![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Jul. 10th, 2015 05:45 pmYesterday was my graduation for my MA. I wasn't really looking forward to it - it was a bit of a drive and I was panicking about finding our way there, about the dogs being okay until my Auntie got in early from work to take care of them back home, about Nanny being up to the walking, about finding where I needed to go etc. A cousin of mine graduated in PHD robes by accident for his MA, because the gown people mixed up the gowns so that was an added panic- he dealt with it with amused aplomb, my reaction in a similar situation would be Total Meltdown.
So it is just as well it didn't happen. The drive there was a bit fraught (and the one back much more so due to long queues on motorways and being baked alive in a hot car). But it was wonderfully well organised, there were plenty of places to sit- or park relatives to sit- and get drinks etc. I was robed (correctly) in some very nice robes of grey with blue trim and, quite frankly if they had tried to give me a PHD robe by accident I would definitely as noticed as the PHD recipients were few and resplendent in scarlet and gold. The ceremondy was decently brief, and the only slight downside was that they pronounced my surname wrong- in Lancaster for my undergraduate degree, someone had slipped to each of the students with unusal names before the ceremony and checked the spelling, writing out phonetically for the speaker. But still, it is a small thing and I am rather used to it (although I swear I felt my mother twitching in the aisle. She has never got over how much she hates it when our surname is mis-pronounced whereas I was quite bored of correcting people by the time I turned ten). In a suprise turn of affairs for me I was the only one graduating with my award. We were only a small group of distance learners so, for some, perhaps the distance was too far or else they did not finish their dissertations- the forum boad quickly deserted once we had begun that module. Still, it had the advantage that the photograph company got a good shot of me shaking the Chancellor's hand, so we bought copies for the family, as well as a couple of copies of me in the studio pose.
The weather was gloriously sunny, which helped make it very pleasant to sit under the marquees and people watch. How young some of the undergrads looked! It made me feel quite old...and yet somehow it could be in a few years time I might be doing this all again.
One of the University staff on the podium facing us looked the spit of someone from Lancaster, I am sure- but I don't think he was every my tutor and therefore I have totally forgotten his name. It could well be him: most of my Lancaster tutors and lecturers dispersed after cuts to the Arts led to them amalgamating the cultural studies staff with the sociology staff- a state of affairs that neither group was happy with. There is a thin blurry line between cultural studies and sociology, but there is a line nontheless.
Anyway on the whole a very good but tiring day. I have spent attempting to recoup my energy somewhat- and my hydration as I think I only ate a cake and a museli bar all day yesterday and drank very little.
So it is just as well it didn't happen. The drive there was a bit fraught (and the one back much more so due to long queues on motorways and being baked alive in a hot car). But it was wonderfully well organised, there were plenty of places to sit- or park relatives to sit- and get drinks etc. I was robed (correctly) in some very nice robes of grey with blue trim and, quite frankly if they had tried to give me a PHD robe by accident I would definitely as noticed as the PHD recipients were few and resplendent in scarlet and gold. The ceremondy was decently brief, and the only slight downside was that they pronounced my surname wrong- in Lancaster for my undergraduate degree, someone had slipped to each of the students with unusal names before the ceremony and checked the spelling, writing out phonetically for the speaker. But still, it is a small thing and I am rather used to it (although I swear I felt my mother twitching in the aisle. She has never got over how much she hates it when our surname is mis-pronounced whereas I was quite bored of correcting people by the time I turned ten). In a suprise turn of affairs for me I was the only one graduating with my award. We were only a small group of distance learners so, for some, perhaps the distance was too far or else they did not finish their dissertations- the forum boad quickly deserted once we had begun that module. Still, it had the advantage that the photograph company got a good shot of me shaking the Chancellor's hand, so we bought copies for the family, as well as a couple of copies of me in the studio pose.
The weather was gloriously sunny, which helped make it very pleasant to sit under the marquees and people watch. How young some of the undergrads looked! It made me feel quite old...and yet somehow it could be in a few years time I might be doing this all again.
One of the University staff on the podium facing us looked the spit of someone from Lancaster, I am sure- but I don't think he was every my tutor and therefore I have totally forgotten his name. It could well be him: most of my Lancaster tutors and lecturers dispersed after cuts to the Arts led to them amalgamating the cultural studies staff with the sociology staff- a state of affairs that neither group was happy with. There is a thin blurry line between cultural studies and sociology, but there is a line nontheless.
Anyway on the whole a very good but tiring day. I have spent attempting to recoup my energy somewhat- and my hydration as I think I only ate a cake and a museli bar all day yesterday and drank very little.
