My 2018 Highlights
After a hectic beginning of January of getting through exam season and assignment hand-ins, I have finally managed to find time to reflect on my 2018 highlights. One of my favourite things to do is flick through my camera roll in my phone and look at all the photos and videos I have. I can honestly say 2018 has been the biggest year for me, with huge achievements and massive changes in my life. Here is a written reflection of 10 of my favourite memories from 2018 in chronological order.
New York – February 2018
For the second time, I was lucky enough to visit New York city but this time, it was winter. I went with the college Business and Economics Department for 6 days in the big apple. As a quick list of things we did, we had a private tour around Madame Tussauds, had a walk around Brooklyn and across Brooklyn Bridge, bowling in Times Square, 9/11 memorial and museum, Central Park walk, Empire State Building, Tik Tok Diner, Grand Central Station, United Nations tour, Kinky Boots the musical on Broadway, shopping, river cruise, Rockefeller centre, and my favourite…ice skating in Central Park…IN THE SNOW! This was 100% the highlight of the trip; it was actually like a movie but it wasn’t, it was real! We ice skated in the dark, in the middle of Central Park in the actual snow. It was absolutely stunning and I will never forget it, this is possibly my highlight of the whole year. No words, photos or videos could describe what it looked like. The whole trip was amazing; we crammed so much into the 6 days we were there and I am so grateful I managed to get on the trip and go.
Our first anniversary – April 2018
This year, me and Jacob celebrated our first anniversary together (though by now we are nearly at 2 years)! We spent a day at Coniston hotel and spa drinking martinis in a gorgeous infinity hot tub looking at the country views. We had a lovely evening meal in the restaurant too next to an open fire…what a way to celebrate! Our anniversary is on the same day as Jacob’s birthday (he asked me to be his girlfriend on his 21st birthday), so on the actual day, we spent the day going on a country walk and visited a café for a lunch. The year had gone so quickly yet I feel like I have known Jacob forever.
A Levels and the end of college – June 2018
In 2018, one of the hardest parts but a huge highlight would be sitting and completing my A levels. We were the first year to take our A levels in the linear way rather than taking them in modules with AS levels, meaning I had a total of 9 exams over two weeks. As soon as I got back from New York in February, the revision began. I spent a good 3 solid months revising, not being as social as I normally am, making sure I get to bed early, cutting down the amount of times I saw Jacob in the week. I found it all quite stressful if I’m being honest. But I stuck at it and worked my socks off if I do say so myself. The actual exams came round really quickly; the night before each exam was definitely what made my exams less stressful. Last minute cramming doesn’t always work for everyone but it actually seemed to work for me. I took Business Studies, Psychology and Geography at A Level and also completed an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) on Drama and Music Therapy and its effects on mental health. Once I had completed my exams, I began celebrating the second I finished, where I was taken out for lunch at Nandos with Jacob, and then for drinks with two of my friends. I then went out through the evening too for a few more drinks to celebrate. The real celebration was a couple of days later where we had one of the best nights out ever because we all felt a release of stress being lifted off our shoulders…and it was time for the summer of our lives.
Last official day at college
Last Geography lesson
Celebrations
Magaluf – June 2018
Me and my best friends spent the most amazing week in Palma Nova / Magaluf at the end of June. We jetted off less than a week after I finished my exams (two days after for some of us). Even though we didn’t spend every night going on the strip, we still had such a laugh when we took our game of Uno down to bars on the beach. We had the best time with glorious sunshine, a beautiful hotel and location and the perfect company. I have done a separate post on the holiday so if you want to know the holiday gossip, give the post a read!
Tenerife – July 2018
I was lucky enough to be jetting off for a third time in 2018, this time with my boyfriend Jacob for our first holiday together. There is absolutely nothing I would change about the whole thing with the hotel being pure perfection. The location, the food, the entertainment, the weather, the waterpark trip…EVERYTHING. And it was so special with it being our first ever holiday together. I have also done a separate post on this holiday so feel free to give this post a look too!
Summer days out – August 2018
With this being the longest summer ever for me and my brother Cameron after finishing early once our A level and GCSE exams were over, we had lots of days out and mini breaks with family. The first few days of August were spent between Bath, Swindon, Cheddar Gorge and Stonehenge! I spent 3 days travelling between those with my Mum, Dad, brother Cameron and Nan. One of the days was spent in the centre of Bath where we visited the Roman Baths and had a bit of a shop around. The day we spent at Cheddar Gorge was a scorching hot day where we visited the caves, and walked up what felt like Mount Everest, in the blazing hot sunshine. We stopped at Stonehenge on the way back which I was so excited to see! A week later my Dad took me, Cameron and Jacob to Alton Towers for the day where we went on the new ride ‘Wickerman’ for the first time. We were so excited because we always go to Alton Towers every year so for a new ride to be there brought even more excitement to the day. Towards the end of August Jacob drove me and Cameron to our Nan’s caravan in Cleethorpes for the day where we just had a laugh riding round the park on a peddler and having a carvery for tea. Our last Sunday of the summer was spent at Chester Zoo where my parents took me, Jacob and Cameron for the day; we even ate next to the Lions which was a new experience!
A Level results – August 2018
Now this was possibly one of the scariest days of my life. Through summer I tried not to think too much about them; I had been offered an unconditional for Leeds Beckett University, so my results didn’t really matter, but they did to me because I still worked so hard for my exams even if I didn’t have to! I spend the night at my friend Lily’s on the Tuesday night to try and take our minds off the stress, and had a takeaway and film night. I didn’t sleep till late on Wednesday night, and decided not to set an alarm for the Thursday morning even though results were released at 6am. My brain clearly was thinking about the results though, because I woke up at 6:45am and checked my results online. I actually achieved BBB and an A in my EPQ, which I was completely over the moon by as I wasn’t expecting to have done anywhere near as well as this. I went into college to collect my results, went out for lunch with my family to celebrate, and then had a mega night out to celebrate with my best friends, as they all did amazingly too. A week later we also came to Leeds and ate at Gino D’Acampo’s restaurant to celebrate both Cameron and my results.
Saying goodbye and moving on – September 2018
So in 2018, I actually moved to University in Leeds. I moved all my things with the help of my parents and Jacob on the Friday and moved myself on the Sunday. For me, this was a huge change, even if it only takes half an hour to drive home, living on my own was massive. I moved in with two girls Abby and Eden, and two boys Leo and Tom. We basically spent the whole of the first week going out for Freshers and then I started University the week after. I also managed to be offered a part-time job at Hollister in the Leeds Trinity shopping centre, so I was essentially beginning a new life based in Leeds. I stayed away from home for a month before I went back to see my family, so I got used to my life in Leeds a lot. I fell in love with my course as soon as I started it, so I couldn’t be happier in Leeds and I can’t wait for the next 3 years to continue studying here.
Chem reunion – November 2018
I have the best group of friends a girl could ever wish for (yes, we do have a friendship group name) with most of us being friends since primary school, meeting new at high school and then at college. As we all moved to Uni, it was so hard to say goodbye to all the girls and not know when I was next going to see them. We planned for everyone to come and stay in Leeds on a weekend in November as it was between most of everyone’s birthdays, and because me, Maisie and Keira live here so there are enough places for everyone to stay. I can honestly say that the evening was one of the best nights ever. We didn’t stop screaming and dancing the whole time we saw each other (apart from in the morning when we were hanging). We are all looking forward to going to Newcastle this time in March.
Christmas and New Year 2018 –
Even though we had an eventful Christmas, it was still a one to remember for good reasons as well as the bad. It was lovely to finally be home with my family to spend Christmas together. However, my Mum did develop sciatica over the Christmas period which meant she couldn’t move without being in huge amounts of pain, but she powered on and we went to York outlet for ice skating along with my Dad, Cameron and Jacob. Yet another disaster happened when Jacob fell on his ankle on the ice (he just tried to be as good as his girlfriend but failed miserably haha – only joking) but seriously he did really injure himself, which actually resulted in him having to go to A&E on Christmas day – not really ideal! We also spent Christmas day just the four of us until the evening when Jacob came over, which was new for me, as I have always had grandparents over on the day. We had a really relaxing morning, went out for dinner and played games in the evening. For the whole week between Christmas and New Year we were sharing our time between my family and Jacob’s family. On New Year’s Eve, the five of us went to Centre Parcs Aqua sauna spa in Nottingham for the day which was gorgeous. Me and Jacob then travelled back early with enough time to get ready to spend the night in Holmfirth with all my friends and his and celebrate the beginning of 2019.
(Before Jacob fell over - haha)
It was honestly such a mad year, so many things happened and I love looking back at the memories I have created. I am so looking forward to the year ahead and creating even more memories and working hard.
Thanks for reading! Keep smiling and have a great day! Liv xxx
