I've sat through my fair share of graduations throughout the years, so I've become accustomed to sitting through the long, boring speeches and awards. Whether you were graduating or sitting in the audience, you probably experienced a few of these things:

1. Screaming parents yelling "That's my child!!!"
2. Professors trying to pronounce students' names, but butchering them completely.
3. The new graduates taking selfies with their diplomas.
4. Parents using their huge iPads to take photos of their children because, you know, using your iPhone wasn't good enough.
5. Wearing any part of your graduation attire out to lunch or dinner and having people who you don't even know congratulate you.
6. Waiting for, what feels like, 20 years for the graduates to come out after the ceremony is over.
7. Having your parents ask you what you're going to do with your life now that you've graduated.
8. Hearing an excessive amount of screaming and cheering for your friends as they get their diplomas.
9. Or, the lack thereof for some people, in which there is dead silence.
10. The 25-minute, ungodly long speeches made by professors.
11. Either very good and accurately decorated grad caps or ones that looked like a five-year-old decorated it.
12. Watching someone walk up on stage and whispering this to your friend: "I thought she had dropped out of school, or gotten pregnant, or died, or something."
13. Watch some girl completely eat it while getting her diploma because she decided to wear five-inch heels.
14. Watch a few people stumble on stage because they pre-gamed graduation way too hard. (6:30 a.m. muffins and mimosas anybody?)
15. Constantly fanning yourself because it was about 100 degrees under your gown.
16. Having the 15 people who came to your graduation stand up and scream your name as you walk up on stage.
17. Celebrating your graduation with more alcohol, courtesy of your parents.
18. Seeing your fair share of old women trying to rock bright patterns and colors as if they're back in college again.
19. Having the valedictorian make a speech that contains a metaphor relating to flowers flowing in the wind. (Because you are all so similar to flowers in the wind?)
20. You weren't sure what side your tassel was supposed to go on, and you still put it on the wrong side after they told you five times where it goes.
21. Seeing about 600+ phones being pulled out at once when everyone threw their grad caps in the air.
22. Taking more group photos than you can even count.
23. Seeing the graduates walking out of graduation with a smile on their faces that says, "So happy to finally be getting out of this hell hole!"

While three-hour ceremonies are not always my favorite, congrats to the recent graduates and may the game of loans be ever in your favor!