Getting back into the swing of things

The winter break is officially over and it sure went by far too quickly! I’m now back in Southampton and with so many important events coming up in the next few months, there is a lot to prepare for but also a lot to look forward to. First up are my end of semester one exams which begin next week! I can’t say I’m looking forward to writing my exams but I do look forward to the day they are finished. Because exams start in less than a week, my days currently consist mostly of sitting and revising which makes me both restless and exhausted. Luckily, I still have dance classes and squad rehearsals to get me away from the desk and moving. Also approaching, in less than a month, is our first dance competition for the year! This is really exciting but we still have a lot of practicing to do which is why we need to have rehearsals during exam period. Last year the first competition we attended was at Bucks New University, however this year, our first competition will be in Southampton held by us! The pressure is on…

Me and last year’s jazz squad after placing first at the Bucks New Uni competition.

Also dance related, are preparations for our annual Pure Dance show which is in March. This is a huge show consisting of performances by members from all the different dance societies at the University of Southampton. The competition squads also perform at the show but it’s a great opportunity for even beginner dancers to take the stage and show off what they’ve been working on for the year. You’d be surprised by how much a person can improve within a year! Because it’s such a huge event it’s really rewarding to be a part of and it’s a lot of fun too.

Me and other dancers getting ready for last year’s show.

In spite of being very busy (which I actually enjoy!) it’s been nice to come back. I will admit that I did feel horribly homesick for the first couple of days. I always find that I miss my family the most, right after I have been home to see them. This might seem strange because I think most people would assume that you’d miss your family more, the longer it has been since you last saw them. Anyway, I was lucky enough to be welcomed back to my house in Southampton with a lovely dinner prepared by one of my housemates. (This was really appreciated because travelling makes me hungry despite sitting for the majority of the journey.) My housemates and I started a cooking tradition last year which was inspired by the UK TV show Come Dine With Me. If you’ve never seen the show, don’t worry, neither had I before we started. Basically, we take it in turns to cook a “fancy” meal for each other on the weekends. It’s actually been really enjoyable and on the Sunday evening I arrived back in Southampton, it gave us a good chance to catch up on what everyone had been up to over the winter break.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the winter in Sweden when I was home was surprisingly warm. Here’s a photo from one of the forests I went for walks in with my dog. Not a patch of snow!

Since our little reunion, the house has been relatively quiet compared to how it normally is because my housemates are also revising for their exams. I’m looking forward to celebrating together once exam period is over. I’ve also made plans to go and visit the Harry Potter World in Watford, with a couple of my dance friends, when exams are over. I have a lot to look forward to but right now the trick is to stay focused for the next few weeks. At least I enjoy what I’m studying so it makes the long hours by the desk more bearable. One of my new years resolutions includes the cliché “be more organised”. I have a lot of commitments but I think that if I can truly master my organisation and time management skills this year will be outstanding.

Kristin

Happy New Year

Christmas is always a hectic time of year for a student; it consists of trying to balance all the social arrangements and family gatherings that come with the time of year, with arguably the zenith of our workloads for the first semester.

My personal workload this Christmas break was probably the largest I’ve ever had; it makes my complaints about revising for A Level winter exams over Christmas seem particularly insignificant. I actually began writing this blog minutes after I put my preverbal pen down after finishing my dissertation. These are words that I never thought I would be saying – after all it doesn’t feel like any time at all since I arrived at the University of Southampton simultaneously excited and nervous for my first lecture, and now I have accrued enough Physics knowledge to write my own scientific paper on how solar variability affects the Earth’s climate! How time flies!

That being said I certainly did have the time to gorge myself senseless (and of course regret it every time) and do all the things I wanted to do back home in Surrey over the break. The first thing on my agenda was to finish my Christmas shopping, because even after several trips to West Quay and that Winchester market expedition I wrote about last time, I had still managed to come home without the full array of presents needed. Whoops!

Although as a child it was hard to believe, there are definitely more important things than presents; Christmas is a time to enjoy by spending it with family and friends. It was great to have my Gran come down for nearly a whole week, even if I did spend half the time locked away in my room revising! I also went to visit my grandparents on the other side of my family over the holidays, but unfortunately they didn’t let me join them for their Christmas holiday in sunny Spain – oh well!

The Christmas tree at home looked far superior to mine back in Southampton

It’s also great to reunite with friends from my sixth form and school days and to hear how they have been getting on since I last saw them in the summer, especially since some of them have now gone out into the world of work. Hearing stories about company cars and having conversations about tax brackets makes the fact that my university friends and I are nearing the end of our degrees (I have one more year after this) become all the more daunting and all the more real.

Catching up with old friends on Christmas Eve

But now back in Southampton, with less than a week left until the January exam period begins and with all my other deadlines met, revision for my three exams is well underway (and they say students don’t work hard!). No doubt the exam period will fly by and 2014 can begin in earnest with a new semester and plenty of new opportunities.

Happy new year everyone and I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and new year. I know I certainly did!

James

Welcome to 2014

Well, it's 6:24 am on 6 January, and I'm on the train to University. The Christmas holidays are officially over, and exam season is about to begin. It's all a bit of a shock to the system after three weeks of lie-ins and lazy days! 

Getting the train is a total luxury for me – it's nearly three times as expensive as the coach, which is my usual mode of transport when I don't drive to Southampton. It saves so much time, though, and also gives you the option of returning whenever you like, rather than having to book a specific time. Aside from that, getting the train is just a generally better experience than getting the coach, so I suppose you get what you pay for!

Welcome back to the real world!

Christmas was a rather quiet affair – just my Mum, me and some good food. Tried out a few new recipes which, in hindsight, may have been a dangerous move on Christmas Day, but it all turned out wonderfully! It was my first Christmas as a vegetarian, but I honestly didn't feel as though anything was missing!

A rather special Christmas pudding

I saw in the New Year in Cornwall, where a group of us rented a house for a few days. We were incredibly lucky with the weather, which was mostly fine, if cold, and it was so lovely to have most of my best friends from university back in one place. We got up to all manner of ridiculous things, from winter walks to renting out spas (which remarkably only cost us five pounds each!), and a number of rowdy games of Articulate, of course! I already miss everyone so much, and it really made me appreciate the first two years at university that I was able to spend with them all. I'm not normally an advocate of staycations, but I was more than pleasantly surprised at how much fun can be had for relatively little cost.

Reunited

Winter walks in Newquay

The 2nd of January was my birthday – 23! Feeling rather old. It was quite a quiet event this year, as I was pretty exhausted from our trip, but we managed to squeeze in a final trip to the German bar, Anchorman 2 at the cinema, a meal at Wagamama, and a few cocktails – all in all a very good day in my book! The best thing was being able to spend it with people I love, and catching up with some old friends who were back from university and travelling.

Birthday cocktails

I managed to recover from all the celebrating enough to go on my first run of the year yesterday, which was nothing short of grim, if I'm perfectly honest. The weather was absolutely disgraceful – I don't think I've ever been so cold and wet in my entire life! But there's only eight weeks to go until my next half marathon, training to be done and no excuses! Here's hoping for a good year of running.

A rather wet and windy Bournemouth beach

Now, to revision. I've got two exams this month, and it's time to knuckle down and make sure I finish third year with the marks I want. January is always a strange month for me – part of me hates it (let's be honest, who really enjoys exams?) but once you get on the library hype and 'the fear' sets in, the early mornings, long days and late nights can actually seem quite fun. Although, ask me again in a week's time and I might disagree!

Happy New Year to all our readers, and I hope 2014 brings you everything you wish for and more, and good luck to anyone with exams this month!

Tayler

New year, new plan

“New year, new me!”

It’s the phrase you’ll hear many a person bandy about in the next few days – some with a greater hint of irony than others, and some with greater success!

But whereas the eclectic multitudes of New Years Resolutions that I’ve ever made have fallen flat after I’ve hit the junk-food-embellished annual period known as “January exams” (after all, something has to get you through all those lecture notes!), this year I’m hoping to adopt a different approach to the challenge of personal reformation. And although I go into it feeling less than confident in my odds of success as always, I’m hoping 2014 will allow me a (relatively!) clean break to hit the personal goals I’ve had floating around my head for a while, but never really managed to accomplish.

Because so far, third year has been somewhat… well… busy! As you might’ve been able to tell from my last blog post, the amount of extra-curricular activities I managed to fit in around my degree, particularly in terms of Performing Arts shows I was involved in, declined significantly after the joys of the Edinburgh Fringe and the summer holidays, and not just because of the post-show blues! It should have been expected given the importance of the year from an academic perspective – in my course, for instance, the year’s results count for a massive 40% of my total degree classification, double last year – but it still took me aback just how big the step-up is in terms of time commitment, particularly if you’re aiming to attain a First as most, if not all, of the bright and motivated people in Southampton frequently do.

Upon reflection, however, although I’ve occasionally been unrealistic in the amount I’ve taken on in the past couple of years (I guess you have to learn to say “no” from time to time!), it’s sometimes been exacerbated by the fact that, as is the case with many students, I can, at times, be a spectacularly good procrastinator! It’s remarkably easy, considering the apparent extra importance of having a clean room, an empty laundry basket or a well-stocked fridge – all of which jump to mind when you know you have something much more worthwhile to do!

It’s important, but can be quite tough, to strike the right balance between work and play – or, in my case, plays!

But in my case, I sometimes found it could often manifest itself in many ways, particularly in terms of assignments. As I’m approaching the tail end of my degree programme in Southampton (a frankly terrifying thing to write!), it appears that pieces of coursework have been delving into increasingly more challenging and seemingly dense topics, which could often on the surface seem quite intimidating.

For example, glancing at the specification of one assignment in particular, I had no idea of how or even where to begin, but as I put it off in favour of completing tasks which looked more easy to accomplish, the need to get started grew more and more, until it got to the stage where I needed to just see it off once and for all. And, to my surprise, once I’d well and truly thrown myself into it, parts of the topics covered began to click into place slowly but surely, until I reached a level of understanding where I felt I could give the assignment my best shot, somehow answering all the questions to a decent extent – or, at least, I could write down something which seemed to make sense at the time, even if this isn’t the case a month or two down the line!

So I guess my resolution (if the endless potential distractions allow me to keep it!) would be to remember that, ultimately, as a student and person you’re not expected to be superhuman in Southampton. Distractions can happen, things can go wrong, and the University and people around you will understand that – although it’s best to try and avoid them obviously! And academically, although things can seem complicated across the board at times, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses - for example, I love the creative aspects of Software Engineering like design and programming, but struggle with some of the more abstract and theoretically-rooted principles – so the curriculum is designed to be varied enough and aware of that fact to reflect this requirement.

I’m not saying that getting good marks in third year is meant to be, or indeed will be, at all easy; more that, if I can remind myself of what I’ve learnt from this first term, and indeed the rest of 2013, while having a rich and varied life outside of the lecture theatre, doing so should be very much achievable – so here’s hoping! If I can just take each challenge as it comes, and throw myself into it as early as possible to give myself the best turnover in terms of work, I’ll have done all I can, and the final result will hopefully reflect that. After all, one of my favourite aspects of university life is the way you always feel like you’re learning something new, be it a new module, a new life skill, a new programming language, a new hobby or getting to know a new person, a new experience, or even a new variation on beans on toast (and one day I hope to learn how to cook!).

So looking at what I could take from a deadline-packed first part of the year, I feel like I learned a great deal about time management techniques (particularly in getting the most out of the hours between lectures), about dealing with pressure when things begin to mount (and the need to avoid panicking, tricky though it may be!), and about my own limitations (for example, I found towards the end of the term that the later I worked, the slower – sleep really is necessary!). Hence if I can take this all forward with me and combine it with the awesome events I have to look forward to – the Curtain Call awards, Little Shop of Horrors and Guys ‘n Dolls, and the completion of the SUSUtv film, the Society, for instance - I should be well set for a third academic year, and a 2014, to remember.

On top of that, in 2014 I’d love to make a return to stand-up comedy at some point, complete my driving test after a brief hiatus from lessons, and continue to throw myself into new and exciting challenges (in moderation) on a weekly basis to give me that extra motivation to drive me on.

As with 2013, it’s going to be a fantastic year around Southampton – so here we go!

Robin

Enjoying my break with family and friends

Picking up from where I left off in my previous post, I spent a couple of days in London before heading home to Sweden for Christmas. I travelled to London from Southampton by coach (which takes about two hours but never feels that long) with my friend Ivy. We dropped our stuff off at the hotel we were staying in by King’s Cross before doing a little exploring including going for a search to find Platform 9 ³/₄ (yes, I’m kind of a Harry Potter fan) and checking out the captivating Christmas lights and window displays at Harrods. We then met up with our friend Malena for a traditional English afternoon tea at The Cadogan in Knightsbridge. This was the first time I had ever done a proper English tea so for me it was very exciting. My friends were nice enough to book everything in advance (as usual I had my hands full with other responsibilities at the time) so I really had no idea how grand everything was going to be. After the tea we went and did a little browsing around Covent Garden before eating a 3-course Christmas meal together.  Below are a couple of photos from the afternoon tea taken by Ivy and Malena.

The following day we met up with our friend Josh before heading to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. This was the first time I had ever been to London’s Winter Wonderland so I was very eager to see what it had to offer. The park was set up with many food stalls, a Christmas market, games, rides and more! I have to admit that the rides were rather expensive so we only went on a couple, choosing a rollercoaster and the Power Tower (which actually wasn’t at all as heart-stopping as I thought it was going to be). I still had a great time enjoying the atmosphere of the park and took the chance to try mulled wine for the first time.

The Power Tower

In the evening Ivy and I took the coach back to Southampton, giving me time to spend the rest of the night packing for my journey home to Sweden. I only ever travel with my backpack when I go home (because it’s much more convenient not having to carry a large suitcase and it’s cheaper). However this means I’m always faced with the challenge of trying and pack as little as possible.

The journey home went fairly smoothly and before I knew it I was back in our little apartment being greeted by a very happy monster (aka my dog Belle). It’s been so nice to spend some time at home relaxing, eating way too much food, lounging on the sofa, watching movies and TV (we have a TV in the house I’m living in at Southampton but I never have time to watch anything) and I’ve also been going for nice long walks with my mum and our dog in the forest. The air in Sweden is always really fresh, and to my surprise it has actually been fairly warm (let me just clarify that when I say warm I’m talking around 5°C at most). I was actually expecting decimetres of snow (which is what I came home to last year) but I’m not at all disappointed because the good weather has allowed me to easily bike to and from the town centre.

This photo was taken this time last year of the lake near our summerhouse.

Since being home I’ve also been to the cinema and watched the new Hobbit movie with my sister. I really enjoyed it and we got to watch it for free because she found a pair of free movie tickets hidden away in our apartment! In addition to this we’ve done a little shopping in the sales and I bought a new laptop (which I really needed seeing as my old one had developed a mind of its own as well as going senile). Furthermore, I’ve caught up with a couple of friends and I plan to watch my sister’s ballet rehearsal tomorrow. I’ll then get a chance to see all my old dance mates and I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone again.

I’m actually feeling excited about the New Year (which is strange because it was only just last week that I was completely dreading the end of 2013) and I’m hoping 2014 will bring with it a ton of new adventures and chances to makes wonderful memories.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Kristin

Bidding ’13 a fond farewell

I can remember that time in my life in which, whenever I heard the idiom “Time flies when you’re having fun” uttered, I just naturally assumed it was from an ‘old’ person – after all, terms at school, however enjoyable, seemed to take ages! And that’s not to mention school exams…

And yet somehow every time I come to write one of these posts, I wonder where the time has gone since I last did so. There’s only one logical explanation: 21 is undeniably, categorically, and officially ‘old’ – time to look into pensions and retirement plans, I guess!

All joking aside, however, it’s weird to think that this is my final post of 2013, as the whole calendar year seems to have shot by like a rocket, leaving brilliant memories, great achievements and some of the richest and most incredible experiences of my life trailing in its wake. It’s been quite a spell in the global spectrum with the news frequently featuring some sad losses yet new beginnings, great tragedies and yet inspirational accomplishments amidst a backdrop of difficult economic conditions and social unrest, and yet the world continues to throw up brilliant and wonderful surprises that constitute many a bright reason to be optimistic going forward into 2014.

And that’s without even pointing out that it’s a football World Cup year – awesome (or not, depending on your perspective)!

So as I look back at all the brilliant events of 2013, many of which were directly borne from the facilities, personnel and opportunities that play such a pivotal role in my life in Southampton, I find it incredible to see just how much has gone on in the previous 12 months for me. It’s certainly been one heck of a ride!

January

- Went through the inevitable attempts to cling on to the rapidly retiring Christmas and New Year’s celebrations period, brought to a crashing halt by…

- The ever-looming, demanding exam period! Although it did feature my favourite course module to date, Human-Computer Interaction – there’s nothing quite like being asked to design a smartphone app under exam conditions!

- January also brought snow, and lots of it! Indeed so much so that one of my exams had to be rescheduled, the perfect excuse to celebrate, put down the books for a couple of hours and engage in a bitter inter-faculty snowball war on the Southampton Common field. For course, Queen and country!

- Made the most of the completely no-pressure, joyous spell that is the end of exam period (before the second semester starts)!

Snow can only mean one thing!

February

- Kicked off Semester Two in style with some new (and particularly challenging) modules to tackle, a highlight for me being the fascinating principles of Artificial Intelligence.

- Went along to 3 Performing Arts shows in a fortnight, and enjoyed them all greatly!

- Made a stand-up comedy debut in a national student competition on Valentine’s Day, the date making my choice of material quite straightforward! In truth the eight minutes I spent on stage with microphone in hand are a massive blur in my head, but no fruit was thrown if I recall, so I’d call it a relative success! I’d love to give it another go at some point.

- Travelled with the Student Union’s Theatre Group to Shakespeare’s Globe in London for a fascinating backstage tour, followed by a dramatic workshop with a veteran of its stage, Colin Hurley.

- Was lucky enough to be cast in the Theatre Group’s play to tour at the Edinburgh Fringe in the summer, Hanging Bruce-Howard – I couldn’t believe it!

- Celebrated averaging a First in Semester One, despite all of the distractions above (and more)!

March

- Carried on working towards Semester Two, particularly battling away with the usual pre-Easter deadline rush. Luckily, everything went in on time – sometimes, by hook or by crook!

- Enjoyed an incredible occasion at the Union which saw new Sabbatical Officers elected, Results Night Live, all broadcast live online in the form of professional-standard coverage from SUSUtv and Surge Radio which added extra glamour to the spectacle!

- Was fortunate enough to successfully be elected onto the Theatre Group 2013/14 committee as Webmaster for the academic year – a position I can hopefully justify in terms of a Software Engineering degree at least!

- Made a singing and dancing debut with SUSU Showstoppers on the professional Nuffield Theatre stage as part of their production of Parade - despite the inevitable nerves, it all seemed to go down very well and we as a cast had a great time to boot!

- Headed home for a much-needed rest over the Easter holidays – and a bit of revision here and there!

The cast and crew of Parade on the Nuffield Theatre stage!

April

- More revision: April is very much time to get down to academic business with deadlines and exams looming!

- Acted in the Theatre Group’s annual Showcase, which gives the opportunity for new writers to see their work put to the stage; this time I was cast as a character in the middle of an emotional break-up, so quite far removed from stand-up then!

- Attended the annual Performing Arts ball - a chance to get dressed up and enjoy an evening of excellent food and company in a swanky venue is never one to be turned down!

May

- Summer exams – gah! But a necessary evil, and a nice chance to reflect on the broad nature of the curriculum on offer.

- Made a directorial debut as an assistant in Keeping Down with the Joneses, and even ended up making a couple of cameo appearances. Fortunately, it turned out to be a critical and commercial success, and so it was yet another brilliant opportunity, as well as a privilege to be a part of!

- Took part in a successful radio broadcast fundraiser for Hanging Bruce-Howard, featuring all sorts of forfeits in the name of fund-raising!

- Successfully pitched Equus to the Theatre Group committee as a co-director of a production team.

- Went along to St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton for the glorious Saints’ final game of the season – a not-so-classic, but still very enjoyable, 1-1 draw with Stoke!

It also turned out to be Michael Owen’s last ever professional game – nice!

June

- The end of exams – and the academic year! As with first year, my second had seemingly shot by, and now there was nothing more but to wait for results…

- Went along to the traditional Theatre Group annual picnic and leavers’ meal events, appreciating both the sunshine and also the further opportunities to suit up, although all of this was amidst the backdrop of bidding a fond farewell to many a graduating member.

- Was lucky enough to be awarded “Best Cameo” at the ‘Theatre Group Oscars’ for the few minutes I spent on stage in Joneses - crikey!

- Saw over 70 auditionees through the door for Equus and had to make some tough calls – indeed, as a team we spent over 12 hours on them one particularly troublesome day!

- Sung and danced again in Showstoppers’ annual 24 Hour Show. A musical rehearsed entirely within 24 hours and with sleep highly lacking amongst the cast members as a result, things kind of fell apart on the day, but it was all in the name of charity, so the pressure was well and truly off as we tried to improvise around it to hilarious effect!

- Met with my Third Year Project (dissertation) supervisor for the first time and planned out its premise: with one year until submission at this point, I had ages… right?!!

July

- Moved boxes and piles of stuff out of the second year house – and into the fresh confines of the third year one!

- Was lucky enough to be invited to speak as part of the Pro Vice-Chancellor Education’s talks at the July Open Days, letting me explain why I love the University to hundreds of visitors (unfortunately I couldn’t fit all of the above into the five minute slot, despite my best efforts!).

- Began rehearsals for Hanging Bruce-Howard and put on a few well-received preview showings of it in preparation for the Fringe.

- Outside of rehearsals, took advantage of the summer to go to Bournemouth beach, have many a cast barbecue and watch a lot of films. So University without the work, basically!

August

- The Edinburgh Festival Fringe: the most fun and fulfilling three weeks of my life so far, and an incredibly rich experience on all levels, I could write up a book or two on it – and then some! If you’re interested at all in the time we spent up there as Gone Rogue Productions presents “Hanging Bruce-Howard”, check out my blog posts about it (called Tales in Scotland) in September, but be warned it might take some time to read it all! I can’t wait to return one day!

- … The rest of the month was spent simply getting over the post-tour blues!

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe was the standout highlight of an incredible 2013 – what a month!

September

- Celebrated a cracking 21^st birthday with family, friends and loved ones in various ways (largely food-related!) and both Northern and Southern locations.

- Kicked off rehearsals for Equus, my first ever show as a lead director, including organising cast trips to laser tag and a stable!

- Was fortunate enough to be invited back to take part in the Pro Vice-Chancellor’s September Open Day talks: again, a great reminder for me, and hopefully a demonstration for prospective applicants, of just why the student body here loves their University – it offers so much!

- Welcomed another fresh batch of students into the University by helping at Freshers’ events in the Union – if anything makes you feel old…

- Commenced the intimidating prospect of Third Year: ahhh!

October

- Began to tackle the Third Year Project and yet another varied but interesting set of modules.

- The month of all things Equus: rehearsing, scheduling, budgeting, designing, filming, scoring, marketing, building, and generally running around organising dominated any free time this month! But we’d love to think the end product was well worth it!

- I was also fortunate enough to be cast in two Showstoppers shows which should be worth checking out in February, namely the hilarious Little Shop of Horrors and classic Guys and Dolls – keep an eye out for them in the Annex Theatre after January exams!

November

- Amidst rapidly amassing deadlines, I found myself in computer labs fairly often – it’s true that Third Year really does necessitate knuckling down!

- Continued rehearsals for other shows, and rediscovered my extremely slow abilities in learning dance routines – at this rate, it might take til February to get them right!

- Acted in the SUSUtv annual film, the Society, my first ever taste of on-screen acting - hopefully coming to the Union cinema near you soon!

December

- Wrote close to 15,000 words in under two weeks to see off the final term’s deadlines, before heading back to bed for some much-needed R&R!
- And, of course, there were the traditional house and Theatre Group Christmas meals to look forward to - much appreciated after a few months of living off beans on toast – and a chance to share in the company of the inspirational individuals who surround me here.
- Finally, enjoyed the trip home back up North, a wonderful family Christmas, and the chance to reunite with old friends and see out the year in style.

Santa Claus had certainly been to the Johnson household this year

So in summary, good luck 2014 – if you’re hoping to topple this year, you’re going to need it!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Robin

Looking ahead

My final blog post of 2013 has arrived! This week I have been running around all over the place finishing off last minute preparations for Christmas and catching up with my friends and family. I loved delivering presents to my young nephew and his new baby sister, and seeing the magic of Christmas really come alive. We made mince pies and watched ‘The Snowman and The Snowdog’ – his new Christmas favourite.

Looking back to this time last year, when I was doing my Christmas shopping in Japanese department stores, and looking forward to coming home for the holidays, it’s amazing to think how much I’ve done and seen since then.

A very Christmassy Spitalfields Market

Nothing better than a homemade mince pie (or three!)

Throwback to Christmas 2013 – buying presents in Japan

If somebody had told me at the beginning of 2013 that I would go skiing in Sapporo, visit the tropical southern islands of Okinawa, go to South Korea for the weekend, be selected for a three week educational programme in India and become the Travel Editor for the Wessex Scene, there’s no way I would have believed them. I’ve made so many friends all over the world, and I hope that I am able to see some of them again over the next year, whether it be in the UK or elsewhere.

And what about 2014? I can’t help but wonder what it will have in store. Whist I’m not one for making resolutions, I do have a few goals for the next year that I’m hoping to achieve.

Degree-wise, I’m aiming for a first, so it will be more hard work for the first half of the year to make sure I don’t miss out. To think I will be graduating in just a few months, after four years of study, is a really terrifying thought!

That leads me on to my next goal, although I’m not entirely clear about it yet – securing a job for after University. Although I’m not entirely sure where the next stage of my journey will be taking me, there’s a few options in the pipeline, and I’m excited to see which of those I end up doing. If this year has taught me anything at all, it’s that you really never know where you’re going to end up. If you keep working hard, opportunities tend to spring up all over the place – it’s up to you to choose which ones you’re going to make the most of.

I never dreamt that 2013 would take me all the way to India.

Of course, being me, I have a few fitness related goals, the major one being my first marathon. 26.2 miles seems like such a long way right now, but I’m looking to enter the Bournemouth full marathon in October next year, so there will be plenty of time to train. Most of my friends and family think I’m crazy, but I’m already so excited!

I would also like to reach the big two-oh for my total number of countries visited. My boyfriend and I recently booked a trip to Berlin at Easter, which will take it up to number 19, which only leaves one more to go! I’ll have to get my thinking cap on and try and make it a special one.

I’m sure this list will continue to grow throughout the year, as new ideas and opportunities present themselves, and I’m sure that 2014 will be just as interesting and exciting – if not even more so – than 2013 has been.

All that’s left to do is see the year out with lots of festive cheer. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and I’ll see you in 2014!

Tayler