A Small Thank You

What now?

It's a strange thing, suddenly being an "adult."

There are so many connotations of the word, are we just supposed to know? What suddenly makes me an adult? Is it just because my student card has run out? Because I'm working full time and paying bills - it can't be, I've certainly done that before. So what?

When does everything I learned at school come into play? And when does someone sit me down and tell me everything they failed to teach us?  Sure, I can use the co-sin rule, but when is someone going to tell me what the hell my credit rating is...or heaven forbid, does??

I graduated less than a month ago on a spectacularly sunny Thursday evening in Manchester, and come Friday, I was back home in Glasgow enjoying a day off - eating cake and watching sport on the TV. The hat and the gown and the handshake and all the photos didn't change anything. They didn't change me.

I can list with absolute certainty what did change me. University as a whole. In three short years I met people who changed me for the better, people who became friends quicker than you can imagine and people who grew with me. I have no doubt in my mind that the girls I lived with and the friends I made on my course will rock the world in all their different ways. I met some of the most creative minds who fueled my own, shaped my work and spurred me on through the writers block and just helped me have fun. I met people who spend even more time in their heads than I do and people even louder than me.

But opposite them, I met some of the most critical and brilliant minds in psychology, criminology, philosophy and business. Minds that see things in whole other ways, minds that see humour in everything and made me laugh on countless occasions. Girls confident in themselves, their image and their beauty who helped me see the same in myself. Girls who didn't judge if I sat on the sofa with a pint of ice-cream, but would encourage me to the gym as quickly as they would to a three-course meal in a restaurant.

I will miss these people more than I can imagine, but I know they are not simply part of my past, but a part of who I am. I have a lot to thank these people for, and I know they know who they are. We've already parted and gone our separate ways, but in these digital times, no distance is too far. Some are working, some are working to save, some are setting themselves up for further education and some are even jetting around the world as we speak. The wonders of the modern age.

So, to my fellow graduates, housemates and friends, I miss you. I wish you the best of luck. I thank you for everything. And of course, I wish you all the very best. You are some of the best people I know and you have given me the best three years of my life.

"Congraduation" class of 2014.