h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

One more posting, and look, the page has turned.

So how's life as a Graduand? There's a word I've never heard before.

I guess you won't hear it much outside of old fashioned universities like Durham... Life as a graduand is very limbo like, just waiting to graduate, really. I graduate on Friday... at 9am... which isn't so bad until you realise that I have to get up at 5.30am to wash my hair, and have to collect my robes at 6.55am... Early night for me on Thursday, I think...

Good luck on Friday. You'd probably find it difficult to sleep anyway, with all that excitment going on!

Do you get to wear a square hat?

I did find it hard to sleep on Thursday... but it was cool... apart from my gown was palatinate (Durham-speak for mauve) with red. A particularly orangey red. Still, everyone else had to wear them too...
I didn't get to wear a sqaure hat; one doesn't in Durham (and so I refused to have my photo taken with me wearing one too)

Peter Ustinov, our Chancellor, was cool. His speech was highly amusing

I was also fascinated by the varying gowns that the academic high-ups got to wear... I'd never do a PhD in Durham; the gown is red, with a purple trim...

I'm glad that the colours were loud enough to keep you awake during the speeches! Not that it sounds like you needed keeping awake.

Be sure to let us see a photo, we all need a giggle or two.

Does this mean you are no longer a graduand?

Yes. I guess I'm now J'au-æmne Princess of Darkness, BSc (hons) Dunelm

I've got letters after my name! That's the best bit.

The official photos come through in five weeks; my photos happen whenever I finish the film (likely to be at the summer meetup if I can find somewhere to stay) and then you get to see me in my academic finery!

Also, it turns out that the Dean of the faculty of sciences demonstrates electronics lab to second year physicists. I'd have thought he'd be above that kind of thing - I wasn't expecting to know the dean...

ooh, very posh.

I had to ask Blues Shark about you comment about the Dean - not having been to uni it went flying over my head.

He said he wouldn't expect it either, but he's quite pleased to hear it.

I suppose that if the 'top man' is happy to get his hands dirty and to get to know his students, that's a good thing.

The chairman of our department's not afraid to get his hands dirty, either - he lectures lots of courses, and talks to you if you meet him in the lift! He's very scary, though. Just cuz he's so clever...

*getting deeply frustrated with looking for chocographs on ff9*

chocographs? Something I must have missed...

I've stopped doing plot now, and am doing various sidequests. I was shocked and terrified to discover that I'd nearly finished it.

in 9, you have to go to the chocobo's forrest and dig, and dig, and dig, and eventually you find chocographs.

It is worrying that you've nearly exhausted 10's plot- how long have you been playing it for?

& It's nice to see that Mina's back again

I remember the digging, but I obviously didn't persevere long enough to get to the chocographs.

It's sold as a 40 hour game, I'm up to 80. I think I got near to the end at about 50 something.

I was keen to get my 'real' name up in 'lights' (Italics) when I joined, but it's gradually dawned on me that Mina seems more real to me than Linda these days.

Perseverance is definitely required for those wretched chocobos! Maybe I'll have some luck today...

I'm glad I can now think of you as 'Mina' again, and not 'Mina, no, Linda...' or '...Linda, y'know, Mina'

*climbs out of a tunnel*

Hiya

Congratulations on your 2:1 BTW, have a

I never realised that the robes we have to wear were so loud. The robe shop is on my road next year (Neville Street) so I guess I'll get to see them quite a lot.

*waves to Mina*

How are you?

*peripherally disturbed by the tunnel which has appeared in her personal space*

Hi Joe
How're you?
I have only been to Neville street twice as far as I recall... its steep! The first time I went to try to hire a gown, the shop was shut...
Aparently, palatinate was the colour of the prince bishops... so that's the reason we use it. Although I don't think that explains why they partner it with red...

I'm good

I'm well aware of how steep Neville Street is, but then again I come from Bucks so hills aren't that big a deal

Still, all my friends live at the top of the hill, staking out various places deep in Viaduct country

Hmm... Palatinate on its own is quite a nice colour... do the robes vary between colleges and society (I'm Cuth's Chief Returning Officer next year so I'm gonna call it by its rightful term ) or is it one colour for the whole university body?

robes just vary by degree. If one had a robe from one's college, mine would have been really nice - bottle green, palatinate, and white for St Hilds... For blokes, St Bede's colours are dark blue and light blue.

Mine would be a nice deep bottle green with white trim for St Cuths. Very fetching... as long as we could fight off the palatinate *shudders*.

BTW, do you know why the DUAU annual dinner is called the Palatinate Dinner? Its been puzzling me a bit...

*snickers at the Palatinate Dinner photos, especially those of the Cross-Country team*

*looks blank* No idea.

I just got an offer from Umist for a computing msc. subject to 'satisfactory references'... alas one of my referees is on holiday. I'm afraid I'm going to screw up somehow, though, and not get on the course - I managed to be happy about it for five minutes before I started worrying whether the referees I'd put down were kind of the right ones...

You aren't coming back to Durham *shocked*

Surely you can't bring yourself to leave our beautiful university city

Its the money. I can't afford to pay tuition fees and rent. Also, most of my friends have graduated...
Although, I will be up there this weekend to see Andy... but he'll be in Leeds next term...