Graduation from Oxford University

I finished my degree in 2015 but I attended my graduation in March 2016. This is a late update but I had been on a several year hiatus. Now, graduation is a little different than in the U.S. It is a bit more ceremonial and retains many of its original proceedings, particularly that is all in Latin. Now I don't know about you but I don't know much Latin and I imagine it was the same for most of the audience.

Now, for those with graduate degrees we marched with our college but the Masters and Doctorate students were presented separately.

The day was as follows:
Met at Wolfson college where I had breakfast and signed for my degree. Headed to the Sheldonian  where I was sent to wait in the Divinity School (you might recognize it from the infirmary in the Harry Potter films) along with my other college-mates as we waited to be called over for entrance. My mother was the only family member in the audience but my dad and brother watched on the televised version in the U.S.

Undergraduates receiving their degrees

Here come the graduate students :)

I think this the part where we had to agree that we deserved our degrees, along with saying some Latin words.

The Divinity school behind me. You can probably see some differences in the color of sashes. Mine meant that I received a Master of Science degree. The black and white to the left of the photo is an undergraduate degree. In the back right hand corner there is a red coat which means a DPhil (PhD).

The Radcliffe Camera behind me. This is also known by students as the Rad-Cam. I  liked to study in this building... if I could find a seat.

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More difficult than I expected

Wow, this is a lot harder than I hoped.

When I was back in the U.S working it was a lot easier to keep track of all my money. As of now, I have two accounts and two financial lives to worry about essentially.

I got paid twice a month and I did not have to worry about the exchange rate. For the last couple of months the Swedish Krona has been falling against the U.S Dollar, so that means when I wire money over I am getting less dollars than the previous time. This pretty much means that I can only really do my budget the day I get paid and am ready to transfer money over. Although, I have found a way to send money to the U.S for cheap using Transferwise. This has been such a relief for me. I am only  paying for the conversion from SEK to USD as opposed to 2 sets of bank transfer fees. I am inputting my link, if you decide you want to use it. There is a bonus for both of us if you hit certain requirements. WIN WIN!

Also, I've had to get used to seeing the prices and not thinking something is expensive when I see it, ex. 300 SEK which is only about 30 USD. I've just been doing a basic conversion in my head.

So, I have a budget of 2000-2500 sek for food and fun expenses per month, which is not a lot in retrospect. Especially considering how expensive food is here. I have been eating at home and bring lunch to work. Yay! Tuna sandwiches! Which is fine, as I am still trying to find places out that I like. I also am able to make things spiced to my liking. I am Latina, I like spicy food.

I've also been really stressed and craving sugar so I have spent wayyy too much money on soda and other sugary drinks. These are about 20-30 sek each time and it adds up. So, this coming month and the next few weeks I have to cut back on that. Plus, it has been very hot here so I have been drinking lots of water to keep hydrated and sugary drinks do not help with hydration.

I've also further cut my expenses back by biking to work. I was given a bike by a colleague, granted I need to fixed it up which only equated to 400 SEK. This is cheaper than having a metro pass and a gym membership. However, I have never really dealt with snow, so by the time the first snow appears or ice is becoming a regular fixture on the road I will go back to riding the metro. For the next few months I'll have an extra 600 SEK in my budget. Woohoo!

Anyway, I'll come back with more updates!

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