anonymoose_au | Entries tagged with university

9:10pm: I am indeed! And now that I'm on a more stable (er...fingers crossed) unlimited internet connection I can finally update you, my faithful readers, on what I've been up to.

Let's start at the beginning, Tuesday, I got up at 6am, made sure everything was packed and ready - I'd given my main suitcase to my parents for them to take down, but I still needed to take my motarboard, tablet, some biscuits to eat on the train ride and my swimmers.

The bus was due at 6:50 and since I'm a quick shower-er and dresser I was able to do some washing up before setting off.

I switched buses at Dee Why for an Express bus to Central and the train, but alas I got a bit distressed during the trip and even though I called my mother for support there was still some scratching - damn! I managed to calm down though, although when the bus arrived in the city I was confused when it turned rather than go straight ahead. Apparently I'd ended up on a bus that goes a different way from the one's I'm used to. It took forever to turn the corner it seemed, the traffic was quite backed up. Once we got on the other main street (the one that runs parallel to the one every other bus I've ever taken has gone) traffic was light and I got to Central in more than enough time.

Now I had to get my train ticket, except I didn't know I should have gone to the Countrylink counter to get the train/coach ticket even though the train isn't even a Countrylink one! Also for some reason, the only had one main ticket window open so by the time I got to the front of the line and found out about all this, there was less than 10 minutes until the train was due to leave. So, I decided I better just get the ticket to Lithgow and get on the train, which I did. As it turned out when I contacted my parents about this, they said they were coming up to Lithgow anyway and they'd pick me up.

So, I got on the train, the last carriage near the guard's compartment figuring that would be small comfort, took my seat and waited for the show to get on the track.

Soon we were off and surprisingly, I felt all right, I was even able to eat my biscuits and read my book. It was a quiet carriage, which I guess was also helpful in keeping calm. Well, except when a mother and her kid got on board and the kid made a lot of noise causing some of my fellow passengers to tell them off. Then later on, some guy decided to talk on his mobile phone which really pissed some other people off. Yikes.

Anyway, I got to Lithgow all in one piece, although it took a while for my parents to find me and pick me up because they told me to go to the wrong street and then it turned out there was an old Post Office and a new Post Office so they drove right passed me and I had to hurry to meet their car.

Alas, my poor leg was still sore from when I twisted it on Sunday so this was very uncomfortable, but I got there and we set off for Bathurst and our hotel. We popped by Vinnies on the way because Mum still needed to find a swimsuit that would fit and I was hoping to find one of the books I'm looking for. I had no luck, despite there being two second-hand charity shops in that one street, but Mum did. I did at least, get a nice hat and some glass bowls (those where my mother's idea, I had her and Dad over for dinner once and I ran out of bowl to serve dessert in).

In typical Mum style the hotel was seriously nice, as I mentioned in a previous entry it overlooks the race track in Bathurst, where the Bathurst 5000 is held every year. The room was huge, with its own kitchenette so we were able to have lunch there, and then Mum and I headed down to the pool for a swim and a spa, classy indeed!

I had an appointment to get my hair done in the afternoon and Mum wanted to go shopping for a 35th Wedding Anniversary gift, so after swimming we headed out.

Now, I haven't had my hair cut for months - March I think - and my hair is also super thick, so the appointment started at 2:45pm and didn't finish until 4pm! But it did include a wash, and they blow dried it nice and straight so it was worth that.

Mum and Dad returned to get me and we headed back to the hotel via the race track - which is open to the public outside race time, and apparently the big thing is to drive around it. Not at the speeds the race car drivers would do though! Still fun though. Here's a photo of the view from the room.

Then after hanging out at the hotel for a bit, we headed out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant Mum saw while she and Dad were out and about and I drove them, which proved to be difficult because Mum wasn't entirely sure what street the restaurant was on. Eventually we got there and it was a very delicious meal! I had my usual honey chicken and fried rice with little prawns, ah good times, good times. There was quite a lot left over though, so lunch for the next day was all set.

We had to go to bed early - or at least that was the plan since graduation was to start at 9:30am the next day and we planned to get there at 8:30 so I could register in time. It didn't quite happen because we watched Love Actually which didn't finish until after 11pm, so I didn't get my 8 hours, dang.

But yesterday morning we got up, got dressed in our good clothes and I got my motarboard and off we went in the car to the University, conveniently it was only a kilometre up the road. We were directed to park in a field and I went to join the line to get the tickets, program, robes and stole and even though registration began at 7:30, I guess no-one wanted to show up that early (we sure didn't!) because it was a long and slow moving line - didn't help that we had to split into two groups A to L and M to Z - guess which line was shorter...

Then when I finally got to the front I got a rather big scare, I noticed that everyone around me was recieving diplomas and whatnot for education. Information Studies isn't education, which confused me, because I thought this was the graduation ceremony for Information subjects, and when I asked the person at the table about it she confirmed it was the education graduation ceremony! You can imagine what occurred to me at that moment! That despite the fact I'd double checked the confirmation email I'd somehow shown up on the wrong day! My envelope was there (with the tickets), but there was a bit of bruhaha while someone went and got one of the managers of the event to confirm I was indeed at the right place at the right time, which I was.

This was actually very good news, because I had thought I'd be graduating in an orange stole - but no, I got to wear a green and red one! Whoo! :OD Too bad I didn't get to keep it, because it was really nice. Mum took a picture of the back, but on her mobile so I don't have the picture right now, but once I do, I'll post a link.

However, I was still pretty anxious, especially when I realised just how huge the crowd in the hall was going to be. There were 200 people graduating! And I was the only one there getting a Masters in Information Studies and I was among the first to go up. Terrifying stuff! Although at least I was in between two nice people who I was able to talk to and I was actually relieved to be going sooner rather than later because I was pretty sure I wouldn't have lasted if I was at the end.

So, yeah, the ceremony ended up starting late, and there were introductions to go through first...but eventually it was time to line up and I really started to worry then, I had to kind of lean against the railing around the ramp up to the stage because I thought I'd fall over otherwise. When I was next in line to go up the stairs I gripped the railing so tightly I thought I was going to break my nails! Then it was up the stairs to stand in front of the podium where the Head of Library Studies (a man who fit the description of an old timey book lover to a tee! With a beard and curled mustaches Hercle Poirot would envy!) was to announce the degree I got and my name which seemed to take forever! You have to doff your motarboard ie. grab the right most point and tip it when you're announced and I put my hand up in preparation for the doffing. I felt like I stood there for five minutes or something, but it was probably more like 30 seconds. Then I had to walk across the stage, shake the hand of the Chancellor and get my photo taken, continue on and get my actual diploma and then leave the stage via a ramp (no stairs to worry about tripping!).

Then I and the other graduates had to walk down the aisle between the two rows of family and friends and whatnot to get back to our seats, where we could finally take a breath and relax from the anxiety of getting up on stage.

The rest of the ceremony took ages, because there was the more than 200 graduates to announce, then an address from the person who got an honour doctorate, then from a graduate who had been selected to speak on the behalf of the rest of us (glad that wasn't me!) then we had to applaud everyone and finally at about 12:30 we filed out behind the academics and headed to a marquee for refreshments. There were finger sandwiches, but I ate the cakes instead, LOL! We were having lunch back at the hotel, so I thought I deserved sweet stuff!

After that, Mum and I went to see how my photo with the Chancellor looked (Dad's still recovering from his feet operation so walking around a lot isn't something he wants to do), because I had a terrible feeling I wasn't smiling in it so it would look awful!

This necessitated waiting in another line, although it's amazing how fast they can process photos these days...But surprise surprise I was smiling! Not a bad photo at all, so we paid for two hard copies and a soft copy.

The plan was to get my diploma framed, and I considered getting one of those professional photos taken so I could get a double frame with the professional photo, but it was going to take two days to get it back, plus the line was long, so I decided not to. We were still going to get the actual diploma framed though, since they had very nice green mattes there, so Mum went to do that while I went to return the robe and stole. Before that though I got one last photo of myself in my academic finery.

So I did that and then waited outside for Mum and Dad to show up, which seemed to take a very long time and after all that Mum said the line was too long for the framing and it would probably be easier and cheaper to get a nice frame and green matte at a later date. I was a bit annoyed, but eh, she's got a point.

So, with that done we headed back to the car and the hotel for lunch, another swim in the pool - this time with Dad! - and then later on Mum and I went out to buy dinner, chicken schniztel. Niiice.

And this entry is fast becoming one of the longest I've done so I shall be wrapping it up here. Suffice to say we all got back to Sydney in one piece - oh and I got my Christmas stuff and mail from Newtown on the way too.

Anyway, I hope you've all enjoyed this!

Goodnight all!

Hunger