Graduation day at the University of York was fantastic! There were some hiccups along the way, and it was slightly stressful, but overall, the event left me feeling warm, fuzzy, and super proud.

Driving to York from London

My graduation was at 4:30 PM, so we decided to drive up on the morning of the ceremony rather than the night before since we only wanted to stay one night in York. If we had gone the night before, we’d have had to stay an extra night too—because with the ceremony ending around 7 PM and a 4-5 hour drive home, we’d be getting back way too late.

On the way there, it started snowing badly, and a yellow weather warning was issued. I was a bit scared, but we drove carefully and made it in one piece!

I highly regret trying to do it all in one day. I wish we had arrived the night before because it was SUCH a huge rush when we got there—traffic was temperamental (cries), and by the time we arrived, it was already dark and freezing. Since my graduation was in February, outdoor photos were an absolute no-go. Very poo-poo about that.

The Taxi Struggle

Even though we drove to York we stayed about 5 minutes away from the uni but the uni does not let you park anywhere near it on the days of graduation since I think it’s too many to accommodate. So we had to get a taxi BUT it was quite hard to get one – every single place we called up were all booked up! Uber was not locating any drivers nor were any accepting our request since the drive was only 5 minutes. We had to keep calling and checking for over 30 minutes all the taxi. I’m not sure if it was because it was because of graduation day and EVERYONE was using taxis or usually it’s hard to get a taxi on a Thursday night in York but we struggled to get an Uber too. After leaving it searching for almost 30 minutes whilst we look for local taxis we eventually found one.

I think if you’re staying the night and want to book a taxi from where you are staying – do so in advanced. If not you can also get the local bus to the uni. We left it way too late to get the bus as well *doh* lol.

Getting My Robe & The Ceremony

When we finally got there, I was lost. I had to pick up my robe from a building 10 minutes away from the hall, and because I was so late, they saw me straight away (blessing in disguise). The staff were super nice, but they gave me a smaller everything than what I had originally ordered. Not ideal.

We sat in a hall… with each row a specific pathway (for computer science york course anyways) so everyone on my row did Artificial Intelligence. And ofc, I recognised NO ONE. My big mouth started talking to everyone around me like “who are you”, “what’s your avatar look like on Slack?”. I was trying to piece together anything – some thing. I recognised about 2 of the names which was nice! At least there was some one I had vaguely heard of or well… seen the name of online. Some people hadn’t even heard of the slack channel which I was gobsmacked about. How an earth did they survive without interacting with any other students beats me. I felt like the slack channels saved my mental health.

It’s weird doing your course online because a lot of the ceremony they talk about building all those friendships and relationships during your uni years and stuff but I only ever met one person (you know who you are gurrrll) who had the same last name as me, similar age and lived very close to me. But that was it! Over 3 years everyone was just an avatar on Slack. I probably interacted with only about 5 people 1-on-1 in personal chats which was nice but it felt surreal spending all this time studying, going to graduation and knowing basically no one!

In comparison to my Bachelors degree. I knew basically nearly every single person in my year not just my course but all in the other courses too because of the SU nights and house parties. This was so different.

The actual ceremony service was about 2 hours long. It was kinda long but being in that environment it was pretty nice seeing so many people who had worked so hard achieve their degrees The vibe was good! Lots of cheering and happy families/friends. They went through every single person getting their Master degrees in STEM not just Computer Science. It included Maths, Economics and some sciences too.

Beware of The Photo on Stage

No one told me they took professional photos when you’re on stage. Or at least I didn’t hear them mention it. So naturally, I walked on stage waved hallelujah at my fam and they took the most fugliest photo of me.

Of all the pretty faces I was pulling on stage they took one where my mouth was wide open But you know it was funny so I had to buy it – boom another £10 down the drain.

Professional Photos

After the ceremony, I got my profesh photo taken. No idea if it was worth it, but I went for the cheapest option—which was still like 45 squids. The whole thing is such a scam. From the overpriced robes you borrow to the photos you have to buy. Cost me an arm and a leg, and I still handed over all my money, fully knowing it was just their last-ditch attempt to squeeze every bit of dosh out of me

Anyways thankfully my photo turned out O.K. I have that super American cheese grin and the shine makes my face looks slightly chubbier than it does IRL but I think I look half decent, my skin looks good and I look super chuffed with myself that I now got a CompSci degree (he he he).

They also offer to whiten your teeth in the photo editing for an extra £10 (or something like that—I can’t remember exactly), and I thought, ‘Nahhh how bad could they really look?’ Then the photo arrived, and not only were my teeth yellow, but some were yellow whilst others were proper white – looking super mismatched, making it feel like a passive-aggressive punishment for not giving in to their upselling

Ceremony After

Then there was an after ceremony drinks. And FINALLY 1 person was like “BECKY” and ran up to me and it was someone who I had done one of those Group projects with at the beginning of the course and we’d chatted back and forth in different Slack channels as we shared several classes together. It was so nice seeing him in person as we chatted through our ups and downs and shared experience of the dissertation. It made my day really to finally find someone who I knew from the slack channel and share something. It made my entire experience not feel like I was alone shackled up in a small dark bedroom every night for 3 years lol.

Anyhow, the whole day was so fun. My partner, mum and I went for a lovely meal after at The Star Inn the City. The food was delicious but most of all the atmosphere was perfect. It was warmly lit and had a cosy rustic feel to the place and was the lovely end to a fantastic day!

I felt super happy and proud of my self for what I accomplished and it made the past, almost, 3 years totally worth it.

Thank you for reading!

Lots of Love,

Becky x