98. The First Day Of My Life

Hello everyone, I hope you're all doing well, apologies for the lack of posts during May but it was the final month of my degree so I've been hitting the library hard. When you're revising for the last time, you might as well go hard or go home. Yesterday morning, I finished my degree and it still hasn't sank in yet (Andy winning Wimbledon sank in faster than this and that was a much bigger deal) and I don't think it will either until graduation when I physically see my name on that certificate. I spent yesterday afternoon celebrating with my lovely friend Alex by shopping, having Go salads for lunch (neither of us have ate properly this week because of the stress of finals so wanted something light) and buying our Avengers teddies from Build-A-Bear and then cuddling them whilst we watched Age of Ultron for the second time which is the only film I've ever been to watch at the cinema twice as it is so perfect. You'd think we'd just finished primary school, not university but one is never too old for teddy bears- that's my motto. Alex was an absolute babe and bought me my favourite record of all time which is of course, AM by Arctic Monkeys and that album got me through some of the worst months of my life. Anyway today, I watched Andy continue to dominate clay this season and had lunch with 9 of my lovely uni girl friends. We had such a laugh and took lots of photos! Tomorrow, I'm spending the day with my best friend as I've barely seen her during the past three years which sucks big time as we went to the same secondary school and sixth form together.

Last night, I got quite philosophical and deep (after I'd finished dressing Captain Bear) and thought how I've literally been in education for as long as I can remember. I'm no longer a student which has been the default box to tick on almost every application form I've filled out and feel like I'm having a bit of an identity crisis but I'm happy and excited to begin the next chapter of my life. Today's the first time in months that I've woken up without my backpack packed at the bottom of my bed full of all my stuff to take to the library and my to-do list now has "lunch with the girls" and "go shopping" instead of "finish mind maps for UPEC" and "reading for DMD" and it feels so strange. I'll actually be able to watch The Sound of Music again at Christmas without feeling guilty and read for pleasure (talking of reading, look out for a book related post very soon)! Whether you want to admit it or not for fear of coming across as too keen/ being a nerd but whilst you're in school/ college/ university, your entire life is taken over by education and it's only once you finish, you realise how you can do whatever you want without feeling guilty and procrastination no longer exists! Having said that, the security and community feel of being at school/ college/ university and seeing your friends everyday will be greatly missed. 

University has had its highs and lows but what I do know is that I have met some wonderful people and have made friends for life and even if I don't get the grade I want, I've gained so many transferable skills! Some of the highlights of my degree include mentoring during first year, my summer internship in second year and then going back to my old sixth form to teach two A-level Biology classes in final year. In terms of studying Biology itself, the reason I picked such a broad life sciences degree and not a specific degree like Genetics or Zoology was because at A-level, I enjoyed learning about all aspects of Biology and didn't want to restrict myself. However, by doing this degree, I know that if I do choose to do further study, my calling in life is Microbiology because bacteria are so overlooked and I find it fascinating how they are able to do things that we can't despite their minute size. I'm not sure where I'm going with this post but I am feeling such a mix of emotions that I just wanted to write them down and document them and I know I could have done it in a physical diary privately but by doing it on here, I'm sharing it with others who I'm pretty sure feel the same. 

Anyway, I have rambled on for long enough so I'm off to bed to watch Captain America with Captain Bear to be philoSLOTHical rather than philosophical. Look out for my book related post which is something I've never done on here before and I look forward to blogging a lot this summer, hopefully!
Until next time, take care.
Love,
Mancunian Sheep x