Breakups, finishing first year and travels: 6 Month Review

If you’re thinking ‘who’s this on my timeline?’ then I wouldn’t blame you. It’s been a hot minute since I was last blogging regularly. Buuuuut I’m back! And (hopefully) here to stay for a while. So if you’re interested in reading about mental health, university life, bullet journaling, travelling and more, feel free to stick around (and hit the follow button if you’re feeling particularly kind) ❤

For my first post back, I thought I’d do a brief rundown of what’s been happening in my life in the last six months (not that anyone has been holding their breath waiting for an update, I just thought it would be a good way to slide back into blogging).

February and the beginning of March…

…was an awful couple of months. I went through an emotional breakup, had four essay deadlines and generally felt like I was struggling to keep moving forward. I got very trapped in my own head and did a lot of crying. I found it hard to eat. I contemplated leaving university. All I wanted was to go home and curl up in bed. But I didn’t do that – I stuck it out, I pulled a couple of all-nighters to get those excruciatingly painful essays written, and I made it to the end of term. The biggest positive was realising the extent of how absolutely amazing my friends are. They did their best to make my birthday a good day, despite falling in the middle of a distressing time: we made brownies at midnight and they bought me the best pair of stripey dungarees.

The second half of March and April…

…was better. Not a colossal improvement but enough that I felt compelled to do things. I went home for a few days before jetting off to gorgeous Italy. I met a friend there who I hadn’t seen since we met on my gap year travels three years before. I learnt to love wine and was introduced to aperol spritz. The following week I was in Portugal with my parents, strolling the cobbled streets and stuffing down all the vegan food we could find. Back home in the UK, I reconnected with myself. I spent a lot of hours driving along the coast listening to Flume and Lauv and Kanye and BANKS and Frank Ocean. I played around on the piano, read a magical realism novel and took the time to be present.

During May…

…I was into the stressful last stretch of the academic year. Apart from some beautiful sunny days spent with friends in parks and singalong sessions in the shared kitchen, May was taken over by exams. I procrastinated revising for these by applying and interviewing for summer internships (all while carrying on working for my term-time job too). Yeah… this girl knows how to treat herself. My last exam was on the 29th May and once that was over I couldn’t really believe that was it for first year… done and dusted.

June…

…was the definition of chockablock. I went home for a night (and found out I got the internship I really wanted), to Switzerland with my family, back up to uni for a couple of days and then across to Slovakia with my flatmates. The majority of our holiday budget went on ice cream. Only a few days after getting back, I started my internship. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, my first day of work was also my moving house day. As my second-year house isn’t too far from my first-year accommodation, I moved all my stuff on foot. Yep, you read that correctly. My housemates and I found some abandoned Aldi trolleys and piled them high with all of our possessions for the trek across town. So a pretty hectic month really: new job, new house and suddenly living alone as everyone left for summer.

July…

…was all about my internship. I spent six weeks in total working for Student Minds, the UK student mental health charity. It was such a wonderful experience being part of an incredibly passionate team working to improve the student experience across the country. Outside of my job, I got to know my lovely new neighbours through nights sat around a bonfire and a picnic trip to the river. My mum also came to visit for a weekend which was fun.

The start of August…

…meant another change. I finished my internship and packed up to go back home. And here I am, restarting my blog in preparation for my next trip abroad which is happening next week: Australia for a month! Stay tuned for the inevitable stories that will be heading your way…

The last six months have held a lot of change: from distressing to inspiring and everything in between, acclimatising to these changes has been the biggest challenge for me in 2019 so far. I think I’ve learnt a lot from both the positives and the negatives though. What’s been the biggest change in your life this year?

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