I haven't really sat down and written update wise about my life for the past few months fully other than in my journal, and if you are anything like me you are nosey as hell and love reading about what people are up to. Considering my last gap year update post has become one of my most viewed posts it seemed fitting to let you all know what I have been up to since then.
November was a months of settling into my new life and finding my way around the surroundings, constantly telling people that I don't speak Dutch, and seeing friends I hadn't for a while. It was the month that I really began to feel confident in who I am.
It was also filled with countless shopping trips to get things that I didn't realise I needed or had forgotten when I moved over (I think I managed to win the award for biggest idiot by moving to The Netherlands without a winter coat despite having five back in England). I also had a day out shopping with an old friend, we went thrifting and it was just generally a good day.
My weekend ritual was also born in November. I meet my best friend Laura for coffee and dinner every Saturday rain or shine, we are somehow slowly making our way round all the Asian food restaurants in Amsterdam.
Three weeks into moving here I somehow managed to make my way across the country without dying or having a meltdown over how confusing (and expensive) the Dutch travel system is to stay at a friends and had a night of movies and catching up which was, again, lovely.
Then December came. The month of heartbreak and hiding in cafes with books as I wrote far too much in my journal and refused to let go of any of my feelings. I spent a lot of money on coffee, a lot of money on wine, and a lot more on books and clothes. Anything to get me through the bottomless void that my heart was feeling.
Luckily enough I was able to go home for Christmas and so I spent a week and a half surrounded by my friends and family avoiding the crippling sense of loneliness that was pushing itself down on me in the wake of the absense of the person I cared for (and getting far too drunk off Spoons 2 for £12 pitchers).
The day after I landed in England I woke up to a text from my friend asking if I could get into London which was then followed a few minutes later by a text from my boss saying we were overstaffed and I didn't have to work if I didn't want to. I replied to Em that I would be in central in an hour and a half and my boss that I was taking advantage of his offer and wouldn't be coming to work. London with Em was lovely, we had a photoshoot and explored parts of the city that we didn't tend to go to.
Christmas was spent at mums, boxing day at my grandparents and then I had another mini Christmas at dads the day after boxing day.
There were more days in London with Em, taking photos with friends and getting rather drunk at Spoons. New Years was spent at my best friend Sammi's boyfriends and it was lovely to see the new year in with one of my closest friends and the cutest dog in the world.
January was a relatively slow month when it came to life, I had eaten away at a lot more of my bank balance than I realised when in England and decided to focus on my blog. After setting myself the goal of four blog posts a week I slowly started to realise this wasn't a realistic goal and that I should probably go back to the old style. It was relieving to take the pressure of writing, taking photos for and posting four posts a week and I began to fall back in love with blogging again because of this,
At the beginning of February a friend surprised me with tickets to see Pale Waves, who are one of my favourite band and their short but sweet set reminded me why I love live music so much. It was the first concert in a while that I had attended as a member of the audience instead of as a photographer and so it felt strange thinking about the shots I needed to get and then remembering that this was my night to live in the moment instead.
The week after Pale Waves I shot the lovely Canadian band Peach Pit's gig, this was such a fun experience and helped me tick a band off my bucket list of artists I wanted to shoot. The band were such lovely people to work with and so easy to work with too which was a dream all in all.
At the end of February my host family gave me a week off my work schedule and let me take a trip back home which was super lovely. I only told my dad and sister that I was coming home and managed to surprise a heap of people which lead to reactions that everyone wished had been filmed and multiple hugs. Because of this I also got to see a heap of friends I didn't manage to make it out to at Christmas and generally had bonding time with family too. It's strange how much living away from home makes you appreciate the small things like sitting in the living room watching a movie with pizza and your sister to keep you company.
The first week back in Amsterdam I decided to get a train halfway across the country after work and go see one of my favourite bands (by now you can probably tell that I have a lot of favourite bands) As It Is at their Dutch headline show. €50 and a stressful train journey later I arrived at the venue just as they got on stage, I moshed, I sung and I danced to my favourite songs in the world. There is no better place than as As It Is gig in my opinion, so many of my most loved memories come from watching them live.
Throughout the month I was emailing various managers, venues and everything in between in the attempts of getting more gig photography opportunities in order to expand my portfolio and have a head start when it came to uni in September. I was super lucky to have an email about three days before the Tonight Alive show in Amsterdam allowing me a photopass and so off I went with my camera and shot the show. Then I decided to stay and attempt to meet the band afterwards however it was a mad rush and that didn't really happen the way I hoped it would (but that's okay)!
That's it for my update, I've basically been to a lot of gigs and England a couple of times. Are you guys taking a gap year or have you taken a gap year? What did you get up to?
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