2013: Year In Review

As I recently said to someone upon realising we were almost in 2014: bloody hell!! How did we get here?! It feels as if 2013 has lasted both seconds and centuries- I can't believe it's time to leave it yet. I wanted to take time to look back on the happenings, month by month- so here goes :)

January
Song of the month- Be Still (The Fray)

Picture of the month- my dog in the snow

The year started with a bang, as proven in my first post of the year! In the first part of January, I went to the zoo, took the dog for a lot of walks with my family, and took lots of pictures of Bristol! I read lots of really good books, including Perks Of Being A Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky), Wonder (R J Palacio) and The Fault In Our Stars (John Green). As usual, there were a range of weird and wonderful quotes, as seen here and here. I had lots of fun both looking at and playing in the snow, and I went to a sleepover which involved the cutest of cute kittens.

February
Song of the month- Chop My Money (P Square)- not suitable for younger listeners!

Picture of the month- the amazing Gambia group

In February I went on a fairly disastrous English trip- it began with losing a student, and ended with the minibus getting a parking ticket! However, it was a lot of fun! After that, most of the month was taken up with the totally phenomenal Gambia trip. I know I talk about this a lot, but it was a truly beautiful two weeks, and definitely a huge highlight of my life, never mind just my year!!

March

Song of the month- Fairytales (Heather Peace)

 Picture of the month- paddling on Easter Sunday!

In March I discovered both Heather Peace and Shane Koyczan. I got to drop Maths, which made me very happy. It was also slightly full of clothes, as I got my prom dress and finished my Textiles coursework. Mid-month, the Music department went to see Dame Evelyn Glennie- I not only met her, but got her autograph as well! There were lots and lots more good quotes, as well as more nice pictures of Bristol. Finally, the month ended with a really lovely Easter Sunday!

April

Song of the month- Angel (cover by Boyce Avenue)

Picture of the month- the beginning of the French Fancy jokes

At the beginning of April, I went to Funderworld with my friends, which was great fun! April heralded the start of many things, including my voluntary announcing job and the HairAffair. However, there were also some endings, both universal- Margaret Thatcher died- and personal- my ankle problem made it necessary for me to quit swimming, and the end of secondary school began. I wrote a lot of very personal things, including an angry rant towards Hollister and a letter to my experience of swimming. Finally, there were some fabulous quotes, relating both to Doctor Who and folk band.

May

Song of the month- Perfect (P!nk)

 Picture of the month- the Signing Thursday gang!

May started off with a trip to see IG in Chess- I also met (for the first time) someone I now consider to be one of my best friends. The school took a risk and included myself and BB on a trip to Westminster, and I enjoyed the beautiful weather during a day out in Portishead. I got quite nostalgic about leaving school as the process I dubbed TheBigChange began. Another ending happened as my friend moved to Belgium; we went out for a meal and I took- guess what?!- yet more pictures of Bristol. There were lots of 'lasts'- but also some firsts, such as marriage equality in France. The month ended with two amazing events- Leavers Day and Prom, both of which were fabulous.

June
Song of the month- One Friend (Keb' Mo')

 Picture of the month- the musketeers in Cardiff

This was a very mixed month. I was ill throughout large parts of 2013, and June was probably one of my worst months. I'm not going to link anything relating to this, because I don't want to be reminded of it as such, but I did feel it was important not to sugar-coat this year. Anyway. In June, we went to watch the school's production of Grease. Then, of course, there was the small thing where I shaved my hair off for charity. The month then became very busy, with the end of my GCSE exams, finally getting my nose pierced, going to Cardiff with BB and IG (I was in the same building as Charlotte Salt!!), and doing a swim teaching course (alongside work experience).

July

Song of the month- Travelling Song (Passenger)

Picture of the month- Amsterdam!!

July began with the Summer Music Concert, which was fabulous, of course. I also read My Sister's Keeper, and spent a lot of the month trying to recover from that. I then finished my two weeks of work experience, and had fun with henna and face paint. There was a bit of blog silence as I went to Holland (and fell in love with Amsterdam!)- but I did still celebrate the blog's first birthday :) July was a big month for the country as MARRIAGE WAS EQUALISED!! (Also some kid called George was born, so congratulations George!). Finally, there was the traditional visit to the Harbour Festival, which ended with very bad weather! Ooh, also, my friend and I organised a fun gala. That was good :)

August
Song of the month- Amazing Grace

Picture of the month- myself and Ajna

This was a hugely busy month, beginning with an amazing jumper and a Gromit trail- I never officially blogged about this, but three of me favourite pictures are Bunty, Bumble Boogie and Poetry In Motion! Next was a short trip to Devon (it served as an escape from Bristol due to how ill I was at the time). From then on, a lot of August was taken up with BOSNIA. When I got back, there were some really good days (alongside some truly awful ones, but I'll leave that there). I got my GCSE results back, and was pretty thrilled with them. At the end of August, I found one of the most beautiful pieces of writing ever. Sixth form began with enrolment, and August ended with lots of water!

September
Song of the month- Get Lucky (Daft Punk)


Picture of the month- my painted wall (as it was then!)

September was very school-based, as I started sixth form. It started off with stationery shopping, and also contained a lot of reminiscing over my secondary school time. I also went to Drayton Manor, painted part of my wall and the Canadian cousins came over, though I didn't blog about those! I had some realisations about recovery, some of which are still current now. As sixth form started I got very busy; events during this time included speaking at the Year 6 Open Evening, which was a huge thing for me! I settled into sixth form quite well (considering)- and we began dressing like this on Thursdays. Finally, the month ended with a bang as I realised how much I'd raised for Mind!

October

Song of the month- Is There Anybody Out There? (Laura Mvula)

Picture of the month- me with the costume for Nympahdora Tonks ^.^

October began with an ending, which was hard for me, though I am now so glad all of that happened. Moving on, the rest of the month was very busy with sixth form. There was also LAURA MVULA <3, a phenomenal night. However, as a knock-on effect of that (I was very tired) I was quite ill, resulting in having no laptop for quite a while. In October, I began the Access to Bristol scheme, which was very fab, and posted about cats and also strikes. Finally, I went to London for the HARRY POTTER STUDIO TOUR <3

November

Song of the month- Yellow Flower (KT Tunstall)

Picture of the month- Halloween!!

My Halloween celebrations this year actually took place on the 1st November, so that's how my month started! After that, I had an argument with a skating company. Ummm... Also saw fireworks :) The highlight of my month was probably my two concerts in two nights, when I took lots of Bristol pictures. Finally, November became more musical as the Music department went to see a Benjamin Britten concert, and R and I spent a day exploring Bristol. Ooh, and BB and I performed at a celebration thing :)

December

Song of the month- When The Thames Froze (Smith & Burrows)

Picture of the month- ice skates!

At the beginning of December, I decided to undertake a challenge called StarSpirit2013, which is still going well! :) I completed some fairly big 50 Things challenges- but, as a huge contrast, at least for me, Mandela died, which was a huge sadness for the world- he was such a great man :( I completed Access to Bristol, and went ice skating with the two great friends I've made on the course! Nearer Christmas, there was the Winter Concert and other Christmas things. Music-related, the Music department did a flash mob, which was absolutely amazing!! Over the last weekend, I finally got my room sorted, then recently it's been ruminations and Christmas!! The year finished (or, as I'm writing now, will finish) with a trip to Manchester, and a post-apocalypse themed New Year's party!! Woo!!

Wow! It's definitely been a whirlwind of a year, with some of the best and worst things happening, all at once. Despite the low points, however, I'd still say it's probably been my favourite year. So much has happened, both big and small. Thank you so so much to everyone who has been part of this year <3 I don't know about you, but I'm really excited about 2014!!