Well I have officially graduated with my PhD (for some reason it's doctor of philosophy rather than doctor of science). I graduated from Queens University Belfast on a glorious sunny Friday morning. It was actually a bit too warm especially as a guy wearing a suit and then having to wear the over the top graduation gown on top of that (£67 to rent and no graduation cap!). It was great to finally be able to graduate and do so with my immediate family there as well as graduating alongside some of my friends who were also graduating with PhDs. The ceremony wasn't much to write home about especially compared to my undergraduate graduation which had David Attenborough as the special guest. This time we had the CEO of Marks and Spencers which was fine and thankfully the ceremony didn't drag on to long. After the ceremony we got some pictures taken in front of the main building before me and one of my friends left our gowns back. Me and my family then went home, got changed into much more comfortable clothing before going out to lunch to celebrate.
Things are still pretty much the same for me, I'm still looking for a job, unfortunately it just seems like it is going to take a while, there are periods when there will be several new jobs and other times when there isn't anything relevant. I'm more relaxed about it than I was before and I am trying to enjoy all this free time that I currently have (though job hunting is time consuming). I have been quite productive as well doing bits and pieces for my parents with the biggest thing being painting the large fence that we have in our back garden. It borders the back and part of the sides and is quite tall. It took a while to get it all done but looks a lot better now. One great thing is the weather we have had recently, it's been the best summer we've had in years. I'm able to wear shorts every day! Hopefully it will continue for a while yet.
Thanks for reading!
