Done it!

Yey, I did it. University. After 5 years it is over. It feels very good. For maximum tension, we had to delve into the depths of JCMB (one last time maybe?) to go read the result on a noticeboard, labelled by examination number. And there in the "First Class Honours" section was my number (or at least something that looked very like it, I double checked about ten times!) Anyway it was :-D so very happy me, very happy parents, very happy company taking money off me for a highly silly gown :-)

So, what's next? Well, as Declan is constantly keen to put it, "they've shipped me off to a charity". Yes, I'm off to work for AIESEC for a year. After several applications to different countries (many of them possibly a bit last minute) I finally spent a good amount of time on one of them, got some amazing references together and got the job of MCVP External Relations in AIESEC Venezuela. The job will be excellent - leading an entire country's AIESEC presence within the national team - big national accounts, organising events, managing strategies for marketing, branding, alumni relations, etc. The country looks absolutely stunning. Yes, it's a bit politically and economically unstable (it's ok, I excel at staying out of trouble!) but it will be such an incredible cultural experience, such a difference from here. It will be challenging, it is a bit scary and I'm still not quite sure what to expect but I am sure it will be a fun and very experience-filled year! You've sometimes just got to jump into these things, and this is the time for it!

So on the agenda this month (now that all the extreme amounts of post-exam celebrating, drinking, reuniting and holidaying are over!) is:

• Lots of working at Shimmer to at least mostly pay back Inland Revenue (see Working Lunch on Tuesday for hopefully an inspiring shot of me discussing UML diagrams!)


• More vaccinations (only two more days of risk of Yellow Fever and MMR side-effects now!)


• Lots of planning for the year ahead in the MC


• Maybe squeeze in a bit of work for AIESEC in Edinburgh


• One chapter of Spanish per day, and maybe some more watching of Spanish movies with Jen

So it's going to go pretty fast, then I'll be off for another year abroad, which will be very different in every way to my year in California! I'll be sure to relight the blogging spark over there.

Dan Cunningham, graduand BSc and crazy travel plan maestro