College Graduation

On May 9, 2014, I officially graduated from college! These four years were difficult and tedious at times but definitely went by so quickly. I felt like it was just yesterday that I first moved to Richmond and began my college experience. It's hard to believe my days of being a student is over and I'm about to enter the working world. Uhhh I'm not sure I'm ready?

I had my first graduation at 3 pm, which was the Honors graduation. It was for all students who have been in the Honors College and are graduating with University Honors. We had to meet at the Honors College first in West Grace. I thought I was going to be late because the traffic on campus was so bad. Then they made us walk out in the heat all the way to the Singleton Center. Not to mention, we took the long way around. As my usual clumsy self, I stepped in a hole and almost fell on my face. I caught myself somehow. We had been having such cool weather but graduation day was extremely hot. There was a heat wave that particular weekend.

The graduation was not too long. As proof of graduating with University honors, we were given an Honors diploma and a medal. Then they served us food inside the Singleton center and just to socialize. I had some friends in there and we hung out for a bit because our Nursing graduation wasn't until 7 pm.

There was still quite a bit of time before the Nursing graduation so my family had a photoshoot in some of the nice areas on campus. I was wearing pretty high heels so my feet were killing me. I didn't expect to do that much walking that day. I actually changed into flip flops later on but I kept my socks on so I was the weirdo walking around flip flops and socks in 90F degree weather around campus. The flowers are from my parents and my little brother. 

The Nursing graduation was at 7pm but doors opened at 6pm. It was held in the Siegel Center, which my roommate commented as an unusually large space for such a small class. The School of Nursing graduation was special in that it wasn't just an undergraduate event. We also graduated with Masters and Ph.D students. The event was a short one since we are not a very large school to begin with. We had a total of 180 graduates, including those who did not attend graduation that day.

Afterwards, I had a graduation dinner with my family and roommate that attended my graduation. My parents and brother were with me also for the 3pm graduation, and my aunt and her family joined us for the 7pm graduation. The traffic was so bad that they barely made it. They said they had arrived just as we were doing our procession into our seats. My grandmother was supposed to come but she somehow became MIA that day. Anyway, the Nursing School gave us some freebies. Graduation was definitely bittersweet. I mean, that's the end of one phase of my life. For pretty much all of my life, student life has been all I've known. I mean, I've held jobs and been slightly independent but school has been the main focus. Now school isn't even in the picture. It is a welcome change but all types of change are pretty scary at first.