Three years. Three or more homes. Many lectures. More assignments than you can shake a stick at – let alone exams. One or two hangovers (cough), potentially a few library fines. The most amazing bunch of memories, a fuller than most friends list and a busy Twitter feed – and then uni is over. It’s a weird anti-climax when you go your separate ways in the summer.

That’s why graduation is so important – and a great way after a few months in the mad world of work, to come back together with all your friends and colleagues and celebrate what you have achieved.

For me I always looked at the goofy graduation photos on other people’s desks and wondered what it is all about. But on 3 November 2015 I found out.

It’s about saying, I did this – on my own. I worked late into the night and early into the morning, I left the familiar friends and family and made new friends and discovered a new BU family. And no matter what happens in my life from this moment on I am this new version of myself. I am a bit more grown up, a lot wiser and I have had the most amazing experience that only a select few will really be able to share with me. And you may, like myself, be captured on film for YouTube for all eternity!

I am a BU graduate. And I couldn’t be prouder of myself.

So here is my goofy photo – but don’t judge me. Join me!!!

By Michelle Lillywhite