10% higher than any other grades I got, which is a brilliant end to my degree. 

I'm happy with how things are now and can't wait to find out what comes next for my journey, hopefully by next year I'll be abroad somewhere, exploring the world outside of my comfort zone. Hopefully I have a job that I love or I've started my own media company already. Hopefully I'm still blogging and making something for myself. Hopefully I still talk to my university friends and they're all doing great too. I'll settle for just being happy though, that's how you measure success in my eyes. 

For the first time in my life I don't have somewhere to be in September, although liberating, that's also very scary. I've got a few weeks of trying to figure out what it is that I want but I know there's no rush. I have my family around me to help me until I'm in a position to stand on my own two feet. Next up is graduation in a couple of weeks but after that... Who knows.