Graduation

This day was probably the most important day of my life. I wore a white dress, had a train (of sorts), and was sitting in a gorgeous theatre while organ music was playing, waiting to walk down the “aisle.”

 Before you say anything, no, it was not my wedding day – I have not yet found my future husband (or rather he hasn’t found me) and besides I still have a career to establish and a big, bright, beautiful world to explore.

It was my graduation day! 

My family and I got up early and headed off into Aberdeen, where I would check in at His Majesty’s Theatre (where the ceremony was held) at 9.30, ready for it to start at 10.30. I made my way to my seat and caught up with some of my classmates, when all of a sudden my cousin came to greet me. After taking a few serious and silly photos, she made her way to her seat in the balcony and I returned to my seat in the stalls. The ceremony started and after a few speeches and someone being given an honorary degree it was our turn.  

This was the important moment. It was our time to shine. We were shuffled backstage, ensuring that our hoods were on right and they weren’t falling off our shoulders. Nerves were running high, with students wondering whether they will trip and fall flat on their faces or worse take a tumble down the stairs.

We were directed by university staff where to go and when to go. For those of you who have seen The Hunger Games I felt like Katniss Everdeen waiting to go on to the stage before her television interview. Pretty nervous and knowing that every second counts when making a good impression. However in a flash, I was being capped by the Principal, shaking his hand, then collecting my scroll and officially becoming Miss Rachel Summers, BA (Hons) Media.

Once the ceremony was over, the rest of the day was spent taking photographs, being told by my dad that I had to ‘smile’ and not grimace, when all the time I was smiling! It got annoying though after a while, but the photos came out really well. I went to the Forum bar and had my first glass of Prosecco, boy is that stuff good, but it fairly goes to your head! A quick lunch and selfie opportunity in Costa, I was soon on my way again to get professional photographs taken, then a few photographs taken with the lion statue outside the Cowdray Hall. I had a few hours left before I had to hand my robes back, so we went to the Art Gallery, which was also to show my cousin who hasn’t been to Aberdeen a lot before.

I felt like a Hogwarts Professor going around the Art Gallery in my robes and that elicited a few stares from people. Well, they know that it’s graduation week, I am not used to getting so much attention and can be very self conscious about how I look. Never mind though, I felt great in my robes and my mortar board. I looked around the gallery, finding an interesting painting of the crucifixion set in the ravines of Macedonia and an exhibition of Aberdeen soldiers in World War I, with some interesting artefacts such as a songbook called ‘Songs from the Trenches’ and a WWI nurses’ uniform. 

After much gallivanting and with a quick drink at Triple Kirks, my cousin had to drive the three hour journey back home to the central belt, I thanked her for coming and being a part of my special day. It was at that point that I had to return my robes sadly and then we headed over to Goulash, a Hungarian restaurant to have our meal. It was absolutely delicious, but in modern terms I think I’m carrying a Hungarian food baby!

 If I could start Wednesday all over again, then I would do it in a heartbeat. Below are some photographs of the special day. 

And some photos from the Graduation Ball which was held the next night: 

 Me with my Comm with PR pals: Jodie, Hannah and Lisa

 Me and Dyan - one of the first people I spoke to when I re-started fourth year. She has since become a really good friend.

Me and Jodie - another really good friend from uni. 

Before going out to the ball. Picture taken in my back garden :P 

Just realised I didn't take a picture of the shoes I wore to the ball. Here is a photo of them from the good old Internet: 

Graduation dress: Lipsy @ ASOS
Ballet pumps: H&M 
Ball dress: Coast @ Debenhams 
Glitter heels: Debut from Debenhams 

 

Review: Whip It

Netflix is great, as I can watch new films which I probably wouldn't buy on DVD and are not available on YouTube. However, one film I would buy on DVD is Whip It. I saw an advert on TV for it when it was released in cinemas, but never got round to seeing it. Now I have seen it, I know what I was missing.

Whip It is the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore. In the film, Ellen Page plays Bliss Cavender a 17-year-old girl who lives in a small town in Texas and is forced by her mother (played by Marcia Gay Harden) to enter beauty pageants, have good prospects, find a good husband and have the opportunities which she never had herself. Bliss wants to get out of her small town and out of The Oink Joint, the restaurant that she works in.

Her opportunity arises when she sees some girls on roller skates come into a shopping mall and they leave leaflets advertising the Texas Roller Derby. Bliss, curious goes with her best friend Pash to see what it's all about. She goes and is taken in by the sport, however there's a problem: over 21's only. Bliss lies about her age, much to her friend's horror and lies to her parents saying she's taking an extra SAT class at a school, while participating in the roller derby.

Roller derby is a contact sport, which is played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Someone is assigned to be a "jammer" who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team. Whoever wins the most points, wins the game. It is known that roller derby is played approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, nearly half of them outside the US. (According to Wikipedia). The film's title comes from the 'whip it' move, in which one player grabs their teammate's arm and throws (whips) them across the track, in turn the player flies past the opposing team and scores four points for their team. It can be a great  Team players call themselves derby names, which sometimes reflects on their personality and the aim of the game. Bliss's derby name is Babe Ruthless, I looked up what mine would be and it came up with Rhubarb Rhumble. At first I wasn't sure, but I actually like it now. Don't know how good I would be on roller skates though!

Whip It is a very enjoyable film which stars Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig and US talk show host Jimmy Fallon. Whip It shows that if you keep persevering, you will succeed. Other important messages within the film show that winning is not everything, as long as it's something you love doing and girls, do not get taken in by a man if he doesn't treat you right (a.k.a cheats on you). If you're a fan of indie films or just any film about sports, then I would definitely recommend Whip It. 

 

Whip It is available to buy on DVD and also available on Netflix.  

Short Story: She Felt Alone

 She felt alone, lost, abandoned in this dark world. Every day she would walk the streets trying to catch a glimmer of hope. What hope was there for her? She could not return home. He would be there, trying to sell her off to men twice her age. What could he see in that anyway? What had he hoped to gain from it?

The girl pulled her tattered, ragged coat round her thin bony shoulders. The night was bitterly cold; the streets were illuminated with neon billboards enticing people to come into the den of illicit affairs. Men were cat calling and wolf whistling at her, thinking their sounds would catch this rather attractive female like she was a prized possession. A possession which once used could be thrown away. 

She fled down the streets, away from the district, away from these disgusting men, away from home. The girl came across a street in which people left their washing to dry on a line high above the ground and jazz music oozed from every apartment window. However it was not the jazz music which attracted the girl to the street. In the middle of the street was a beautiful, grand building, the windows adorned with stained glass. She walked closer to the building, the light illuminating the stained glass windows. Her brows furrowed when she saw the picture on the window, why would this beautiful building have a picture of a young man being horrendously tortured on a wooden cross? Just as she was about to walk away, an old man came out of the building. He had seen the girl looking in through the window. From her appearance, he gathered that she was involved in the sex trade. From his appearance, she gathered that he was a religious man of some sort. However, the old man knew it was wrong to judge the girl so he invited her in. When he realised how thin and frail she looked, he immediately fetched her warm coffee and a hot meal. The girl looked up at him and told him that this was the first meal she had eaten in three days. The old man’s heart ached for her and he knew that this was someone who he could help. 

He explained to her that he was the minister of this church and had been for over forty years. She explained that she had run away from a father who sold her off to men for sex. When describing the harrowing story, she started sobbing and said that she wanted to get away, to get away from her father, to get away from her past and to start over. She said that this building looked warm and comforting, but she was confused with the picture of the man on the cross on the window. The minister smiled and told her that man was the Son of God, also known as Jesus Christ or The Lord. He then proceeded to tell her that His story and many others are recorded in a book called the Bible, but the most amazing thing is that Jesus is alive today and when he died on the cross, he died to take away the sins of the people because He loved us so much and still loves us. The girl was amazed. She was amazed that this man would die for her. Wiping away her tears she thought of her father, of her dead mother and the life she had led so far. The minister told her that he would pray for her, he put his arm around the girl and bowed his head. He thanked God for bringing the girl into the church. He prayed that she would come to know Jesus as her friend and to understand that He has plans for her life.

Once he had finished praying, the girl started sobbing again and buried her face into the minister’s chest. All that emotion that had built up inside her for all those years, that anger, that hate, that sadness was now all coming out of her. She did not want to hurt the men that hurt her; instead she wanted to forgive them. She should have hated her father; instead she wanted to love him. All the painful memories came flooding back which she had tried so hard to forget. The emptiness and the loneliness she had felt through the years were unbearable. She wanted a new life, a new start; she wanted to have a purpose. She got on her knees and she cried out to the Lord to help her. Instantly, she felt as if a huge weight was being lifted off her shoulders. The pain had eased and for the first time, she felt free. 

One year later, the girl was no longer cold, alone or afraid. The church welcomed her with open arms and she set up a refuge for women involved in the sex trade. Many of these women came in just like she did, were given a hot meal and a warm drink and told about the love of God. Some of the women had seen and known the girl from the district and were now touched that she was now helping them to get off the streets and to realise that their lives are precious to God and worth so much more.

This is what made the girl so thankful to have stopped by that church on that cold winter’s night.