Goodbye 2014

I realise it's been months since I last posted. Time has seemed to run away from me, even though I've had very little University work this term (something that will undoubtedly catch up with me in the new year). I've realised, as I so often do, that writing is more than just a way to pass the time for me. It's something I enjoy, love and need to do. But even without regular posting (and a nice reason to start again), I knew that I couldn't let the year finish without a year in review post.

2014 has felt so... full. Looking back, it seems to have been packed with experiences. Big moments, little moments... There is so much from this year that is as simple as a cup of coffee with a friend to as big as adventures out of the country with good company.

Not everything has been good but thankfully - blessedly - very few things have been bad. I was making a list of all the things that have happened (using everything from my one-line-a-day book to my tagged photos on Facebook) and it has been so much fun to look back, especially because there was so much I'd forgotten. What I love best is that a lot of what I have loved from this year hasn't been the kind of things I would necessarily write about - it has been things like staying up with the boys until the early hours of the morning or afternoon cups of tea with Meryn. I remember one night (I have no idea when), the 7 of us were all sat on/around the stairs talking after a night out. I have no idea how long we sat there for, or what we were talking about, but I just remember feeling so lucky to have found a group of friends that have made University the best 2 1/2 years of my life so far. It's little memories like that that make writing these posts so fun.

So I've decided to make a list of 2014. It's been such a great 12 months, and so much fun to look back on.

• In January I surprised myself by travelling across Chepstow quarry on a zip wire (and not freaking out when I got stuck).
• I slept over Meryn and Anna's, where we painted canvases. Mine is now hung up over my sink in my new University room (my Dad thought I had painted birds and told me to maybe not pursue a career in art). 
• A trip to Cardiff with Meryn and Anna let us pretend to be tourists and started a conversation that has led to some incredibly exciting plans for the next 2 years. 
• McPake and I watched the Superbowl again and while it wasn't a Ravens victory (GO RAVENS), it did not disappoint. 
• Sophie and I visited Paris and somehow managed to fit everything we wanted to see in to one day. Eiffel Tower at night? Check. All the steps in the Arc de Triomphe? Check. Scammed by a clown? Check. 
• I saw my second football match ever! with McPake, Anna, Tom, Rag and Samuel in Swansea. We watched Swansea vs Napoli and I'm not sure if I enjoyed the match or the walk home more (at least there was no fear of Anna shouting Italian offending any Swansea fans on the walk home, ha!). 
• A second sleepover at Meryn and Anna's involved dancing around the living room and lots of conversations over coffee and while it wasn't big or even a special event, I was truly happy that afternoon and I loved it. 
• Anthony and I saw Russell Howard in Cardiff; I think we laughed for 2 hours straight! We also had a free room upgrade and our favourite breakfast in our favourite hotel. Bonus!
• In one of the strangest evenings of my life, McPake and I helped Tom rid himself of leg hair. It ended up with him stood in the bath as the two of us rubbed hair removal cream all over his legs (thankfully it was McPake's job to do the bit near his bum). There's a photo of it happening and it looks just as weird as it felt to be there. 
• I went to a couple of Pole Fitness lessons earlier this year and learnt three things in the process: 1) it was the most intense work out I have ever done. 2) I ached so badly that moving my arms for the next 3 days was painful enough to reduce me to tears. 3) I have the utmost respect for everyone that does it for a living/has taught themselves because that shit is hard. 
• In March of this year I started volunteering for the Alzheimer's Society! I was part of their Try Something New project and spent 6 weeks as part of a cooking class that aimed to teach people with dementia some cooking skills (or allow them to cook without strict supervision if they could no longer do that at home). It was only for 2 hours a week and while it was incredibly hard at times, I enjoyed every session I went to. 
• Even though she's lived there for two years, this year was the first time I visited Sophie in Poole. My first visit involved an insane amount of travelling (considering it only takes 3 hours in a car - I was travelling for almost 24 hours there and back!), sightseeing and my fourth tattoo. My second visit was incredibly spontaneous and despite being for a kind of shitty reason, it was such a fun two days. We babysat her two adorable cousins, watched a lot of films just for the sexy guys, and laughed a lot. It was definitely worth all the travelling (although the second visit resulted in my Mum's Ford Focus being written off...)
• If you ever wonder what living with 6 boys is like, this March I borrowed Tom's milk to make a coffee only to be told after I drank it that he had spat in the milk. I drank Tom's spit. That is what it is like to be me. 
• Meryn, Anna and I watched Tom race for the first time for Varsity in April! 
• My favourite day in our University social calendar - VARSITY. I love this day. Love it. This year followed last in that we missed all of the sports (other than the big rugby match) and spent our day drinking in pubs (of course). Tom and I attempted to go out once the buses dropped us off in Swansea but we lasted about 15 minutes (and two wasted buckets) in Bambu before we gave up and went back home. So close! Our post-Varsity breakfast the following morning kicked butt though (props to Chef Tom - the sole cook of most of ours meals).
• The Winstone girls spent a weekend in London in April, as a Mother's Day treat to Mum. We got her tickets to the Jersey Boys and spent an afternoon dancing and singing along to all of the songs. 
• I had my first (unsuccessful) Skype interview.
• Lottie passed her theory test (after a horrible morning of desperately trying to find her paper license) and then a couple of months later she passed her driving test as well!
• One evening my poor finger tips definitely haven't forgotten me, Mum, Lottie and (for a couple of hours) Anthony spent hours sewing Lottie's play mat for her A Level textiles deadline. There was so much sewing and cutting and needle tips; even my eyes were sore by the time we finally finished! 
• The boys and I went round Meryn and Anna's for a BBQ that somehow ended in us toasting Prosecco (a horrible drink that I had to sneak to Tom to finish for me). 
• There was one sunny afternoon we all dragged our revision to Cwmdonkin park and tried to enjoy the sun lying amongst all the paper. 
• This isn't one specific moment but I do want to remember all the afternoons that Tom and I spent watching Game of Thrones while eating dippers and potato waffles/hashtag browns after taking a break from revision. We spent so long watching that programme, and had so much more fun (and put way more effort into) planning the breaks than revision that looking back on May that's all I really remember, haha!
• Our Summer Ball this year was amazing: a meal in Bryn-y-Mor, drinks in the garden, actual good photos of the 7 of us!, Scouting For Girls, dodgems (x2, of course), running down Gwydr Crescent to make it to the Domino's guy on time, and me and McPake sat on the pavement at midnight eating Domino's in our Summer Ball outfits. 
• Soph and I spent a few days in Dublin at the start of summer and I fell in love with the city (despite spending most of our time out of it on tours). We walked across the scariest bridge I've ever seen in my entire life, saw the Giant's Causeway, visited Belfast, visited Trinity College, and bought the best bag ever (Gavin!). 
• We visited the Warner Brother Studios (again) for the Harry Potter Tour. 
• Anthony and I went on a spontaneous little trip to Haverfordwest and I fell in love with the best chair in the entire world. 
• My not-so-little sister turned 18 and I realised I am now ancient (and she is so grown up I think my heart might explode). 
• Tom cycled to Magor (putting everyone in the world to shame) and I had the best time showing him the area and telling him all of the stories that go with them. It was great, even if we were both too hungover to be any fun the day he went home. 
• I passed my second year of University!
• I dip-dyed my hair - something I loved and now desperately miss! 
• Tom and I flew to Italy to visit Anna and I had some of the best ten days ever. The trip itself was relaxed; there wasn't a lot of sightseeing but we had home cooked Italian meals every day and spent a lot of our time just messing around by the pool or the sea. Our last weekend was spent in a tiny village lost in Italian hills (or mountains I'm not sure, I've never seen anything that big before) where I sat on a white plastic chair next to the road (a dream I never knew I had) and we had the strangest night of either of our lives. Neither of us wanted to go home. 
• I spent an afternoon in West Wales with Meryn. I visited her house (it's exactly her in house form, if that makes any sense), we went to Tenby and both realised that it wasn't weird at all for our two lives (University and home) to merge in to one. 
• Anthony and I celebrated three years together (three whole years!) with a visit to St Fagans and then food in my favourite restaurant. I love thinking back to that afternoon. He packed a picnic rug, The Hobbit for me, my favourite snack food, and we spent the afternoon reading and eating in the sun. Perfection, right?
• I experienced my first breakdown this summer. The car decided to just... stop 10 minutes away from home. Thankfully I'd chosen the route with a hard shoulder and only had to wait 15 minutes for the AA van to turn up. Unfortunately not only did I make a fool of myself by referring to the oil light as "Aladdin's lamp" but the car ended up having to be written off. The jokes haven't stopped since! 
• Meryn came to stay at mine and we had so much fun visiting all the places from my childhood (I have more stories than I realise). She was right about the whole two-lives-merging thing. Despite her being firmly part of my University life, it didn't feel weird at all being in Magor with her. 
• During that same trip, I drove me, McPake and Meryn to a racing circuit just outside Cardiff to watch Tom race. It ended up being a really really fun afternoon and we got to see Tom win his first race!! We were all so happy and so proud of him, we spent a few minutes jumping and cheering like complete fools.
• While I wouldn't exactly recommend throwing a bucket of ice cold water over yourself, it works surprisingly well on hangovers. Although my ALS Ice Bucket challenge wasn't quite as good as my Dad's - he had Anthony throw a bucket of mainly ice over him while he dangled his legs in a pool in Florida. There's always one isn't there?
• All of mine and Tom's visits to The Old Pandy Inn, and the hilarity of being sat opposite him decked out in his full cycling kit while we have lunch. 
• I visited Tom's house and have never been more jealous of anyone's life ever. He lives on a farm (because he's a farmer) and I'm still figuring out how to steal one of his cats or dogs. 
• I was put on the FODMAP diet and the next 6/8 weeks of my life were a gluten-free, dairy-free hell. 
• Lottie and I went to the opening of a restaurant in Magor and felt super fancy. 
• My family, Anthony and I went to Florida in September. We visited theme parks, had a lot of great food and I celebrated my 21st birthday while we there. I took this a hell of a lot better than turning 20 although this might be because we spent the day in the two Harry Potter parks. It was the best birthday I've ever had. 
• Lottie moved to Carmarthen and started University (and my heart feels like it could burst with pride whenever I think about it). 
• There was a weird moment in our new house when a random guy walked in to our living room at 2 in the afternoon and asked us what the time was. Turns out he had slept in our garage, even though none of us knew he was there. 
• Meryn got her first piercing!
• Meryn threw up outside our house hahahaha! (Sorry Merv)
• We went to a pub called The Cricketers where McPake played pool with someone nicknamed Psycho Carl and there was PG porn playing on the TVs. I hope I never forget the panicked look on McPake's face as he leant towards me and whispered in a terrified voice "I'm winning, I don't want to beat him!"
• McPake and I saw (and met!!!!) Wheatus! 
• Meryn and I attempted to go to an Aikido session, couldn't find the door to get in, jogged to a rugby match, watched rugby, visited a pub, got changed then went back and got drunk in two more pubs. Everyone's right, exercise is fun!
• Tom bought three fish and we were all so confident in his ability to look after them, we made bets on how long they would live for (Benj won - two weeks). Poor Tom had a mini-funeral by flushing everything down the toilet and leaving the poor bonsai tree to rot in the fly room. 
• Soph visited Swansea for the first time since first year! We did absolutely nothing (both of the times she visited, I'm a terrible host) but I think (hope!) she enjoyed experiencing the student life.
• One drink in the pub resulted in a random house party with a guy (Mitch!) invited in off the street, eventually being kicked out, and an inspired dance with plastic bags by McPake. 
• I went paintballing for the first time ever! Surprisingly I only came back with one bruise but my shoes weren't so lucky. You can't actually tell they were once white and they have been left to rot outside our front door since I came home that evening (I really should throw them away). 
• Tom and I started going to the gym! Our Tuesday gym sessions started a new ritual of buying and then eating a large pizza each on the way back to the house. I'm not sure what the logic was behind that but seeing how scummy we looked with our pizza boxes and gym stuff was hilarious. 
• Speaking of the gym, I had a personal training session that was apparently me learning how to box. I flat out refused to follow him around the whole gym while punching him but Tom had great fun telling me he could see my head "bobbing up and down" from where he was. 
• McPake and I saw the Dead Poet's Society in Taliesin cinema (I loved it but wow, my heart). 
• I went to Amsterdam again! This time Tom, Meryn, Anna, Ainsley, Benj, me and McPake went and it was such. a fun. trip! We rented bikes again (let it be forever known that I taught Tom how to ride none-handed), went on a boat tour, and had the funniest failed attempt at a group photo I've ever had. I think Amsterdam in Autumn is my favourite place on earth. 
• I tried tea for the first time ever and accidental sparked the great Milk Debate of 2014. (Who knew milk first or second was such a big deal). 
• We had our last Bonfire Night in Swansea. Fireworks from the beach are magical, I'm going to miss this part a lot. 
• I went to my first proper rugby game with Soph (I was so drunk I didn't realise we lost, and then ate my egg-fried rice with my hands) and then my second proper rugby game with Ant (I knew that we won but had to sleep on the train, what is it with me, alcohol and rugby?!)
• Tom couldn't find his way out of Lazerzone; I was stood at the exit and all I could hear was his far-sounding voice asking how to get out haha! 
• I spent a weekend in Narberth with Meryn. Everything about the trip was perfect; the train journey, the christmas market, her mum's cooking... everything. 
• One cold night eating fish and chips in the Mumbles with Tom and Meryn, looking out at Swansea twinkling across the bay. 
• Not one specific moment but I really, absolutely loved all the afternoons spent drinking tea in the house with Meryn. It quickly became one of my favourite parts of the day; she would come over after a lecture or a meeting and we would make a cup of tea and just talk away the hours. If she stayed late enough, Tom and I would cook her some food and we would cwtch up in my room watching something on TV. It was the most I'd seen her since we lived together in first year (and maybe even more than that because we've got so much closer since then). I've learnt never to underestimate (or take for granted) the joy in conversations with friends over tea/coffee. Life is made up of the small things!
• Meryn and I had breakfast on top of Cefn Bryn! I managed to spill tea over myself (I didn't know how to work my flask) and we freaked ourselves out by talking about horror films while in the middle of deserted countryside. 
• Meryn had her first rugby experience by watching it in JC's with me, my sister and Anthony. I think she loved it but I was very drunk (seriously, what is it with that sport) and she was very busy jumping over the seats..
• I gave my first presentation in Uni! I didn't practise (stupid), the two lecturers hated the paper I chose (awkward) but I still managed to get a 68 (luck). Yay!
• Meryn and I spent one freezing cold December afternoon watching Tom race in Cardiff (and discussing how we should take up cycling because those bums though) and my feet were still cold by the time I'd driven us back to Swansea!
• I drove me and Tom to Porthcawl one evening where he told me I was the worst person ever and that he hated me because I wouldn't let him have another french fancy. 
• Meryn, Anna, Tom and I successfully cooked a Christmas meal! Cooking and chopping and dancing and laughing in that kitchen was so much fun, and such a nice break from all the drama/upset of this semester. It was Anna's first time wearing a Christmas hat! And we all had the pleasure of watching Tom try to squash garlic with a fork (he failed). 
• Me and Meryn went to a Christmas jumper party that involved candy floss cocktails... Needless to say, my 10am meeting the following morning was not an enjoyable experience. 
• On my last day in Swansea, after Meryn helped me pack (that girl is too nice) we went for food in the diner. Pretty normal right? Well, no. Somehow we ended up buying armchairs (£5 each, bargain!) that don't fit through any of the doors inside our houses. Both armchairs are now just chilling in our living rooms. 
• Meryn and I drove to Tom's for an afternoon with him over the Christmas holidays. Thanks to a lorry full of sheep (I now hate sheep, lorry's and lorry drivers) I did some of my worst driving ever to make it to mine and Meryn's meeting point on time. I was 45 minutes late but y'know. I tried. (Tom's dog Tilly has a jupmper and it's so cute I almost cried). 
• Me and Lottie had our legs waxed for the first time ever and it was hilariously painful. Lottie absolutely hated it (she was grimacing and could not stop complaining when we left) but I think the startled red raw look of my eyebrows might convince me to go again (it was a good look for tomato hobbit Cho). 

It's been such a great great year and I'm so excited to celebrate it in Dublin with Ant and Soph tonight. My first New Years Eve out of the country! Happy New Year to you all, see you in 2015!