It's the final throws of 2013 and I'm sitting here thinking about the year that has just passed. I did my last review three years ago now and so much has changed since then. I'm feeling quite sentimental so I am just going to write down what has happened in 2013, for what a year it has been…
I've got to start with the event I shall remember the most from 2013. I achieved my dream this year - In June, I got my first class honours law degree and no one can ever take that away from me. To think, my 2010 review highlights my initial months at Oxford Brookes University… Kind of cohesive, huh? Blood, sweat, tears, highs, lows, anger, stress, celebrations, luck, great friends, great teachers and so much more went into getting that degree but it was worth every moment. And so, when you get your degree, the next step, is, obviously, graduation!
Graduation in July was an absolute blast. It was fantastic to celebrate with some of my closest friends the three years we had spent together and what the results had been from all our hard work. The weather was good too, which was a bonus! To hear my name called out and to take the stage and receive my certificate which proudly proclaimed 'first class honours' on it was the proudest moment of my life and certainly wasn't something I expected when I sat here three years ago writing my review of 2010! It was a delight to see how proud my family were of me too - that was the main thing. Simply put, 2013 included the best day of my life so far.
I also got really into swimming this year and reignited a passion I had long since forgotten about. I love it, I really do. 64 lengths at least 3 times a week is so much fun and gives me time to think and de-stress from studying. I've got to thank my friend Lawrence for coming with me too - it was great to have a boost on some of those early mornings in January and February where I didn't feel like going one bit! I enjoyed going swimming so much that I thought I would try and put it to good use and so I did a charity swim. It was pretty tough but enjoyable too. In April, I swam 2.5k for Marie Curie Cancer Care, raising £275 in the process. I felt pretty good after that and I do hope that the money made a difference to someone's life.
My summer was one of two halves - I spent the first half applying for training contracts and the second travelling across America. My first half was, as you can imagine, not much fun. However, summer days in the library, again with Lawrence who provided fantastic moral support, were necessary. I had some success and got as far as an Assessment Day with a top 50 firm in London and, although I didn't go any further than that, it gave me a real boost to know that I am really not that far off. Hopefully when I write my next review, I'll be fully fledged in the legal world!
Travelling across America in August was certainly an experience I won't forget and I saw some wonderful sites, like the Golden Gate Bridge, the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas in all its glory. One of my friends who I went with, Will, has written a blog all about it, so I won't go into all the details. Here's the link; http://willjacques.wordpress.com.
September came round before I knew it and that meant one thing… Law School! Phew, what a last couple of months of 2013 they have been! Law school is really testing and pretty relentless but I enjoy it too and it is great that my friend Ghi is there with me too - it would be a very different place without him there! I've met some pretty decent people there - mostly the girls - and I am enjoying it so far, although there is a long way to go yet.
Of course, this year hasn't all been good. Firstly, I've lost my best friend because of events in America and that has been very hard to deal with but hopefully, in time, things will improve. I would like to think our friendship is strong enough to survive… we'll see.
Secondly, leaving Oxford was really sad. Sophie and Hannah, two of my flatmates had begun to feel like family and it was really sad leaving them, particularly Sophie, as I had lived with her for three years and seen more of her than my family in that time! I'm still in touch with them both and I'll be seeing them both in 2014 and beyond, I am sure. Also, of course, it was sad to say farewell to my course mates too. I had really ridden the ups and downs of the roller coaster with my friends on my course and, to you all, I'll never forget my time at Oxford Brookes!
And so, apart from some family event that took place close to Christmas (I'll reveal all in 2016, believe me!), I think that's 2013 in a nutshell, from my perspective. Incredible. Stupendous. Magnificent. The greatest year of my life. And so, with 55 minutes left of 2013, whilst listening to my favourite song of 2013 - Calling by Sebastian Ingrosso & Alesso, I'll end there. Lets see where we are in three years time eh, guys? What a year. You'll never be forgotten, 2013!
