The Most Posh Thing I’ve Ever Done: Matriculation at Durham
It was a sight to see. About 200 of us twenty-somethings, swaddled up in suits and stuffed in black tights, walking in line from our flats to the cathedral.
It was a refreshing, twenty-minute walk. Something Americans would have ordered coach buses for. A yearly tradition at only a handful of British universities: college matriculation.
Matriculation is a ceremony to mark the formal process of enrolling a student at a university. For Durham students, this takes place in Durham Cathedral, which is a UNESCO world heritage site.
After walking along cobbled lanes and enchanting little footpaths, we reached the cathedral.
October 2024: Durham Cathedral during Matriculation.
The Gothic cathedral is 900 years old, and isn’t fussy, with minimal accoutrements and frills. Soaring stone walls, ceilings that watch over you like God himself and layer upon layer of arches that stood in majesty.
I sat in the cathedral by a boy from Cyprus, who I must admit, could have been a model. But as we got to talking, his attractiveness seemed to dissipate as he kept rambling on and on about how he would “never eat a hotdog” and Americans are obese because they like burgers. And I thought to myself, “Wow, this prick has never had fun in his life. Next!”
We heard a few speeches at the nave, and I softly closed my eyes to just listen.
In today’s era of ubiquitous casualness, a little pomp and circumstance was refreshing. I felt honored (and certainly out of place) to participate in such a tradition.
After the ceremony, my friendship group partook in the most English tradition of them all: the pub.
Any quality English pub has a few key elements: a surly woman who has been there for 30 years barking orders at limp 18-year-old boys who just started working, a dingy green carpet with cherry-stained oak poles and countertops to match, a menu of ales, stouts, lagers and chips (with mayo, of course) and chavvy wife sat with her portly, spray-tanned husband.
I’ve taken a liking to Strongbow ciders. They give me a perfect little zing while still letting me pretend to be a more mature, post-graduate student.
After a few, we walked back, and you guessed it, went to another pub! I have a feeling a lot of my articles will end like that this year…
October 2024: This might be the most put-together I've ever looked.
Travel Tip:
The British love to get dressed up. For any special ceremony or ball, always err on the side of too formal. If you are overly-dressed in American standards, you will fit right in with the British.
