2017 was a big year for me and it doesn’t feel right to start writing about 2018 without some kind of wrap up. It was the year I turned 21 and I think I’d like to look back at this in the future to see what little me was up to during this period of my life. So, although we are now in February, here is my 2017 wrap up in 8 little bite-sized pieces.
1. I visited 4 countries! I began the year in Iceland, a present for my dad’s 50th birthday, and ended it in Shanghai where I now live! I also managed to sneak in two holidays with my friends to Spain and Portugal, so all in all, not a bad travel year.
2. I graduated from university with a degree in English and Creative Writing! The day of my graduation was so lovely, my whole family came to watch the ceremony and my nan’s hollering when I got onto the stage was probably heard all across the UK.
3. Finally, FINALLY, I passed my driving test. Strangely, this may have been my biggest achievement of the year as I just never thought that it would happen. I took my test in Nottingham and didn’t tell anyone but my Nan that I was taking lessons, so when I rang up my family to tell them I had passed they were so shocked and proud.
4. I broke a bone for the first time. In fact, I broke two bones. Long story short there was a leak in the upstairs bathroom that came through to the kitchen, leaving a huge puddle for me to slip in and break two toes. Honestly, I’m surprised I managed to make it this far without breaking anything and I’m quite thankful they were just toes. The whole incident brought my sisters’ lots of joy though, they managed to come up with lots of jokes about my poor broken toes. This happened at the end of March and I’m still not completely sure they’re healed yet, so that’s a bit worrying.
5. I moved to China to start my first full-time job as an English teacher. I’m based in Shanghai but have also been to Beijing and Chengdu and plan to travel a lot more around China next year. The highlights have to be climbing the Great Wall, seeing the pandas and eating all of the amazing foods China has to offer. Living in China has come with a whole host of stresses, culture shock and hindrances but I do feel so lucky that I am able to spend a year of my life living in Asia and some of the experiences I have had so far will stay with me forever.
6. I got to see Celine Dion live for the second time. I went to Birmingham with my mum and we had the nicest time together. She went crazy at the merch store and we ended up walking away with t-shirts, keyrings and three identical colour changing mugs. At the end of the show, Celine walked through the aisle and was so close to me I couldn’t cope. I hope that isn’t the last time I see her perform.
7. As someone who loves and lives for surprises, I was lucky enough to have 3 very memorable surprises from my friends and family this year. The first was a visit from my little sister Kate and her best friend Lauren. They came to Nottingham in February and with help from my housemate snuck into my back garden to surprise me. I’m usually quite good at guessing when something is going on but I had absolutely no idea about this. The second was when my family came to Nottingham for my 21st birthday. I was the tiniest bit hungover so when I opened the door and saw them all stood on my doorstep my facial expression said it all. And then finally, my lovely friend Beth threw me a surprise karaoke leaving party in August with all of my friends which was so cute. Now I hope you enjoy these slights awful pictures of me in shock.
8. I went to the theatre 5 times and saw some fantastic productions. I went to see ‘Fame’ (a university production), ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime’, ‘Dreamgirls’, ‘Jersey Boys’ and ‘Legally Blonde’. I think my favourite was probably ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime’ as it was just unlike anything I have ever seen before and I thought it was so so clever.
These are the things that stuck out to me the most this year but there were so many other noteworthy things that happened. I learned how to properly use chopsticks, visited friends in London and Leeds, sat next to an 83 year old architect on a train to Nottingham who taught me how to play the ukulele, went vegetarian for a month, gained my TEFL qualification, learnt the basics of mandarin, went to FriendsFest, wrote a dissertation, read 28 books, paid taxes for the first time, became obsessed with the film Moana, went for afternoon tea with a panoramic view of Liverpool with my Nan and Auntie Kathleen, went to my final Ocean as a student (a nightclub, not the actual ocean), got to live with my two best friends for my final year of university, got a Chinese name (埃琳娜), and then finally I started this blog which I hope I will continue for many years to come.
So that’s my 2017 wrapped up, I’m sure I’ve missed something but writing all of these things reminded me of what a great year I had. Here’s hoping 2018 will be even better!
Keeping Up with the Auton 