The Live Show
Words By: Mark Hunter
Image By: Cristina Gardeazabal (www.guerrillamilkshake.com)
It’s difficult not to think of graduation as ‘the end’. After all, in literal terms that’s precisely what it means – the end of your studies – but it also signals the end of probably the most memorable, pleasurable and carefree chapter in the average graduate’s life. It’s the last chance to mix irresponsibility, immaturity, incredibly rude songs and the legal presence of alcohol on such an accepted scale. After university you’re a binge drinker, scourge of the nation (and the Daily Mail).
I remember my actual graduation ceremony only fleetingly (a marquee, a long, nervous walk, lots of stupid clothes and an overriding sense of anti-climax), but it was the time spent with all my erstwhile university companions over graduation weekend that sticks in my mind, as it should.
After three years of drinking, dancing, fighting, laughing, eating and throwing up with each other, this was it; the last hurrah, the last waltz, the last tango in Bath. I understood the importance of the weekend’s events, but only over the following couple of years did I really appreciate what they represented. This was a time we could never have again.
The events of this last supper, with a full compliment present, weren’t anything special, just the usual bunch at the usual bars drinking the usual drinks, but the poignancy of the evening wasn’t lost on anyone (except those throwing up by nine thirty); for the past three years we had existed inside a protective little bubble, a bubble that, tonight, would finally pop.
I tried to soak in every sight, every sound, every conversation and every reminiscence, but the abiding memory I’m left with is a huge sea of smiling, untroubled faces with whom I had shared so many ridiculous experiences. This was our night, our city and our time. For one night, we owned it.
I experienced a strange emotion when the graduation weekend came to an end and I was driven home to my quiet seaside home town, a little like Harry Potter being whipped off to the Dursleys’ for the summer holidays; it was a world where Mark Hunter the student didn’t exist, where all the recounted tales meant nothing to anybody. When I stepped through the front door of my parents’ house and realised that, for the first time in three years it was worth unpacking properly, I knew that it was finally, truly over. What my next step was going to be I had no idea, but I knew with a heavy heart that no longer would it involve large numbers of drinking partners, a ‘screw the consequences’ attitude towards life and protection from the real world.
It took me a good three years to relinquish desires of being back amongst the tatty halls of residence, the sticky, squelchy student union dancefloor and pulling a deadline day all-nighter, but recently I’ve been able to look back on those memories with a certain detachment and a knowledge that if I was offered the chance to go back now I would turn it down flat. I had such a great time that I would never try to repeat it at the risk of tarnishing it. If only the television networks would follow my example. And my life has moved on since those heady days. Yes I’m saving money and not spending it on super power shandies, yes my weekends involve far less drunken debauchery and far more hoovering than they used to and yes I love my granddad slippers, but my life is richer now than it ever has been.
I’m aiming for higher things in life than the very top of a telegraph pole in a drunken Gladiators style face-off, I’m achieving more than seventeen bruises to one leg, cause unknown and I no longer have to shop at The Officer’s Club to save money for beer. It took a while to get there, but I’m finally able to leave the past where it is and look forward, not back.
And having experienced graduation weekend and come away with only pleasant memories, my advice would be to try and take in as much as possible from your last night out. Talk to everyone, take as many photographs as possible, get a few video clips if you can. Reunions will come and go, but nothing will beat the real thing.
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