Sixth Form and University. In the space of a year, I took my A-levels and survived 3 years of Sixth Form (just) and cried on results day. 3 months later I packed my life away and moved to Leicester, started University, submitted my first essay which consisted of 2600 words, completed two more essays and did a presentation. Finally, I completed semester 1 and celebrated with a deliveroo from Creams, Cookie Dough with Nutella and watched Teen Wolf. On Friday, 14th, we finished University and I celebrated Christmas with my flatmates, Laura & Cassidy, and Laura's bf by watching Authur Christmas and eating a curry - a very 'us' thing to do.
At the beginning of University, I was very worried about finding friends on my course. I even started to think that I can sit alone for 3 years and it will be fine, but that hasn't happened. Thankfully I became friends with two girls on my course who are both lovely. I met them on the first day of 'introduction week' and funny story, but there was a huge group of us walking to the first 'welcome lecture' and after it, we split into groups naturally and we laugh at the fact we ended up together and kind of glad we didn't stay with some of the others.
Flatmates. A topic which will either say, 'they are my best friends' or 'i hate them and they annoy the shit out of me'. Thankfully in my case, I adore my flatmates and I cannot picture a scenario of me living with flatmates with whom I hate. It has made my University experience a lot nicer.
Friendships. I started the year with one group of friends and ended the year with another. I lost a few friends along the way and gained some new ones. The friends I lost will not be missed, they were good friends at the time but we grew apart and they just didn't make me happy anymore and I felt myself naturally moving away from them. On the other hand, the new friendships I am so very thankful for. Since being at University it has been strange not seeing certain friends that often but it has made me realise that you don't need to see or speak to someone every day for them to be your best friend. Whenever I am home I always make time for both my friends and family.
Quickly changing the topic but, I have made lots of plans for 2019 already though which I am very excited for, which includes several concerts, 1 in a city I have never been to before and another in an arena I've never been to before, possibly a holiday, my friends visiting me at uni, a flat party for my 20th and a possible trip to London at Christmas time.
Mental Health. This year has been a bit challenging, but I made it through and honestly, I am so proud of myself. I don't want to talk about this too much because I do not want to dwell on the past but I want to talk about something that I conquered, which may seem small to some people but for me, it wasn't.
I have always been a person that hates going to 'new places' alone or just doing things alone. Which back in May I learnt is actually due to Social Anxiety, and since then I have learnt how to help myself feel more comfortable in certain situations that make me feel anxious. It took me a long time to be able to go out to either Nottingham or Derby alone to go shopping and even grab a costa just because of the bus ride there. In September I booked a train to visit one of my friends at University in Leeds, and in October that actually happened. I got on the train late Friday night after University, got a train from Leicester to Sheffield and then from Sheffield to Leeds. It was my first 'long-haul' train and I was so nervous the entire way that I struggled to even listen to music at certain points of the journey. I did, in fact, make it all the way to Leeds. I had the best weekend with Frana in Leeds, even though I did cry a little in Primark. Sadly I couldn't bring myself to get on the train home Monday morning, so instead my amazing dad came and picked me up Sunday evening. Since this happened I have become a lot more comfortable on trains, it just took a little time - mainly just the train journey home from Leicester to Derby. This was such a victory for me, my family were all so proud that I had made it all the way to Leeds on my own and so was I.
Travel. Mum and I took our first solo holiday to Amsterdam and we had the best time! We spent an awful lot of the time walking, doing around 21,000 steps a day, eating pancakes and shopping. During the summer I went back to Spain with my family to celebrate my Aunt's 50th and had such an amazing holiday, apart from experiencing a terrible allergic reaction to something and having to sit half in the pool to stop the pain, but I also finished an amazing book (One of us is Lying) and watched the new season of Orange is the New Black by the side of the pool.
Overall 2018 had some, in the words of Danielle & Brooke (from the podcast Gals on the go), highlights and lowlights. But overall I had an amazing time, it was a bit tough at certain points, for example, my a-levels and the last few weeks of semester one at uni. There was definitely a lot more highlights than lowlights.
I also just want to apologise for my lack of blogging over the last 2 months, University work got in the way and I got really ill near the end of term and just needed a holiday. I had planned to post over Christmas time but in the end, I thought I would instead start the year as I mean to go on, with a blog post. Thank you for continuing to read my blog and support it, means a lot and hopefully 2019 I will actually get better at blogging again. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and of course a Happy New Year!!
meg x
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