The end of one era

I apologise in advance for the crazy photo layout, my mouse batteries are dying!!

Well, as expected it has been a crazy few weeks since I last blogged. The majority of it was filled with exams. In the library from morning to night would have been a lot worse to handle than it was, thanks to those other mathletes slogging away at the whole caboodle. In particular David, Laura, Ross, and Helen on exam days, were there, keeping each other entertained and as sane as possible.

The exams themselves were pretty horrific. The leap year theory definitely seems to hold true, that is exams are harder in leap years. Not sure if this is due to the extra day lecturers have to work or not, but comparing past papers it seems to be true. Exam results are due by Monday at the latest so not long to find out.

It was kind of sad when we came out of our last exam on Thursday the 29th of May. It’s weird to think that is uni, where I have spent a big fraction of my life, finished. Who knows if I’ll go back in the future or not, I would never rule out it, but for now I am done with exams. That is one of the few things I will not miss!! I have had a great time at uni, made loads of friends, learned a lot of stuff (some which I will use, lots I won’t too) and generally been happy.

James also sat exams in this time, a whole 2 of them, which he has passed (well done). He has also shot and hosted a premier party for "My life with Colin Farell" which was good and also sweded by Aaron, for both check out youtube.

After the exams finished it wasn’t quite time to rest. On Friday we had our last Cheesy pop at the QM as students, and fittingly it was a headphone disco. It was an awesome fun night, lots of dancing :D Then, I had to finish off some preparations for the upcoming grad ball and get ready to fly down to London for my second round interview with Accenture. I flew down on the Sunday night and stayed with Raymond and Lucie again (thanks again to them, without them I wouldn’t have had as good a chance of getting the job). Luckily the interview wasn’t till 1-00 on the Monday (early mornings being my biggest weakness). I got to the Accenture offices in plenty of time after checking my luggage in at the train station, so I was nice and relaxed. The assessment was a little late in starting so there was plenty of time to chat to the other people there for the same reason. Everyone was lovely and I think that helped the whole process be more bearable.

The day mostly went by in a blur; first off there was a case study to read over which you then discussed in a one to one interview. This case study then provided the basis for the first group task. The next part was a document handling task which was a lot harder than I expected. Then there was another entirely different group task, and then this was finished off with a final one to one interview. Overall I had a pretty good day; I met a really nice girl called Madeleine who was interviewing for the same role as me. I felt it went ok, there were some bits which I found really tough and other bits I enjoyed.

Well, I got a phone call on Thursday to offer me a job :D So exciting, I will start in either August (based in Edinburgh) or October (based in London) of 2009. I can’t wait!! (The girl Madeleine I mentioned before also got offered the job in August next year in London) :D Thursday was a good day for jobs in my family as both my uncle Raymond and Maureen’s husband Michael got offered jobs too, so well done to them as well :D

I flew back on Monday night (after some drama involving Raymond’s flat keys- I had them to lock the door when I left on Monday and Lucie couldn’t find hers. However, I forgot to give them back to Raymond and hopped on a train to Stanstead, which left as soon as I got on it. Typical- the one time that happens! So poor Raymond had to jump on the next train to Stanstead to get his keys back as they were otherwise locked out!!), as the grad ball was on Tuesday.

Tuesday was hectic. David picked me up after Laura and then we picked up Ross and made the drive down to Seamill Hydro. We checked into our room and chilled for a bit. It was then time to get my nails done. While there I got a phone call from Suzie to say we needed to go to the bank to get cash to pay people with. Once that was done, it was hair and makeup. Next balloons and room organising, then speech writing, then dress time. Hectic but fun!! There have been lots of moments during the organisation of the ball where things haven’t went quite right; there have been arguments and tears, hotly debated factors and just general drama and chaos. But it came good in the end, and it was all well worth it!!

The suite was beautiful, the meal was awesome (for the record, I had the fruit salad to start, lentil broth, chicken and bacon in chive sauce and apple pie to finish, it was all very tasty). The pianist who played through dinner was excellent, really added to the atmosphere, then the speeches. The head of Physics spoke, then it my Suzie and mines turn. I don’t think it was the best speech people have ever heard, but it certainly wasn’t the worse. At some stage I’ll put it on Bebo, as I need to type it up for my scrapbook anyways. The ceilidh band were excellent, though I didn’t get much dancing done due to all the picture taking that had to be done (see my Bebo or facebook for most of them). The DJ to finish was the right mix of cheese and fun to dance to music. Afterwards we went to one of the rooms to chill for a bit, but we were all knackered and went to bed around 4. Overall it was a fantastic night, the perfect way to end fourth year!! And I am so glad we did it somewhere out of the way rather than town!! (I also owe my dad a massive thanks for driving the minibus with some of the folks down, they were all really glad you did!!).

The morning after we had the most awesome breakfast ever!! So much to eat!! Loved it!! After checking out we headed to the beach since it was a gorgeous day! We couldn’t stay to long since James was working, so me, James, Christine and Derek headed up the road. I then went to my big cousin Maureen’s to get some family photos and a chat. It was good to see her, Michael and the boys.

Not much time to rest for me though. My dad decided a few weeks ago to organise a surprise silver wedding anniversary party for my mum, so I had bits and bobs to do for this. Belgians were supposed to arrive on Thursday but sadly their flight was cancelled by Ryanair on the Thursday morning. Friday, the day of the party, was crazy mad. So much to do and so little time. But this was another event that was well worth all the hassle. My mum was totally surprised, goodness knows how she didn’t catch on- there were a few touch and go moments- including the psychic that nearly gave it away!! Good thing mums friends were quick to divert it away from my mum’s suspicions. There was lots of dancing and good times :D

Saturday was all about cleaning since my parents invited a few people out on the Saturday night too. This was a more laid back affair compared to Friday, but still some good chat. Sunday was a well deserved rest day!!

Monday I met Laura to book flights and train tickets for Europe in July. We now officially leave on Thursday July 3rd for Oslo. I can’t wait!!

And this pretty much brings me to now, the last couple of days I have been scanning old family photos (since they are out of the cupboard just now). This is slowly driving me crazy (at this exact moment I am scanning photo number 728), but it will hopefully be worth it in the long run.

Overall the last couple of months have been pretty amazing, if hectic. We are all now waiting patiently for Natalie to go into labour, this could happen at any moment since her due date is a week on Friday. It’s all so exciting!! I’ll keep you all posted, in the mean time, thanks for reading, hope you are all great!! Feel free to leave comments and if you think of anything I have missed let me know as my brain is a bit frazzled from all this scanning!! And once again, congratulations again to my parents for reaching 25 years!!

:D