As most of you are probably aware by now, I’m currently on a gap year. I thought I would give you all a little update on what I have been up to since leaving school in June and the things that I hope to have achieved throughout the rest of the year before I attend uni. I’m not actually really sure where to begin with this, so going in chronological order is probably what is best for me to ensure that I don’t miss anything out and also gives it more of a general structure in itself.
Let’s start with the study leave period of May/June. This was a strange time period filled with convincing myself that I was revising and that it was completely justified to spend an hour on sims after doing a minuscule amount of reading for my English exams as well as traveling and spending time with my friends.
At the end of May we had our year thirteen leavers prom, it was strange to realise that being in a room full of people that I had spent seven years with and that I perhaps wouldn’t see ever again afterwards. After prom I had a heap of friends to stay over as most of us were underage and unable to go clubbing post prom, we got rather drunk and had a lovely time camping in my back yard.
Then we had Bournemouth at the very beginning of June, my friend Jamie and I went and stayed with her older sister who attends the uni there and explored the coast and genuinely had some down time as a break from the intense amounts of revision we had been doing. I also got to see one of my very best friends, Em, while down there and chilled on the beach with her for a while.
After Bournemouth it was right back into exams and doing work and general stress right up until the end of June, revision days were held wth friends but mostly I was just working hard on getting the grades that I needed to be able to attend uni.
In July I started work again, as I had quit my job in order to both achieve and maintain good grades during my a level exams and revision period. It was a bit of a strange time period as I was only working weekends and seemed to have the whole week to myself, meaning I spent a lot of time in Spoons with friends while also working on blog posts and other fun stuff. I also surprised my lovely Canadian friend, Kate, at pride in London and spent the day with her and a few other friends covered in glitter and celebrating equality.
Once that was over we were met with August, the month of SitC and family holidays. This year’s Summer in the City was a bit hit and miss for me, there was a long time period when I wasn’t going to attend but I decided to surprise a heap of my friends and book a last minute ticket and go for the weekend. After all, it was going to be the last time that I saw Kate for a very long time and it also gave me the opportunity to get to meet and talk to a lot of wonderful people (whether they were creators or just new friends)! Every SitC leaves me feeling kind of strange, it not only wipes me out but leaves me almost lethargic and nostalgic which means I always wonder whether I really enjoy the convention or not - I might make a post talking about that in more depth at a later date.
A couple of days after SitC my lovely best friend Emily came to stay for a few days, it was lovely to show her my little town and get to spend quality time with her without having to worry about rushing for a train or a bus home and also take her into my local Spoons.
We also had results day, and it was so lovely to see my friends achieving the things that they had worked so incredibly hard for over the past few months. A lot of people headed out that night for celebrations but my friends and I kept it quiet and just went to the pub for a few drinks instead which was lovely.
Later on in the month I also then went to Devon where I spent two weeks exploring little villages and beautiful beaches with my family. This was definitely a much needed break from reality and helped me to get a lot of really lovely snaps, me being the photography student I am I don’t go anywhere without my camera. You can see a few of the pictures that I took in my Devon in Photos blog post!
Between all of that craziness I was also working about four or five days a week and so getting to September where the schools started again was such a nice breath of fresh air as my work became weekends only again and I somewhat got my life back. The beginning of September was spent saying goodbye to friends who were going to uni and I also got my first tattoo, which I wrote a blog post on too!
The end of September was when things started to pick up, I spent two days in Brighton and attended the Mayday Parade ALIR10 Tour as well as chilling on the beach. We also had the cutest little airbnb for the night which made it even better! Then we had one day back at home and headed up to London for the last UK date of the tour, which was one of the best nights on tour, I managed to ask the lead singer of Mayday Parade (Derek), who we had spoken to a few nights before in Brighton, for photo passes to the Amsterdam show which I was flying over to The Netherlands for.
So, then at the beginning of October I felt out to Amsterdam and attended the third show on the tour. This was definitely one of the best shows from them all and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience in Amsterdam in general, the Dutch are so so lovely (and tall) and made me feel so at home. I also somehow managed to make two friends at the gig and then met up with one of them the next day to go to the Van Gogh museum.
After sending three days in Amsterdam my short but sweet trip was over and it was time to fly home, something I really didn’t want to do because of how much I had fallen in love with the city. Back at home I had work and meetings until it was finally time to head back to Amsterdam again (pre-warning, I actually spent most of October over there).
On the next trip to Amsterdam I went over for just under a week with my family, and we did a heck of a lot of the typical tourist things such as visiting the Anne Frank house, a canal cruise and going to museums. This was super lovely and a fab way to spend time with my family before I headed off for a few months and moved to the Netherlands. I also got one of the most incredible emails while I was over there and spent a good half hour sat in my hotel room freaking out to my very confused sister about it (more on that later though).
Right after I got back from Amsterdam I had to head into work and spent the day gruelling away being surrounded by dozens of screaming kids for hours on end in an attempt to make enough money to live off minimum wage. Luckily, I only had one day of that though before Em came to stay again for a little while to be able to partake in my leaving drinks at Spoons with a few of my other friends.
The next day we headed up to London to shoot for Dodie’s gig, which was the email that I received from Josh while in Amsterdam the previous week. This was one of the most surreal and insane nights of my life, seeing the woman that I have loved and admired for years on end performing on stage to thousands of people at a sold out Koko show was just incredible. I am so so glad that I got to experience this with Em and also surprise her with tickets so a massive thank you to Manager Josh for the ever so insane opportunity!
After Em went home it was back to work for a little while until Sammi decided to pay me a visit to say goodbye too! It was so strange having her in my house after being friends with her for such a long time and her never coming round, it was even funnier the she fully knew her way around due to the amount of time Ive spent walking round my house of FaceTime and Skype to her! We had a chilled evening of watching Netflix and eating pizza which was much needed after the chaotic-ness that the rest of the week had held.
My last day in England was a mess of rushing and shopping and goodbyes, my dad took Sammi and I out for breakfast which was so so lovely! Then my nan took us shopping so I was able to get a few last minute things and if you know me you know how much my nan means to me so this was so so lovely to get to spend some time with her before I flew away. With all the shopping and everything else done we then went home and I had to rush to fit everything in my suitcase and get to the train station in time to get a train to my mums for the evening. Once at mums I was a ball of stress but everything calmed down and I managed to make it back to the Netherlands!
And so here we are, it’s November and I am currently living just outside of one of my favourite places that I have ever had the chance to visit and not only that but earning money while doing it! I will be sure to do another one of these kinds of posts in a few months time as I love making mini life updates, but in the meantime feel free to follow my Twitter or Instagram if you ever want to be extra nosey!
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