The past year has been the fastest year of my life. And quite possibly the best. 

This time last year I was 17, in the middle of my A Level exams, and had no idea what I would be doing with my future. I didn't know what grades I would get in my exams or which university I would be spending the next 3 years of my life at. Now, 1 year later, I'm 18, I've finished my first year at the University of Birmingham and I'm sitting in my accommodation bedroom for one of the last times before I head back home for the summer. 

Having seen my brother and sister experience university themselves. I knew that coming to uni was definitely something I wanted to do and I knew I would enjoy it, but I never knew just quite how much I would end up loving it. 

Over the year I have had the most amazing experiences and opportunities, I've learnt so many amazing things, both about English Language and myself, and I've met some absolutely amazing people who I know will be my friends for life. It's crazy how you can know someone for only 9 months, but feel like you've been friends for a lifetime. 

I honestly cannot believe how quickly this year has gone and whilst I'm looking forward to the summer and living with my friends in a house next year, I am definitely going to miss this flat that I've called home for the past year. It feels like only yesterday that I was having a mini meltdown in this empty room after my parents had gone home on the first day, and now I wish I could never leave. Even at 8 in the morning, walking into the kitchen and seeing this view never fails to put me in a good mood, and I know the task of taking down all of my pictures and posters before I leave will be an incredibly emotional one. 

So, I'll leave this incredibly soppy post by saying thank you to everyone who made my first year here at Birmingham so special, and I can't wait to see what the next two years have in store for me.

Thanks for reading,

Amy xxx

First of all, I wanted to say sorry for the lack of blog post last week, I'm currently in the middle of my exams and revision has officially taken over. I have my final exam tomorrow morning and then I will have officially finished my first year of university, which is quite a terrifying thought! 

May has arrived and it seems to have brought the sunshine with it! After a pretty miserable April, this lovely weather has got me thinking about what I want to achieve in the next month before summer officially begins.

1. Pass my exams. I have three exams this month before I finish my first year of university (even though it feels like I only started about a month ago), and even though 'first year doesn't count' I really want to prove to myself that I can do well.

2. Not stress over the small things. I have always been a worrier and will worry over absolutely anything, but with actually stressful things like exams happening in my life right now, I need to make sure I'm not stressing over little things that I don't need to be.

3. Read more. When I'm revising all day, all I want to do in the evening is switch off and watch TV or YouTube, meaning I haven't read a book that I've actually wanted to read (and hasn't been about language theories) in a long time. I'm one of those people who won't read for ages but then once I start I can't stop, so I just need to find the motivation to pick up a book from my ever-growing pile of must-reads.

4. Drink more water. I am notorious for not drinking enough and when I am busy and stressed is when I most often tend to forget about drinking enough water, even though this is definitely when I should be drinking even more than normal.

5. Discover new music. I have been listening to mostly the same music for pretty much the last year, with only a couple of new additions to my playlist every now and then, but this month I am determined to finally branch out my music tastes and find some new artists and albums to listen to on repeat.

Thanks for reading, do you have any goals you want to achieve this month?

Amy xxx