Graduating Outbox

Has two weeks really gone that fast? Will I have to invest in a Harry Potter-esque time turner? Outbox was such a thrill to be a participant of I can hardly believe it's all over. 

The Outbox Graduation ceremony took place in Hackney, a disgruntling train journey, bus ride, tube surf and walk in the rain from the Outbox house. The clouds were rolling in and with the first few spatters of rain I'm sure many girls felt as if they were the main characters in a music video for the broken hearted. Our surprise video and Outbox song organised by us girls reduced almost everyone to tears. Am I heartless to have found this more emotional than my own secondary school "graduation"? All of these girls became my Outbox Family and some of us become so close in a week that even if we lived together for a year our friendship couldn't have gotten any deeper. We all shared the same interests in an environment where our passions were celebrated, not laughed at. Say a maths joke and guaranteed most people would start laughing, what's more awesome than that? A full on Twitter maths meme war actually happened at this place and everyone understood my "May the m x a be with you" pyjama shirt. Some of you would then give me the Vulcan salute in return and I would shriek at you for your mistake but don't worry, I forgive all of you. 

Outbox was a celebration of talent and passions, a place where new businesses were born, a place where girls would learn how to take over the world and make it their oyster. From Executives to Graduates to now Alumni, one by one we were presented with "Putting the tea in STEM" mugs as a certificate of being awesome. These were an additional highlight as it was something all of us girls wished we could have as these were our thank you gifts to all our session leads. Now we'd all gotten one too! I apologise to anyone who heard us at Brixton tube station singing/busking our Outbox Incubator song. Emotions were running high and well, we couldn't care less what you thought of us really, we were too in our element. If crowds of football supporters chanting could be tolerated I hope our ukulele aided singing wasn't too hard on the ears. 

Bags packed, online check-ins sorted, alarms set, tears shed, uber cabs booked, the last night of Outbox was a relatively quiet but organised one. With only about 10-20 people left in the house after weeks of about 100 people bustling about, the atmosphere was an eerie one. Gone were the girls roaming around corridors asking whether they could borrow your charger and wait, did Edel leave her slippers behind? Has Carmen made sure she has all of her chargers? Packing and tidying up the house was arbitrary for everyone and it was bittersweet to say goodbye to the laptops Microsoft kindly lent to us. Pulling off bedsheets from empty beds, walking around in an increasingly empty house….life was returning back to normal and everything seemed to be turning…well...empty. I even found two empty boxes of tissues underneath the bed in our room, remnants of a tearful night. I'll miss you all OB Execs. I won't forget any of you. Without all of the craziness in the Mad House what am I going to do with the weeks left before I leave for university? An adventure awaits, more surprises will still come from Outbox. Check this space...

Outbox Incubator you've been a blast, I wish you would last forever.

Outbox Incubator always on our minds because these were the best days of our lives.

Ellie