Matthew's Journal

This past weekend was graduation weekend here at NC State. While it wasn't graduation for me – sadly, my master's thesis won't write itself – Christina was awarded her Masters of Arts in English. The graduation ceremony for the English department was held in the Presbyterian church on Horne Street near the NCSU campus. The ceremony was highlighted by a piper and two very nice speeches. All the seats in the church were filled and spectators, friends, and parents, many of which overflowed in the aisles. Christina's parents and I were present to cheer when Christina's name was called and she walked up to accept her degree.

While this was a very significant graduation event for Christina, she and I had a discussion the evening before about why it didn't seem to be that big of a deal to either of us. The whole thing just seemed to lack the excitement of our past graduations. Maybe we weren't as into it because we've been through two graduations before (high school and undergraduate college)? Maybe it's just a little bittersweet since Christina isn't able to continue on with her education to get her PhD like she wanted? I think it wasn't as an exciting event because she finished her thesis more than a month ago and has already started a job. Because of that, it's like she's already finished and the whole ceremony is just a technicality.

Speaking of Christina's job, about a week and a half ago, she took a job in the editorial department at S&R Communications Group in RTP. So far, she seems to like her new job and I think she enjoys the work. We were both very excited when she was offered the job in no small part due to the fact that the company offered her a salary above and beyond her expectations. She's making almost four times what I am as a graduate student.

Currently, her job is a three month contract position, but the people she works with have told her that people in the contract positions are normally offered normal full-time employment at the conclusion of their contracts so long as they've performed in a satisfactory manner. My discussions with others have confirmed that this is a fairly common recruiting practice these days.

Coming back to my opening topic, graduation weekend was busy. Between entertaining Christina's parents, the graduation ceremonies, and all the various after-events and parties, there was a lot to do. However, it was also an entertaining weekend. I hope that my master's graduation isn't too far off.