An evening with the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon

On Monday evening I was just going through my twitter and saw a tweet from the university's page announcing that tickets had been released for Nicola Sturgeon.

As bad as this sounds, I only knew her name and nothing more about her. I knew that she had stepped up when Alex Salmond resigned after the Scottish independence election and so I decided to get two tickets for my friend and I. I didn't realise how popular it was and that we were lucky to get tickets.

We made our way to Bute Hall on the Tuesday evening. We arrived early to ensure we had one of the best seats in the house and waited for her arrival.

The ticket that I had to show when I got to the door.

She arrived late due to traffic, but this did not stop her fans and myself, as I eagerly await to hear what she was going to say. When she did arrive, we all clapped, and she had photos taken for the press and for the university, before starting her speech.

Nicola introduced herself and as an alma mater of the university, she felt very comfortable here. She spoke of Bute Hall and felt many emotions when she stepped inside this room. Like many of us will eventually do, she took her final exams here and graduated in this room, and now, presented to us with the prestigious role of First Lady and Minister of Scotland. 

The morals she spoke of she held close to her heart. I found inspiring to listen to her as she pressed that everyone should "be yourself". As a politician, she said she was easily judged on the way she behaved as she was always in the news. If she did not smile then the newspapers would have something to say about it. Equally, if she was being too friendly, then she was seen as weak. Nicola made it clear, that no matter what path you wish to follow you can achieve your dreams. 

She made everyone feel that the impossible was possible. Nicola opened up to us all and explained inequality in gender in today's society still exists. She told us about how she would be judged on what she wore but ensured us she ignored these remarks and told us to do the same. It rang through to us to be ourselves and "follow your heart". 

Nicola said: "Whatever you want to do in life, follow your heart". As a teenager, she was told that to have a chance for getting into parliament she should join Labour. Nicola explained to us, she didn't want to do this because her beliefs were different. If she did not choose to join the Scottish National Party then she would not be following her heart. 

The talk was interesting and was started by a new lecture series of Successful Women at Glasgow (SW@G). 

Nicola was smartly dressed and I loved her shoes!

She finished the talk with questions, all based on women's inequality of some sort which was interesting to hear as she could speak of her own views and opinions on these subjects. She was a pleasure to watch and I felt so inspired at the end that I feel anyone could achieve anything if they put their mind to it. 

I even managed to get a photo with Nicola at the end of the talk.

Have you ever met anyone that has inspired you, or read something that has motivated you to work for something you saw before as impossible?

Kirsty

xxx