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On Monday I found out my degree result! Although the full results are not yet out, I found out that I have definitely achieved a 2:1 degree, which is the second best classification. That is what I was really hoping for, so I’m ever so pleased. I was told that the full breakdown of results should be available by the end of June – but it’s the last day of June tomorrow, oh well. At least I know I’ve got what I wanted. It seems that the university staff must know what people’s results are, otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to tell us our classifications. They obviously haven’t managed to print the full results slips yet. When I went during Monday lunchtime to check my results, I asked at the general office for my results, and that was when the secretary told me that the full breakdowns are not yet available, but the classifications are. When I looked at the passlist on the wall, I was so happy to see that my student roll-number was under the 2:1 category!

The actual graduation ceremony takes place on July 14th, and the good thing is that I managed to “win” 4 tickets, so that my step-parents will be able to watch me receive my certificate. Most people are only allowed 2 tickets (one for each parent), but I had my name entered into a draw, and I was lucky enough to get 4 tickets. All the other members of my family will be able to watch the ceremony via a video link in one of the lecture halls. Afterwards there will be a party for all the guests.

After weeks of drab, cold weather, it looks like summer is finally here, even though it’s about 6 weeks late! Over the past 3 days we have had a heatwave with temperatures reaching up to 30 degrees centigrade. Before that, the weather was so cold we had to have the fire on – even though it was mid-June, which is extremely rare!

About my new job – I’m getting on fine so far; I’m getting on well with all the other people in my team (the process control team). My work mainly involves carrying out pricing audits of insurance premiums, which includes extracting data from databases and putting onto a spreadsheet for analysis. I got quite ahead with that, and they were so pleased that on Thursday afternoon they gave me a chance to do some different work, which involves producing decision trees. So I’m pleased with the way it’s gone so far – the job is actually better than I thought it would be.

Today was Father’s Day, and we went out with Mum, my step-dad Terry and my grandmother to Houghton Hall. After going in the hall we went for a walk round the gardens, which were very pretty but the weather was so warm I felt hot and bothered at times. If it hadn’t been so hot, we would probably have stayed longer. We went into the restaurant where I had egg and cress sandwiches, with scoops of chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ice cream for desert. The vanilla scoop was the best! I also had a refreshing homemade drink of lemongrass juice mixed with lime and ginger, which was delicious.

Today I went for a job interview at a major insurance company based in my city (via an employment agency). Although I didn’t actually get the job for which I was interviewed, the agency phoned me back later this afternoon to tell me there is another job available within the same company, which would be more suitable for me! Amazingly, they said they wanted me to start tomorrow!

I’m not yet sure of the exact title of the job, but from what I was told, it involves gathering data and putting it onto an Excel spreadsheet for analysis.

The employer gave some positive feedback to the agency, and they commented on how good I was at selling myself – which really surprised me, as I was pretty nervous during the interview. They also said they thought I had good organisational and planning skills. But the reason why they rejected me for the initial position is because it would have involved working with a team of strong characters who are high up in the company, and the interviewer wasn’t sure if I’d fit in. But I’m very happy I’ve been offered this alternative position instead.

I’m glad my searching is over now, and I was surprised I found a job within less than 2 weeks of leaving university. To be honest, I expected it to take longer than this, as jobs are slightly harder to find now than they were when my parents were young, probably because people are retiring later meaning less openings are available. But I think having a degree has made it easier for me. I will now cancel the interviews I’ve been offered with other companies.