My 2019 Review: Personal

2019, where to start? We started the year off with a female Prime Minister, our second ever, and ended the year with a general election and Boris Johnson being re-elected as PM. I feel that, reflecting upon the mess our government endured this year, can also reflect the year that I had. It was up and down, then up, then down, down some more until we finally said good riddance to 2019.

I really don't want to dwell on the negatives because they've done their job, they've made me into the stronger person that I now am and it's about focussing on the positive things from last year and making 2020 a better year. So here are a few things from 2019 that made my yea that bit better.

Starting off the year I went on a 3 week trip to Finland with college, I went with 2 of my best friends. We had to live independently for 2.5 weeks and then we spent half a week in the countries capital chilling, enjoying the beautiful views, eating nice food and visiting art galleries. This trip really helped me prepare fo uni lifestyle and whilst it was hard being away from home and living in a flat with 6 people sharing 1 kitchen and 1 bathroom with no living room we had so many funny times and I'll never forget the trip. Getting drunk in our flat before we went to an ice hockey game. Making memories with 2 of my best pals exploring in the snow and doing our food shopping every week trying not to burn the house down. Also when the French boys in our flat started rolling in the snow in their pants on hahaha.

Some more high notes from last year were festivals. Festivals are a necessity for my summer each year (as well as many trips to different beer gardens, seshes in each others gardens, road-trips and a summer holiday), the feeling you get at a festival is what I presume euphoria feels like. The sun; or most likely at Parklife, the rain, beating down on you whilst you're seeing your favourite artists singing along with your best pals or hearing your favourite DJ mix a tune so perfectly, nothing can compare to it.

Whether you're camping for 5 nights in a field and trying to make yourself look presentable everyday, facing the port-a-loos getting worse and worse; or you have a hotel where you're able to apply your glitter in an actual pattern instead of throwing it on your face each day, either are just incomparable to going to seeing DJ's at an event or seeing the singer in concert.

Another time of 2019 which I won't forget, came in the latter half of the year. Everyone had started to go back to uni, I'd just started my course at NTU but was commuting. Over these weeks the nights were getting darker quicker and it was approaching the best festivities of the year. Halloween, Bonfire Night and then Christmas time. All of us that were left in Brum got so much closer, Snobs every Friday/ Saturday (until I have finally got fed up of that shithole), we started a Digbeth Dining Club tradition every month and then THE GERMAN MARKET ARRIVED! Aka the best part about Birmingham. We spent every weekend there, drinking steins, singing Robbie Williams and normally ending up in Gales.

Although this year was hard, I think going through bad experiences, toxic relationships, breakups, grief and whatever it is that life wants to throw at you it ends up shaping your personality. It makes you realise that things can get better when you're up and out of that bad time.

Whilst it being the most mentally challenging year of my life so far, there were so many good parts about it- enjoyed with people that made the hard times easier and the good times even better. That goes to say, one thing I learnt last year (need to keep reminding myself it was last year not this year lol) was that the people you surround yourself with can either make you or break you. My friends and family are the most important people in my life and I know that as long as I have them I can get through anything.

I love u all sm xxxx