If I'm being entirely honest, not that much has happened so far this year. I haven't been to many places in 2018, instead spending my weekends at work waitressing and revising. However, as we're now 7 months (?!?!) in to 2018 and I haven't posted on here for a while, I thought I would write a post with a few of things that have been happening - or what I can think of off the top of my head.
NOTE: You might want to skim read this, I've rambled quite a bit
January
The year kicked off with trial exams as soon as we returned to school so I ended up spending all but one day of the Christmas holidays revising. I am glad that I did the revision that I did as not only did it help me enormously in the trial exams, but by the time I came to revise for my final exams, I didn't have to start from scratch with revision resources as I had re-read some of my Literature books, made revision cards and refreshed the content from the previous year. I do still think it is pretty shitty that mocks are straight after Christmas though...
January did seem to speed by, my brother turned 13, although to me he'll always be 5, and my little cousin turned 7, yet she'll remain a baby in my mind until she's 80.
Driving in my Polo out to the Peak District with the dog and my friends in the pouring rain, sludge and snow at the end of the month whenever we had a moment are some of my favourite memories of the beginning of the year.
The highlight of the month however, was getting an offer from a university that I never even considered myself good enough to have a chance at attending. Even though I don't know if I'm in yet due to not having my A Level grades until the middle of August, to just get the offer was a hugely emotional and surreal experience
February
After trial exams, things relaxed for a couple of weeks and it was probably the highlight of my year. Straight after February half term we were blessed with 3 or 4 snow days in a row (although I'd left all of my textbooks in my school locker so had to walk to my friend's house on the other side of the valley in the deep snow to use her books everyday...) and after finishing the work set by my teachers, each day, two of my best friends and my boyfriend and I would go to sledge and make snow angels and have snowball fights that brought out aggression I'd never seen in my friends before.
Everything I've mentioned so far in this post seems silly when I think about it, but when I think about the year, these are the moments that really stand out amongst the stress and pressures of school life and I suppose that's what makes them so special to me.
March
The February term of school was ridiculously short - around 4 weeks but one was almost entirely snow days. The term flew by with my final coursework deadlines all being just before Easter. Although it was nice to complete coursework, for each of my subjects it was only worth 20% so I knew the revision really had to get in to full swing for the other 80% over Easter. Unfortunately, however, the dominating factor of March was losing my poor Polo in a crash (which I don't think I can say much about) but fortunately, myself and my parents were fine after Niffy's airbags and safety features worked amazingly when hit by another car. I did try to get back on the road afterwards, I was given a courtesy car (an automatic, meaning I was always reaching for a non existent gear stick) and went out a couple of times but I'm still struggling to feel confident driving again, although hopefully this summer I'll get much better.
April
April began with our yearly trip to the Yorkshire Dales. We had sun, snow and rain during the week but it was nice to get away from home for a bit, even though I was revising for a large proportion of the time due to trial exams straight after Easter.
April was also when I went to pick up my new car (which still doesn't have a name!!) which although I am still apprehensive about driving, I do love. My dream car has been a Mini for a very long time and I never thought I would be able to afford one in the near future - turns out the insurance on them is a lot cheaper than on Polos! The only issue is I have a very large Labrador and a very small boot, so I still need to find a good, secure way to get him in the car. If anyone has any harness/ seat cover suggestions, please let know!
May
Fast forward to the middle of the month and you get to prom and leaving school! We had our prom before study leave so that people would be able to go if they were off on holiday straight after exams, with an after party at Viper Rooms (a club in Sheffield) afterwards for those who were 18. Prom was a lovely night, most of my friends are off to university next year and so the night was a great time to relax and unwind for a night before beginning out exams. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was being voted Prom Queen! I've never been the coolest person or the most popular and confident so I really was surprised when the award was announced. My tiara and sash are now sat on my bookshelf proudly alongside the award given to me by my teachers - 'most ready for university', which I'm hoping means that although I feel completely unprepared, everyone else is in the same boat ...
On the 25th May, we had our last day at school, finishing our time there with a Leavers' Assembly with a video and awards; a buffet and a trip to the pub. After a few pink gin and tonics, we left to revise through the half term before our exams began at the beginning of June.
June
We don't speak about June until the 20th, when it was all over. A Levels were an incredibly difficult experience for me, I struggled mentally throughout and as a result I don't think I've achieved what I could have done. However, I'm trying to put it behind me and just accept what I get in the Summer and do my best whatever the situation, my only frustration is that I've worked so hard and I don't think it has paid off.
After exams, I had to learn to relax. Spending time with friends and family, who I hadn't seen as much as I would have liked due to exams, was my main priority. The day of my last exam, I booked a trip to Liverpool, so last week we stayed in the beautiful city for a night and it was the most relaxed I've felt in a very long time. I plan on going on loads of these small city breaks and so will hopefully be off to Bath next week, so I might do a mini guide about doing trips on a budget as these things can get expensive quite easily.
July
Unfortunately, July isn't off to the best start. For most of the week, I've been in bed with flu and ended up in hospital on Wednesday after fainting and hitting my head pretty hard. As a result, I now have a beautiful egg on my head...
Nonetheless, I'm certain that this month will be fantastic, I'm so excited to go on more adventures and head off on holiday with my family at the end of the month once my brother finishes school. I also plan to get back to writing blog posts whenever I'm in the mood to and continue to recover from the stress of the year and prepare for new things!
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