20.

Hi everyone!

A lot of people have asked me why I have decided to start my own blog. The main idea is that because my family and friends are scattered here there and everywhere around the world, it would be the perfect way for everyone to see what I've been up to, particularly as I am becoming increasingly disenfranchised with the more traditional social media. Also, some periods of my life seem to be so jam-packed and chaotic, I figured it would be nice to document everything all in one place, so a future me can look back and reflect on it all. It feels like a time of huge change in my life, with moving into my third and final university residence, no longer being a teenager, and applying for jobs and looking towards the future. And I really enjoy reading blogs myself, so thought I would give it a go.

The first post I wanted to write was about my birthday because it has been such an amazing time.

Even though my birthday is on the 7th June, it fell smack bang in the middle of my exams this year, so I spent the day revising (boo). However, my day was still made super special by two of my best friends. We went for cocktails the night before so I could see my birthday in in style. Excuse how dark the photo is, the cocktail bar work that whole 'dimly lit and ever so cool' look! I had a personalised birthday cocktail made just for me and was told I could have any taste in the world and so me being an absolute sweet-toothed monster, I asked for something similar to Refreshers sweets. I'm not sure how he made it but it was so yum!

On the actual day they pounced on me while I was in bed with millions of balloons, and got me a lovely cake and some presents and the most spot on cards ever, linking to personal jokes we have. I really wasn't expecting anything as we were all swamped with work and revision, and so it was all such a lovely surprise.

We went out for a meal in the evening and I had one of the best burgers I think I've ever had! I'm such a foodie and spend quite a lot of spare time eating out and trying new places.

By the time exams were over - because I swear we are ALWAYS the last university to finish - it was a week later, but that didn't stop my family making it a lovely birthday weekend. I was told that we were having a small barbecue on Father's Day, just for whoever wanted to pop by for a bit. I was quite overwhelmed  to find a house full of family and one of my best friends. It was such a lovely evening, and I was so distracted catching up with everyone, spilling a plate of pasta down myself (true story) and being chased by six nieces and nephews with water guns and the hose pipe that I didn't manage to get many photos. It was such a relief to not have to worry about exams, as this exam season has probably been one of my most stressful and I've been quite poorly.

Thank you to everyone for my beautiful presents, cards and money. I'm back at university now as I have to work on a few Open Days, so my next blog post will probably be about what I got up to during my week here with revision/ academic work to do.

Shannon x