Sydney Life

The day finally arrived after much anticipation. I was allowed to take my first day off work for the big day. My family took me out for dinner for the occasion. I bought new clothes for this event. (I was even going to get my hair coloured and cut but the hairdresser was totally booked.). Yes, the day arrived where I received recognition for 4 years of hard work at university. I graduated.

The funny thing about graduation day is that everyone found it more of a big deal than I did. I was fortunate enough to actually receive graduation presents. (Woohoo, 2 birthdays in one year!) Even randoms around campus would stop, smile politely and mouth the word congratulations. Perhaps if people congratulated me after I passed my exams or made a big fuss when I attended my last day at university I could have felt a bit more proud. But university seems far from my mind at the moment now that I have actually been in the work force for 2 months.

I’ll admit, it was a great reunion, nice to see familiar faces, and catch up on the essentials. Namely, where they are working and how it is all going. Graduating from the luminous quad was certainly picturesque, despite the fact that we (from Cumberland campus) hardly ever utilized the lovely building. And it was also a good excuse to dress up a bit instead of wearing the hospital requirement of navy pants and a white shirt.

But in all honesty, the gown and hood were a little pompous for my liking and the ceremony lacked character. There is a huge build up for this one moment where I was to go up on stage (praying I didn’t trip on the stairs), tip my little hat, shake a hand and take the piece of paper which 4 years of work has amounted to. Then it’s over. Or just about, besides a few speeches. Actually, I can’t complain about the speeches. We had Geraldine Brookes (author/journalist - bonus that I have actually read a couple of her books) as our guest speaker who was funny, clever and catered wisely to the audience. And what’s with moving the tassel from the right side to the left (or is it left to right?) upon shaking some important persons hand? I’d personally much prefer to throw my cap into the air like in the American ceremonies and shout out some obscure phrase from sheer happiness of completing my degree.

The counter argument which I am aptly reminded of when embarking on this little spiel, is that graduation is actually a special achievement. Not everyone can or will graduate from a university. I forget that my grandmother must be beaming with pride the fact that I am graduating as she never was given the opportunity to do. I forget the amount of blood, sweat and tears that went into my course work. The late nights of finishing assignments. The struggle to juggle studying for 7 exams in a 10 day period. The fact that university or more specifically academia is one of the highest things to strive for in the educated free world. And just because it is quite common to attend and graduate from uni, it shouldn’t take away from the special achievement that it is.

So who knows…I might be so inspired from the ceremony that there could possibly a future one to follow later down the track???