1/8/2018 0 Comments Adios 2017, hola 2018!Another year has zoomed past like an advert on catch-up Tv (which, let's be honest, we always fast-forward), yet in reflection so much has changed in just that year. And yes, I know everyone says that, but I'm serious this truly has been a year of change for me. Whilst I often find it hard to accept my own achievements, this has a been a year full of them and I continue to experience new things every day. I would love to read this back next year and see how much I have grown as a person and how many challenges I have faced and gotten through. I'm not very good at singing my own praises so please excuse me while I type and retype as I cringe at every sentence I write for the next few hours! uh oh... My year began with making Tom wear a face mask and dancing around my front room to Robbie Williams live in the first few hours of 2017. What a great way to start it all off... JanuaryAs all students will know, January as a whole is a very difficult time, what with mock exams and what have you. It's just a month that you wish didn't exist because you have to jump straight on the band wagon and revise for more hours than are even in the day, for you still to come out with at least 2 grades below what you were aiming for. Yep, this was me this time last year, and it's something I definitely do not miss. Not to mention, last year I was struck down with a horrendous cough, and missed most of my exams. So this meant, that when I was back not only did I have to do multiple per day, I was that random person in the middle of a Maths exam, doing Biology, still coughing and having to scrape out my chair to leave in dead silence because my exam finished half an hour earlier than everyone else's. Honestly one of the most stressful moments of the whole year. Tom has his birthday in January, very annoyingly as it is just after Christmas, so I took him ice skating as a surprise and for a meal. Just a little celebration on a bit of a budget but one which we both thoroughly enjoyed- I especially enjoyed watching his first attempt ever at ice skating which was quite a slippery affair! FebruaryMy memories from February are few and far between. Call the Midwife was on TV every Sunday, but I always had to watch it at like midnight as I worked a 9 hour shift at KFC every week- something I don't think I gave myself enough credit for at the time, so I'll give myself an official pat on the back now! I also experienced my first official valentines day. The first 14th of February where I didn't preach singleton posts such as "It's only a day like any other" or cringe at every shop window display, but instead I was a proud member of the cringy couple society. I also received my mock results, which as previously stated, were not exactly what I was aiming for. But nevertheless, this is one of those retrospective achievements, because if I had done really well in my mock exams, I probably wouldn't have studied as hard for the real ones. SPOILER: I did much better on those! MarchOkay, by now I'm beginning to question my memory here. I have actually had to just look through my camera roll in the hope that I'll find something interesting to write about March. But yet again, I was in school, so other than roll up and revise, I pretty much did nothing but wait for my birthday... Yeah, I dunno if this is necessarily good advice to give to anyone in school because, Yes, exams are important, but ultimately that's not what you want to be remembering. Just don't forget to have a life outside schoolwork! One thing we did do at school which was rather amusing was have a charities day for Cazfest and Help for Heroes, where the boys had to dress up as fairies and the girls as soldiers. As well as being a brilliant idea to raise funds for our local charities and spread their awareness, it was rather hilarious seeing the boys running round in tutus and wings! AprilApril 3rd is my birthday, and this year was a big one. A MASSIVE one! I turned 18! This was an occasion which makes me want to cry happy tears, and not only because I was so utterly spoilt but because I am so grateful for everyone who made it so special. It started off with me having a small house party- not anything like the ones you see in American Chic Flics! We had disco lights synced to the music (which was a killer playlist BTW), snacks, alcohol and lots of dancing. One of the highlights of the night was when one of my friends (the only one to throw up -_- ) had their mum come and pick them up in her brand new Mercedes C-class. His mum was not impressed at all and just yelled "get in", through gritted teeth as he stumbled to the car. He doesn't remember a thing! A couple of days later, my family threw me another party where all my nearest and dearest came round to wish me Happy Birthday and to generally catch up. I was ordered to go out and walk the dog in the morning and I came back to a wonderful surprise spread of platters, balloons and a cake. I can always count on my mum to go the full 19 yards to make birthdays amazing! But that wasn't even it! On my actual birthday I was whisked away into the family car and driven off to a mystery destination. This turned out to be a surprise shopping trip. In addition to this, out of the blue, Tom turned up completely unbeknownst to me. I seriously wish someone had caught a picture of my face in that moment; you know the shocked emoji- yep, literally me! And if I wasn't already the luckiest 18 year old ever, after lunch I was once again surprised and taken to hotel for the night following dinner and drinks. I'M JUST SO GODDAMN GRATEFUL AND LUCKY! MayMay was the time to really knuckle down on studies. The exams were only a month away and it was important to finish dealing with all my Media Coursework and focus on the exam side for all 3 of my A-Level courses. However, in among all of the madness, I did find time to go and see Ed Sheeran perform in the O2 with my Mum. I'm yet to find someone who doesn't appreciate the talent which that man has! Oh and I almost forgot, I finally left school officially! So yeah, we still had to go back for every one of the numerous exams so the excitement was short-lived but at least I would hopefully never ever have to sit through an assembly again... JuneIn June I sat all my A-Level exams and then faced the daunting month and a half wait until I could find out how I did. However, I soon found that the best way to pass the time was to go out clubbing- works a treat, I highly recommend it! Then yet more treats came my way as my family and I went to Alton Towers for two days, staying there overnight as a reward and congratulations for completing our exams (me- A-Levels and my sister- GCSE's). We had a blast and even enjoyed running around CBeebies land- I have never denied my love of reminiscence (or maybe it's just me being childish)! Then on the day that we were travelling back, I had my prom that evening, I literally got ready in the car. We got stuck in bad traffic and I curled my hair in the space of 15 minutes before my friends turned up for fizz and photos. Nevertheless, once the night was underway, it was a brilliant celebration- one which I'm pretty sure only about half of us remember! JulyIn July Tom and I went away for a long camping weekend as our first holiday away together. And it was VERY VERY windy. Some might say it was a whirlwind romance! (How embarrassing that I made myself actually LOL with that). But seriously, have you ever tried pitching a tent in gale force coastal winds? The tent literally turned inside out and became a wind tunnel! An exhausting 3 hours later, we were extremely grateful for the windbreak as we sank into our blow-up sofa bed with a cider each. I guess the sofa could be considered a step towards glamping, except the arms and back had a major puncture and deflated within about 5 minutes of pumping them up. Despite this we had a magical time exploring the gorgeous Norfolk area of Hunstanton, where we went on a Seal Safari, ate out, went swimming, played crazy golf and attended the entertainment. Also, I managed to cook the best burgers either me and Tom had ever had over the BBQ and I think they were only ones from Aldi!- Seriously the BEST ever. I'd highly recommend Searles as a low budget but beautiful holiday camp, with fabulous facilities including an indoor and outdoor pool and two bars, situated along the beach front by Hunstanton. Overall a fabulous English camping holiday. AugustIn August my family and I jetted off to Croatia. We have been lucky enough to go here for the past 3 years running and love it more every time. In 2015 and 2016 we went to a small town called Cavtat which is just over a small stretch of sea from the old city of Dubrovnik, famous for being the set for some of the scenes in Game of Thrones. As would be expected, I managed to finish the last episode the morning before we took the boat across so at the time I was the biggest fan to sit on the Iron throne. Dubrovnik is a breathtaking city, however, in 2016 when we walked the walls it was the height of summer, in the middle of the day and there was absolutely no shade, so we literally did loose our breathe (Oh dear). Whilst we do have gorgeous pictures of the views, we also have snaps of us smiling through the heat as little bright red tomatoes right before we jumped off the rocks straight into the sea. In 2017 we visited another part of Croatia near to Split. This was a little island called Trogir and was a gorgeous spot with restaurants and bars but a lot of pollution and cars (I'm a poet and I didn't even know it). But seriously, lovely as it was, there was a bridge from Trogir to the mainland which was always crammed with cars piled right back upon the sea front. Nevertheless, we had a spectacular time in the sea, the pool and on boats and loungers, doing a whole lot of nothing- which is the best kind of holiday, of course! Read More about Exploring Croatia SeptemberAt the end of August I began my new job in central London. Although it was in August, I feel like it belongs here in September really because that's when it really hit home how exhausting it was and that this was my new reality. Everyone knows that September is a particularly dreary month for going back to school, but I think 2017 one upped all the others on the dreary front. The train journey is way too long and the tube is just frightening; being underground with all those people in a dirty environment. We have hand sanitize at work and I literally bathe in it as soon as I get in. And to make matters worse, I got my horrendous cough back and the looks you get when you cough on the tube could kill. However, now that I didn't have time to go to any exercise classes, I have discovered that running up the escalators does wonders for ones derriere, and even though every time I get to the top as a hot mess, I feel that my McDonald's lunch is almost justifiable. But seriously, September was a really hard time, for me; to be seeing no end to being so incredibly exhausted whilst most people in my year were partaking in their Freshers' week and experiencing new things at University. However, I did and still do, remain adamant that I don't regret taking a year to work and try things out in the real world: 1. Because no-one in my close family has ever gone the University route, so I didn't even know what it was. I didn't know you did exams until I was walking round with my Dad on the applicant day in March. Not to mention, the reason I left looking round until after I had applied was because I didn't know you were meant to visit during the Summer before! I submitted my application the night before, forgot to ever select my top choices and never applied for student finance. So I really wasn't prepared. 2. Because I was not sure if it was really what I wanted. I was under the impression that to make it in the Media industry you had to make connections and work from the bottom up, which is true in some cases, but to do that I would most likely have to do an apprenticeship/ internship on little to no money, which is just not feesable. I had also heard so many stories of people coming out of University and having no job to go to, and this way I have made connections and got experience. (That's what I keep telling myself anyway). I think the main thing is that if I had gone this year I would probably have quit. And to sum all that up, nope, I don't even have a picture for September- that's how dreary it was. OctoberI want to say it got easier in October but to be honest, it didn't. I was under pressure at work and still hadn't gotten used to the commute. Tom and I did go out on a few date nights to make the most of the weekends which was lovely, and almost always resulted in a bit of clubbing afterwards. (Being 18, this doesn't necessarily mean that Saturday was a write-off as I'm still lucky enough to be able to bounce straight back after a night on the town.) I always find that when I do something on each day of the weekend, I feel so much more rested- crazy, as it sounds- because otherwise, the weekend flies by too quickly. NovemberIn November, I do feel like I got a little bit more used to the commute, although only to a level where it is manageable rather than ruling my life. One weekend, me and Tom went out on the Friday, shopping and for a meal with my siblings on the Saturday, then to visit my Grandparents on the Sunday. Even though we felt a little worn out on Sunday night, it was so nice to make the most of our time outside of working, which is something I wouldn't have let myself do when in school as I would've spent the whole time feeling guilty for not revising. DecemberDecember was a month of winding down for work- making January all the more difficult! It snowed soo hard one Sunday that all the trains were down and I was worried (hoping) it would mean I wouldn't be able to get to work. Tom, my siblings, Scooby and I played around in the snow, getting frozen all the way through; my sister built a snowman and we did handstands (badly). I even managed to get Tom to wear leggings under his tracksuit bottoms- he was a little bit too willing... Christmas was lovely this year. It was the first one EVER where it was just us 5 so we watched all the specials and were in bed by 9:00pm. On boxing day we had all the family over, playing games and all the normal Christmas stuff. In between Christmas and New Year, I had to do 2 half days of work, so to make the most of the time and money to commute, Tom came up and met me for a day of site-seeing. We made it up to the top of the Monument just as the sun was setting, and vowed to go up the Shard where there is a lift next time. We also went to the British History Museum (where we never actually found the British section), to Oxford Street to see the Christmas lights and treated ourselves to a meal in All Bar One. We couldn't work out why we had got IDed to enter the restaurant, until us dumbasses finally clocked on that it was technically a bar- the name gave it away... I think it is important to reflect on everything you have achieved, whether that be every week, every month or every year. I don't really think that anyone gives themselves enough credit for all the little things that add up to one hell of an achievement, and the way you have dealt with any failures that you have come across. Most importantly, I hope that in 2019 I am able to look back and see what amazing memories I have made and experiences I have made this coming year, and not necessarily in terms of holidays or other costly things, just visiting a family member for tea and going for a walk is such a lovely memory to have. So..
Cheers to 2018! Becky xx If you have actually read this to the end- and I don't blame you if you didn't because most of it is just me moaning about work and school- comment below your biggest achievements of 2017
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