The End of a Year

By now, the majority of you should know that I’ve finished my first year of university in England. I really finished at the start of June, but my birthday month has been so busy that I haven’t gotten the motivation or time to properly write down a blog post on how much first year in Brighton has gone. I’ve written about a few specific events and experiences but nothing in depth since I got here because, for the most part, I’ve been exploring the area. So,  ten months on – here’s my thoughts on my move… 

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From Broadway to Hollywood, and back again

About a month ago, I wrote a blog post (here) about attending a professional dance tour featuring Strictly Come Dancing‘s professional dancers Anton du Beke and Erin Boag. (Okay, technically, Erin is no longer on Strictly, but you get the idea.) After seeing that show, I almost immediately made the decision that I would try to go back again and see it before it ended. Luckily, I found that their final show of the tour would be in Wimbledon, which is right outside of London and on the Underground service, so naturally, I got myself a ticket since I could do that trip in a day.

a simple thank you…

Both 2015 and 2017 were incredibly pivotal years in my life, and I’m relating the confidence that I gained through watching Strictly to the incredible changes that I made in those years. It can seem sort of silly how much a show can impact you, or the people on it, especially when there’s a chance that you’ll never meet them (time has since proven otherwise after 2015), but the idea is the same. So this is a blog post to thank two incredibly wonderful women for being who they are and inspiring me to do the same.

This is television. Things happen.

“You got to have a lot invested in something to boot as spectacularly as I did before that first show. I really believe I’m a big part of this. I’d be crazy not to stick around and see how it turned out.”
– Natalie Hurley (Sports Night; Bells and a Siren)

staying strong

“keep smiling darling, you have so many wonderful opportunities coming your way.”
– katie derham 

This is going to be a blog post of a different sorts, it has a topic, but instead of giving you the history first, I’m going to start with the positive. Because that’s what someone who struggles with mental health is told, isn’t it – don’t let your mental illness define you. So, this is me – attempting to not let my mental illness define me and talk about how it has shaped me into the person that I am today.

I’ll give you a little bit of context too, for anyone who hasn’t been here (which is a lot of you!), I’m currently sitting by the window in the Brighton LEON. Which, I hope you’ll all know how that specific location, and the people connected to it, have impacted my life. Because that’s another, very important part of mental illness – being able to talk about your struggles with the people who you trust.

No University, No Problem!

First off, oops … real life got crazy busy this last month.
I celebrated my birthday, took a long weekend to go to a folk music festival, and I finalized my student visa application for my time in Brighton.
And now I’m back with another blog post … one that I feel is very close to my own life.

I’m 23 now, and in less than two months, I’ll be moving across the ocean to do something that I’ve never, ever done before. Go to university.

Strength, happiness and inspiration.

Inspiration is a weird concept, especially when it comes to finding a celebrity, or even someone remotely notable, who inspires you. You go off, choose someone who you’ve never met (and might never have the chance to) and decide that their ideas and persona inspire you to become a better person. The majority of the time, inspiration and idolization can come from the people around us, but more often than not, it comes from the people we see in the media.