I AM ALL GRADUATED. I NOW HAVE 'BA (HONS) DUNELM' AFTER MY NAME.

Graduation itself was pretty awesome. I'm not really used to formal clothes yet though - I had to run back to the house to put on a camisole under my shirt, because it kept popping open, and I didn't exactly want to be remembered as The Girl Who Flashed Bill Bryson. And the gowns we had to wear were really warm - it was a generally hot and humid day, which wasn't fun - and most of the time waiting to go into the cathedral was spent adjusting them, trying to make them hang right. I saw a marshall going up to a guy fiddling with his and telling him he was wearing his hood like a girl. He was not happy.

In the ceremony, I ended up on camera far more often than I would have liked - not as much as poor Gethin from Improv though, he ended up being filmed as an exemplary Durham Wave and as first in line - but the cathedral was nice and cool. The speeches were good, especially Bill Bryson's, though when I finally got called up to shake his hand I was less savouring the moment and more thinking "DO NOT TRIP OVER DO NOT TRIP OVER DO NOT TRIP OVER."

After the ceremony, I went and got photos done and collected my 'Class of 2009' pin, and chatted to various friends and finally met their parents. We headed off when we heard thunder, but didn't quite make it back to the hotel before the heavens opened and it started absolutely TIPPING it down. I was fine walking in heavy rain - in fact, I love heavy rain, and especially after the humidity, it was a relief - but my mum insisted we wait under an overhang by the cinema for it to stop before going the rest of the way.

After FINALLY getting home, I grabbed a few friends who were in the middle of moving to come have dinner with us that night, and there was delicious food and awesome (mostly parental appropriate) conversation.

And now I am home and have a chocolate student lollipop for later. I think it's Durham's way of saying "Don't worry if you're not feeling mature yet, that's not a required part of graduation."