Our Graduation Project

Among the many wonders our bodies are built with is the connection between all the organs and the brain. One that interests me the most is how you capture with your eyes billions of images and yet you manage to store millions of them. Whenever I felt “This is a special moment” I tried to convince my brain to save it for me, to capture it, to keep it safe because I’ll need to revisit those memories and relive them to bring me joy and mind relief. I never thought making our way through college would mean much to me for it’s such an ordinary event that half of the world’s population goes  through, but surprisingly it did. Our graduation project is the product of so many moments that hopefully we wouldn't forget. Everyone likes to think they’re special, that they exist for a certain purpose others can’t fulfill. That’s why superhero movies are always loved and almost never fail, we connect with them, we see ourselves in the nerdy Peter Parker, Clark Kent who literary is an outsider and the rightful Bruce Wayne who had to build himself of nothing. So the people in our story are heroes in a way, for they were able to come out of this five years journey stronger, more experienced and above all enjoying the company of each other.

 So, I’ll try to sum up our graduation project experience just for the fun of it :D. Out of our four year experience in group work most of our class decided it was better to work in small groups, which we conquered because frankly the pain you have to go through to be in touch with 4 other people and having all 5 of you agree on the same thing, was very much not worth it. So we ended up as 3 members Yosra, Hend and me. Our graduation project is an institute of books and library science, meaning we teach students everything they need to know to produce a book starting with writing and editing and ending with book design and publishing. We spent almost 3 weeks to shape up our idea and its birth place was in Cilantro, Misaha square :D. I still remember the three of us sitting around the table having drinks and brainstorming about possible ideas for our project. It was no easy task to convince our supervising doctor and his assistant of the idea, they both read the title, formed an image of it in their heads and we were expected to know what they wouldn’t tell us.

The first semester was much easier of course because all the work we did was some research and adjusting the idea bit by bit. I remember how worried I was about the teaching staff not understanding the project, but whenever we talked to each other as a group, talk to our friends or me excitedly give my mum a headache telling her about our institute, my faith was renewed and we just kept going with what we believed in. Of course it was not easy going into the unknown like that especially that here in this country people like to make a big deal out of everything enjoying your insecurities and worries, but fortunately we did and we couldn’t be more proud and glad ^_^.  

Our second semester was the hardest of all the five years, as expected.  It was no easy task coordinating between the three of us, at first everything was fine, then we had some small bumps on the road but nothing major happened. Yokatta! I’d like to confess that sometimes I felt I was leaning on my team mates too much, I just had no energy and I just felt like I’m working on the easy stuff and let them deal with the heavy ones. There were some dark days where I couldn’t see the end of it, I lost hope and just wanted to give up, but gladly we had great supports including our families, friends and of course two great teaching assistants who really liked our project and believed it could be something good(Ramy and Yasmina, just so years from now I still remember their names :D).

The last couple of weeks before our final presentation day were the most tiring and yet the most joyful. I mean how many times do you get to have a sleepover with your best friends while have a totally legitimate alibi for your parents :D I’m so glad we made those final working hours so much fun watching movies, talking and eating some good food. Finally, the best thing about working on this project together is knowing our true capabilities, proving to everyone that beating the odds can be done all on your own with no seeking “professional help” from the outside, and above all you CAN work with your best friends and have an amazing result. I’m proud of us guys! ^_^