Hey there,
I know we have a bit more than a week left of 2014 but I just cannot wait any longer to write this thing. Like probably every other, if not every blogger out there I want to recap my year and look back at what's happened in the past 12 months.
I want to do this not so much for the internet but more for me, so I can come back to this and remember what my 2014 was like.
First of all, where the heck did these past 12 months go?! It feels like yesterday that I was stood in my friends back garden in Reading, celebrating the start of a new year. And now that year is over! I remember how excited I got when it started. I got so excited about finishing school, about moving out soon, about birthdays, friends, travel and meeting new people.
Looking back on all that, I can honestly say that this year was amazing. So many changes, so many new additions to my life that I cannot put into words. But I will still try. So here we go:
January
These were all taken at the very start of the year at our really fun New Years eve party.
To be honest, the rest of January doesn't stand out that much to me, cause all I remember doing is revising. Mock exams for my A-levels were coming up so I was sat at my desk basically every day, trying to get Maths, Biology, English, German, Geography, French and History into my head.
So glad I got through that!
Additionally I was working on my portfolio for all the unis I had applied to.
February
This was the month where I did most of the work for my NUA portfolio and then sent it off. It was also the month where I got a place at said uni and it was the best thing ever, I remember how excited I was! Seeing as NUA had been my favourite out of all the unis I applied to for a long time and it was amazing to hear from them.
Again, that is the only thing I can think of at the moment, when it comes to February 2014. The first couple of months of the year weren't so exciting to be honest...
March
For March, I don't even have a picture. I might have one on my hard drive in Norwich and if I do I will add it when I'm back there.
But for now, I think the majority of the time I was sat revising. Basically the first 5 months of the year I was doing nothing but. Biology and Maths were the worst, I had tutors for both and met up with friends to work on the things that we didn't understand. Major tip right here: learning and revising together is so much more fun and a lot easier than doing it alone!
March was also the month where I met my current housemate Katerina from Bulgaria through Instagram. It's funny how a few comments on a picture and a hashtag can bring you together these days. We became really good friends very quickly, and decided after just a few weeks, that we were going to live together. I love her!
April
Even though my exams were coming dangerously close, I decided to go to Reading over Easter, because I hated the thought of not going there until August. I did still revise through my stay there...
But I did loads of fun things too! For example, April was the month where I got my first (and probably last) tattoo. It was a weird and painful experience, but I'm so glad I did it. The date when I started my exchange in 2011 will forever be engraved under my skin and I don't just mean that in the literal sense. I will forever remember the wonderful time I had and the amazing friends I made.
I also went to visit Norwich for the day to see the uni and the city and I instantly fell in love with it. Right when I left the train station I realised that I had made the right decision to pick this uni and Norwich as my new home.
April was also the month of a broken heart for me. I don't want to go too much into detail but I had this massive fight with *someone* and I got really really sad. A broken heart sucks, it really does! Those times when you can physically feel the pain in your chest are definitely not fun at all, but with a bunch of good friends and fun distractions, I got rid of it in no time. And on top of that *someone* and I are still really really good friends today.
England makes me so happy!
May
The month of exams! We were all getting scared and started to panic, a few thought they wouldn't make it, I got anxiety over maths and all of us were just really really stressed out. But we made it through! 13 years of going to the same school, with mostly the same people had payed off, because we helped each other to the best of our abilities and wanted everyone to make it - and we did!
After the written exams were over I felt like a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I made it through Biology, through English, through Maths and through Geography without crying in the middle of the exam and without losing my temper or my nerves.
We then decided to spend a weekend in Holland, just to relax and chill a bit before our oral exams were due in June. The weekend happened to include my 19th birthday, so I had wonderful time with loads of my friends, celebrating the end of our written exams and my birthday!
June
We finished school! All of us made it through the oral exams and the written exams and we finished everything off with a great party - even though it was raining the whole time.
I love these people, and as I am writing this I am getting excited to see them for the first time in months, tonight at our Christmas meet up. It'll be so fun!
A-level wise, I was okay with my end grade, it was pretty average. Except English. English was outstanding and I am still so proud of myself for the grade that I achieved. 1+, which is 15 points, which is the absolute highest grade there is to achieve in my educational system, and on top of that I was the first person to achieve that grade in English for the first time at my school, ever.
I don't want to sound too "up my own arse", but I am really proud of that number!
June was also the month of my parent's company's 10 year anniversary and I would just like to congratulate them for that again. They are doing an amazing job every day and I am so proud of them. They are truly an inspiration to me and I wish to become as successful later in life.
July
Finishing school also meant that a long time of basically doing nothing was about to start. I can't even remember what I did in July, all I know is that it was pretty boring. All my summer activities wouldn't happen until August and most of my friends were already on some kind of family with other friends or their families.
So me and my friend Kira from Reading organised for her to visit me and so she came to see me for a week, which was amazing! While she was here Germany won the football World Cup, so that was pretty cool too, especially because she studies German, so she could definitely join in on all the excitement and empathy during the games.
By July I had found all my housemates (to be exact, we 'met' in June) and we were in the middle of looking for a house to live in. I can't remember when exactly we secured everything, but I know that when Kira was at mine, the contract for the house was already laying on my desk. Moving out came closer and closer and with my housemates ready and the house almost organised it started to feel more and more real - which was super weird, but very very exciting at the same time.
August
Like I said before, all my summer activities happened in August pretty much. I went to Reading for Reading Festival and had an amazing time with my friends. A little family holiday happened as well, before I went to Reading, we went to south Germany for a week, hiking and just having fun. Even though the hiking wasn't so fun for me, as I was having asthma and panic attacks throughout our first hike, which made me not go on any more hiking tours afterwards.
It was still so nice to spend some time with my family, because it was the last time we got to properly enjoy a holiday together before I was going to move out.
August was a good month, it really was!
September
September was THE month of this year. The month where everything changed and I finally realised my biggest dream so far. I moved country. From Germany to England - and it was, and still is, amazing! I have amazing housemates (one of which you can see above), amazing friends, an amazing uni course and I live in an amazing city. Excuse my extensive use of the word 'amazing' there.
All in all, I love it!
(But you know that anyways, because I constantly say it in like every blogpost I write)
October
October included Fresher's, house parties, Halloween, loads of drinks, my first getting-too-drunk-and-being-sick-from-it-experience, new friends, a little bit of uni work, exploring Norwich, and many many more things. I loved every second of it (well, let's leave out the getting-too-drunk-and-being-sick-from-it-experience).
November
Except for a little, very nice weekend trip to Reading, November included lots of uni work. Our deadline was coming up, so we basically didn't go out and just stayed in to work on our Logbooks, Journals, final images, edits, and presentations of our photos. Even during that one weekend away, I worked on my final project. But that didn't bother me, because I enjoy doing what I do. It's not like school, where I had to actually force myself to do work, and I was only doing it because I knew I had to if I wanted to pass. But at uni I do the work not only because I have to, but because I want to. Photography is sooo entertaining to me and I love working for the briefs that we have and coming up with ideas.
#artstudent
December
I know we are currently still in December, but come on, there's only 8 days left of it. In December I saw that the hard work for uni in November payed off, because I achieved a 1st as my first grade of my first year in my first term. Which is pretty amazing! I was expecting a 2:1 or probably even a 2:2, but never would I have thought that my work would bring me 74%! I was so happy!
I was also really excited about going home - which is where I still am right now. Celebrating Christmas with my family tomorrow (you know, we celebrate on Christmas Eve) is going to be so nice and I love being here. But those two weeks at home also reassured me that moving away was the right thing to do. Now don't get me wrong, being back home is wonderful, but I know that I wouldn't have been happy here, if I stayed. England is the right place for me to be at the moment.
Speaking of England, like the past two years, I will be spending New Year's Eve with my friends in Reading. On Sunday I will be headed back to London, and then back to Reading, where I will be for a week. I am so excited to see every one!
My one wish for 2015 is that my family makes it through the current problems we have. My sister is not at her greatest stage in life right now and I wish for her to be healthy and happy again. May this massive weight be lifted off our shoulders once and for all in the upcoming year and may we all be able to live our lives care free and be happy again.
I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year! To an amazing 2015!
Leoni
