Surprise! I’m back! I feel like this is how every blog post starts from now on… yes, I’ve been MIA. Here’s a bit about where I’ve been and what’s happened since we last spoke (figuratively): I was due to finish my degree in July but as I wrote in my last post, I got a cold and had to do some extra placement hours. In Australia the Australia Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) requires Bachelor of Nursing students to complete a minimum of 800 hours of clinical placement. Once I finished all my placement hours it was August!
I’m not sure why I thought it was a good idea but I decided to get four jobs? Like what? I continued working with the nursing agency that I had been working with before, I started working with a private client (which was actually the best thing I’ve done) and I started teaching skills labs at the uni one day a week. After I started working with my private client, another lovely family reached out to me to ask if I could help out with their daughter (which I didn’t really have the days in the week for but I said yes anyway) and so I gained another private client. Hey presto! Four jobs! That definitely wasn’t sustainable but I’m kind of using it as an excuse for my absence on here.
In the midst of this job craziness, the uni cancelled our graduation which wasn’t really a surprise to anyone. Firstly, they offered for us to attend the graduation ceremony in March of 2021. I was totally fine with this as I hadn’t intended to finish uni this early anyway – I only fast-tracked my degree because I was bored in lock down and at the time we’d been told that it may take some time to gain our placement hours because of COVID restrictions in hospitals. This idea to ‘walk’ in March was scrapped pretty soon.
For graduation we got a ‘photoshoot’ – yes, that’s what it was called. When October came around we were able to book a time where you could go into uni with your family and collect your testamur, dress up in the gown and get your photo taken. It actually turned out really well! I was able to book the same time as a few friends so that together we very unceremoniously collected our testamurs from a nice lady at the COVID check-in station and took our photos!
We were lucky enough to be able to take four guests with us so I took my parents and sister. The most supportive bunch ever! Couldn’t have done it without them! On the day of the ‘photo shoot’ I decided to wear these stupid shoes – high heels of course. My support crew dropped me right at the door in my stupid shoes and then went to park the car – huge thanks for that! By the afternoon I could barely walk, so I treated myself to a Pepsi and a sausage roll #healthy. I can safely say that I have good nursing shoe judgement though – super sexy (or not), black leather, memory foam, slip proof, lace-ups.
I can’t lie – I was feeling quite proud of myself and my other nursing sisters (and everyone else as well) for finishing our degrees in this moment! It had literally taken blood, sweat, tears and poop to get to this point. I was feeling quite grateful that we had been able to celebrate it together during this time and due to the restrictions that we had. The mum of a close friend of mine told me that the ‘photo shoot’ was the perfect way to celebrate your graduation as you got to do all the fun things without sitting through the boring speeches and 300 other people also receiving their testamurs.
I was also feeling quite sad for a lot of others in Canberra, as well as around the world, who wouldn’t get to celebrate their graduation or other milestones. As far as I know, a lot of people have been offered the opportunity to ‘walk’ in future graduation ceremonies or alternatives such as ‘photo shoots’ or virtual ceremonies. I think that it will be hard for those in university and school this year but I’ve got my fingers crossed for everyone!
This has been a long one, sorry! If you this far – well done!
Daisy Azmi 