2017: What a Year!

Well, 2017 was interesting, to say the least. In fact, it was a pretty damn good year!

A lot happened last year, including a hell of a lot of travelling (which I am so happy about), I moved to a different country, I got my first part-time job (which I love) and I also got hit in the face by a wet floor sign and got concussion. So yeah, been eventful.

So, I travelled a fair bit last year. I visited some absolutely insane places, including Amsterdam, Rome, Florence, Prague and even Magaluf. Yes, I went to Maga, and I promise you it is nowhere near as bad as everyone says it is. In fact, it was an absolute cracker of a holiday, and I had a right laugh with some of my best mates.

So first, I visited Amsterdam, which I actually wrote a post about last year. It was the first time my boyfriend and I had gone on a trip abroad just us two, and it was great to explore such a beautiful city with my best mate.

My next adventure was Prague, which again was a beautiful city, and one that I would love to return to. I visited here with my family, and got to explore quite a bit!

I then went to the infamous Magaluf, and had a bloody great time! Yes, we all got very drunk and embarrassed ourselves with horrendous dancing and karaoke (shout out to Courtney for our High School Musical duet), but it was a holiday that I will never forget. I bloody love my uni mates and am so thankful to have friends that I can just be an absolute idiot with.

I then went to London for a week, where I have frequently visited before, but never to do this. I actually interned at a business in the marketing department, and I absolutely loved it, and it has helped me realise that this is definitely something that I would like to pursue in the future. I visited London a fair few times last year, and had an amazing breakfast with my Mum in the Sky Garden, which I have pictures below. I also went to a fab blogger event, which you can read all about here.

Okay, so then I made one of the biggest decisions of my life and moved abroad. I actually moved to Italy. And it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I have made some amazing friends and have been lucky to have visited some amazing places, including Rome, Milan, Florence and Pisa. I hope to venture to more places in 2018, as I absolutely adore Italy, and really want to make the most out of living there. Plus, my family love it, as they get an excuse for a holiday to Italy. Mum, Dad, you are very welcome!

I also turned 21, which still makes me want to curl up and cry, as that is too adult-y for me. I am not an adult. I refuse.

However, I had the absolute best party at the end of the year, where all my family and friends came, we got drunk, had a dance and I loved every second of it! It was the best end to a great year. Plus, I got to dress up all fancy, and if you know me, I never wear dresses. It is a very rare occurrence.

So yeah, was a pretty decent year! I cannot wait to see what 2018 brings, and I cannot wait to visit more amazing places.

What was your highlight of 2017?

Much love amigos,

Grace x

A Lot Has Happened in the Past Couple of Months...

Hey guys,

I'M BAAAACK! Well, it's been a bloody long time hasn't it. But I am back, and I have more posts scheduled for the upcoming weeks. Check me out, being all organised.

Not going to lie, a lot has happened since I last wrote one of these posts, including travelling Italy (if you want to see more, then head over to my Instagram where I basically spammed with travel photos #sorrynotsorry) and turning 21.

Although, we don't talk about the latter. I refuse to admit that I am 21, as when I was younger, 21 was the age that I thought that I became and adult and now I know that this is wrong and I was stupid. 30 is the age when I become an adult and do adult things. Not 21. Silly younger Grace, how foolish.

But anyway, I am in third year of university, studying in a pretty fantastic place that is a hell of a lot warmer than England right now, and I am loving life. It's one of the most beautiful places I have visited, and it's great to be within a vicinity of some of the most amazing cities in the world. I mean, the other day, I hopped on a train to Rome. Rome. As in, actual Rome. Mad.

Also, I have agreed to do something ridiculously stupid. I am going to do the Rome half marathon. If you know me, this is actually laughable. I am in no way a runner, and I am definitely not someone who enjoys running. I pretty much hate it. But one day, my friend just turned to me and was like 'want to do the Rome half marathon?' and I was like 'okay yeah, go on then'. Didn't think it'd actually happen. But here I am, 2 months on, running. Voluntarily. Genuinely think there is something wrong with me.

#prayforgrace. No, really. Help me.

All jokes aside, I am pretty proud of myself when it comes to this. I never thought that I would be the person that would agree to do a half marathon, never mind actually train and do it. Lol, go me.

Another pretty huge thing - I've been accepted to do a work placement at Penguin Random House in their PR and Marketing department. This, to me, is completely insane. Genuinely, when I opened that email, I could not control my excitement. As a book lover, this was so exciting, and to be doing it at such a big publishers - I just could not comprehend it. But yeah, I am doing that in January, so be sure to look out for a blogpost all about my time there!

So, that is basically what has been going on in my life over the past couple of months. I mean, in terms of travel, I will be posting more about my adventures in Italy, so be sure to look out for those!

Plus, the beach that the photo was taken on is called Spiaggia Pane e Pomodoro. Which translates to Bread and Tomato beach. The English language just ruins everything. Plus, it's pretty funny hearing it being read out on the loudspeaker in comparison to all of the other languages.

And remember, I'm not 21. Just to remind you.

Much love guys,

Grace x

It's Okay Not To Be Okay.

Hey guys,

So, I have been very quiet recently, and for this I really do apologise. If you've read my Moving On post, then you will know that I have had some pretty big news recently, but I have also had a few other things that have been affecting me.

I wasn't sure whether to write this post, but I feel like this is a great outlet to express how I'm feeling, as I often find it hard to verbally express how I'm feeling.

Basically, I don't really sleep. As in, once, I had 11 hours sleep in 7 days, and still had to attend university, complete numerous assignments, keep up a social life, eat (obv) and just try and upkeep as normal a life as I could. However, with a brain like mine, which literally never stops due to anxiety, this had started to become difficult, basically to the point where it would never stop and keep me up until 7am, when I had a 10am lecture to be in for.

And I know this is the stereotypical student life of going out partying, staying up until the early hours, then dragging yourself into a 9am lecture still drunk, but this wasn't the issue. I was going to bed at a reasonably normal time, but just laying there for 6-7 hours just overthinking everything. And believe me, I tried everything to just stop it, I tried reading, turning my phone off earlier, playing relaxing music, sleep pillow sprays, the lot. And nothing worked. I ended up getting a better sleep after a night out than I was on a normal night, which is most definitely not good.

This therefore led to me being mentally and physically exhausted, meaning I had to get extensions on assignments (which I hate doing as I feel like I'm giving in to it, which I know is stupid, but I do), I was missing vital lectures, I was getting continually ill and I was just miserable. I mean, I try to be a happy person and I feel like I am the majority of the time, yet this I just could not cope with.

You're probably wondering why I didn't go and get help initially. I actually did about a year ago as my university, but the way in which I was treated by them meant that I just could not face going back. So I ended up going to my welfare tutor who I had spoken to before, and whom I knew would actually listen and not just patronise me, and explained what was going on. In all honesty, he took one look at me (my under-eyes were that black, that I looked like I had been punched, and my skin was literally translucent I was that pale), and just said 'you need help'. So from here, I got a key worker, so now I can easily get help on getting extensions, and it just made everything a whole lot easier.

This made me realise that I shouldn't have been exhausting myself to the extent that I was, in the fact that I was going into uni after having an hours sleep, not being able to understand what was going on as I was so tired, and then going back home and stressing about how I hadn't learnt anything. I'm just happy that I finally took a step back and realised that this wasn't healthy, and I shouldn't have to put myself through that.

The point of this post is to just remind you that it's okay not to be okay. It's okay to admit that things aren't exactly right, that you're not happy in the place that you're in, or that you just want a break from things. It's okay to ask for help, to talk to others about how you're feeling. There will always be someone who will listen and help, even if you feel like there won't be.

It's okay not to be okay.

Much love always,

Grace x

Moving On...

Hey guys,

So, I was a bit absent from blogging for a while, and for this I apologise, but, in those two weeks, something very big happened.

Okay, so, if you have read my 2017 Goals, then you will know that I applied to study abroad in the USA or Canada, and was waiting on a decision over Christmas. During this time, I was told that over 50% more students had applied that year across the university (which is a hell of a lot of people) to go on the international year abroad. And most of these applications were to go to the US or Canada. So, as you can probably guess, I wasn't expecting to get in.

Sadly I was right, as the universities that I had picked to attend had over 50 people applying per place (I know, it was pretty ridiculous), so I was put in the 'pool'. Yes, this was a tad disheartening, but it had also happened to a lot of my friends, so I wasn't too bothered by it.

However, when I opened the email saying my application was unsuccessful, I actually felt relieved. I know you may be thinking 'what on earth?', as I was thinking the exact same when I felt it, but I did. I don't know if this was because the stress was over and I kind of already knew that I had been unsuccessful, so was just happy to move on, or if it was something else. I later realised that it was something else.

I'm not going to lie, spending a year in the US or Canada would be an amazing experience, and I may do something like that some day, but I had started to doubt my decision. What if I didn't like it? What if something happens and I can't get home? These were two questions that stood out to me the most, as these are both things that have happened at my current university. In Birmingham, I'm only 3/4 hours away from my hometown, so what would it be like if I was on the other side of the world? Due to this, before getting my application back, my anxiety surrounding it seemed to be getting worse, which I just assumed to be to the university taking a hell of a long time to reply, but, as it turned out, I just didn't want to go. I say this, I would have liked to go, but the cons were outweighing the pros at this point.

Therefore, I started to consider Europe. Before the whole application process began, I had looked at the University of Bari in Italy, as this was one of the universities that my department linked with in the Erasmus scheme. It was truly stunning, and the town of Bari itself was one that looked incredible, with a ton of history and culture. However, I had always had it in my head that I wanted the American University experience (as who hasn't watched a film about a college in America and thought it looks pretty insane? And I know that films aren't completely accurate, but it still looks pretty cool). So, I stuck with America, and applied. In a weird way, I feel that if I had gone straight for Erasmus, I would have thought 'what if?', so I'm glad that I did it this way, as it helped me find out what I really wanted to do.

After my application to the International programme was unsuccessful, we were offered another chance to apply, but I decided to go for the Erasmus scheme. This did involve a very stressful hour and a half in a café in London with just my phone to write an application and translate the university's website, but I did it. I would also like to apologise to the other people in the café, as they saw a very stressed out Grace that day who was very loudly crying into her cup of tea due to the stress of it (I was told my application had to be in that day as there was one space left). I finally got my application in after a lot of tea drinking, and then went for a celebratory pancake, cause why the hell not?

So yeah, last Monday, I found out that I was going to be studying in Bari for the next year of my life. It is daunting as hell, but I am honestly so excited for this next chapter in my life, and cannot wait to document it all on my blog. So yes, I do apologise for all the Italy talk that will be on here, but I do love a good travel and lifestyle post! But don't worry, the beauty posts will also be here too!

I just thought that I would write this post to show that even if you want something, but don't get it, something else great may come along instead. Even though studying in the USA would be an amazing opportunity, so will studying in Italy, and I'm really glad that I made this decision. I had no idea that I would be in this position this time last year, and am so happy with how far I have progressed, and I am so happy that I haven't let my anxiety hold me back from such an amazing opportunity.

I'm now off to frantically learn Italian and eat some pizza (ha, as if I need an excuse!)

Tanto amore,

Grace x

(and yes, I did just Google translate that)

A Little Update

Hey guys,

So I have never written one of these posts before, but thought that it may be interesting to do. So therefore, I thought that I would just update you on what has been happening recently.

1.  I finished my first year of university - As a fresher, I know that I only had to pass the year, as first year doesn't count (this is a fact that I held onto whilst stressing at 3am trying to write an essay for the next morning). However, this still does not take away from the fact that it was still super stressful, and the work load wasn't a massive pressure. As someone who started the year studying psychology and ending the year studying English language, this year has been a roller-coaster of events and emotions. However, I have made friends for life, and am so looking forward to next year. Plus, I ended the year with a 2:1, which I was pretty proud of considering how tough it has been adjusting to a different course and catching up with assignments.
2. I have been with my boyfriend for four and a half years - That is a bloody long time for someone my age. Very surprised that he hasn't got sick of me yet (although he would probably argue otherwise). I'm just very lucky to be in a relationship with my best friend.
3. I'm visiting one of the places in the world that I have always wanted to visit - California. Ever since a young age, places such as San Francisco and LA have always fascinated me, as I have always wanted to take a stroll along the Walk of Fame and visit famous sites, such as Alcatraz and The Golden Gate bridge. Therefore, the fact that I am lucky enough to visit both these places this summer is something that I am very thankful for.
4. I have to have another operation - So, here's a fact that you may not know about me - I have extra bone in my little toe. Even though this is kinda cool, it's bloody painful. By the way, you can't see it (I get asked this a lot), as everyone is so fascinated and envisions that I have a massive bump sticking out of my foot. Fortunately, this is not the case, and due to this it took doctors a long time to figure out what it was. Another interesting (debatable) fact in regards to this is that this meant that I was the case of the month, and about 20 doctors came in and examined my toe whilst I sat there awkwardly with my foot in the air. Fun times. But yeah, had an operation in 2013 to remove it, and was told there was a 10% chance of it growing back. But as it's me, I was in that 10% and it grew back, so yeah, I have a starfish toe.
5. I have a new cousin - I mentioned this is my Liebster Award, but in May, the latest addition to our family was born; a very beautiful baby girl named Sophia Jane. It was so lovely to welcome her to the family.

So there you go, that's what has been happening in my life lately. I am so happy and positive recently, and it's fab. There have been some points in this past year that have been quite difficult, yet perseverance, resilience and a good old vent/cry have gotten me through it, along with the support of my amazing family and friends. I am currently loving summer, and hope that the rest of it will be just as good, and I look forward to all the memories that I am going to make. I will also try and keep up posting on my blog more regularly, as university assignments/exams are no longer taking up my time, yay!

What are you looking forward to this summer, and what are your favourite things that have happened/are going to happen this year?

Much love amigos,

Grace x

P.S. Make sure to follow me on my social media - Twitter | Instagram