The last 9 months.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but in hindsight, I've had the most incredible, life-changing nine months. To think back, the day I received my A-level results was a big deal for anyone, but also, personally to me. The day that seemed to explain what I'd been working for for seven years. The recognition, the proof that actually I hadn't been wasting my time pursuing an unreachable aim. Minus my dreadful failure of a French A-level, but we just laugh about that one. I think that was the start of my terrible decision making (something I've never looked back on since!)

 So, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't absolutely bricking it to start Uni when September arrived. The idea of not knowing a single person, studying something I absolutely loved and having to come out of my shell, terrified me to the core. I'm secretly quite shy, but my friends don't see that side of me. I get loud and bolshy and brash and giggly in the company I'm used to, and that's when I'm happiest. So, Uni was definitely a culture shock. I forced myself into meeting people and was of course, pleasantly surprised. Cue another special mention for three girls who have changed my life for the better over the last nine months, Jenny, Laura and Sarah. I love you girls! My drinking partners, my confidantes- no matter the hour, pub lunches that turn into drinking sprees, my fellow Literature and Creative writers. We share our love for the subject and passionate hatred for 9am starts, even if it is with Richy, a crowd favourite among many.

From spending Freshers Week, which at Northumbria, translates to eleven days or something equally as mad, my best friend Steph and I (also previously mentioned) became closer than ever. Shouting down the phone to a taxi service at five in the morning when we were soaked, going to a foam party and ending up with see-through shirts and horrendously wet hair and meeting so many people at one of the most incredible events I've ever been to, the headphone disco. For anyone that doesn't know, or hasn't experienced this, you enter a room, are given a set of huge headphones, and there are two channels being broadcast at once, which you can choose between and keep switching. There's nothing like it, taking your headphones off mid Summer of 69 and watching half of the room shout "the summer seemed to last forever" and the other half attempting to rap to Eminem and Rihanna, when in reality, the room is silent. It's hilarious. I suggest, if you ever get the chance, you go to one. It's such an enjoyable night, so grab some friends and put on your dancing shoes, because that will be a night to remember!

A little piece of advice to anyone going to start Uni in September. Don't worry! You'll love it! Include yourself, even if it means putting up with one or two infuriating people, before you meet the people who will quickly become your greatest friends. I actually live at home and travel to Uni, I don't miss out! I might fork out a stupid amount of money for taxis at crazy times in the morning, but surely I can justify my student loan expenses. Deal with the fact you're going to be in debt til you're fifty-something. It's all okay. If you pursue something you're passionate about, nothing else will matter. Have your end goal in sight, and don't take anything too seriously. And most of all, smile. Even if you're having a bad day, just remember, it's another step in the right direction. You'll get there eventually, so might as well enjoy your £27,000 worth of debt.

I've come out of my shell so much since starting Uni. It changed my life for the better. I love it. I can't tell anyone enough. I think I'm finally deciding what I'd like to do with my life. (Despite the fact I had a heart-to-heart with my taxi driver last night, and he told me to write a better 50 Shades of Grey!) I want to write. I want someone to pick up my novel and for it to change their life, in the way that so many of my favourite books have done for me. It's scary and ambitious, but I think it's truly the only thing I'd ever get a kick out of, so I'll do my utmost to get where I want to be.

A crazy 9 months. A Uni acceptance email; achieving BBC at A-level, and then spending the summer with my favourite people. A very drunk and emotional time at our Sixth Form leavers ball; I have so much to thank my teachers for, and I really did love (most of) them. An extended, mad Freshers week. The very scary first assignment. Receiving results. Reading one of my best pieces of creative writing to a room full of relative strangers, and having their faces all change and the positive responses flooding in. A piece for theatre, a screenplay and probably what I'm most proud of, 60 lines of poetry (yes Sarah, we did it!) Two exams, degree level, shocking enough to say, never mind sit.

So, that's Uni. What else did I get up to in the last 9 months? Too many parties, drunk nights and bank holidays for my liver to appreciate. I've taken an uncountable amount of photographs. I've seen The Script for the second time, Olly Murs and Michael McIntyre (for the third time!) I celebrated my 19th Birthday, and more recently, my sister's 18th. Lost someone really special to me, and heard my fair share of bad news,  all so heartbreaking and still hard to get your head round. But, most of all, I've met some brilliant people and my life has changed for the better, in the most part.

This isn't my most academic piece of writing, but probably one of the most truthful. The highlights of the time? Receiving my uni acceptance confirmation, breaking into hysterical tears, ringing my grandma Juney, the one person who believes in me, even on days where I can't even believe in myself, and told her the best news ever. She cried down the phone with me, and that, then, told me how much I really wanted it. I realised then, I had to be proud of what I'd achieved. Also, celebrating my sister's 18th, very recently. Funnily enough, although she's been renting my ID for the past six months or so, we're probably closer now she's a fully fledged legalised drinker like moi. Bonding over alcohol, I guess there are worst things.

My family, obviously, specifically my grandma, my best friends; Betty, Steph and Tasha. My Uni friends; Sarah, Laura and Jenny. My A-level English teachers, the countless bus and taxi drivers, aiding my hilarious escapades, the man who knows my Starbucks order before I get through the door, my Uni lecturers for pushing me to my limits, and a girl I don't know, yet feel like we've been friends for years. Gracie. A friend from the Twitterspere, if that's actually a concept, a girl who inspired me and taught me so much, as well as encouraged me to create this blog in the first place. I've read every single one of her blog posts, and every day I think with utmost disdain that I don't have the pleasure of knowing her in person, as we are in fact, hundreds of miles apart. I owe you an awful lot Gracie, and it's weird to be thanking someone you've never caught a glimpse of in person, but this is definitely down to you. If I hadn't made this blog, I'd be hiding behind my words, not expressing myself to the world, and not taking  risks. I really look up to you, and I know you'll achieve big things in the future.

These people deserve a huge thank you. I couldn't have done this without you, and words can never describe how grateful I am. I love you all. You witnessed my life change, and didn't run from my crazy side.

Cheers guys. I love you all. Even when I'm THIS drunk.