What's Been Going On? Summer 2021

As summer comes to an end and my A-Levels loom closer I am forced to reflect on just what I did with my time. And I think for once in my life I can truly say I’ve been productive. Okay I left all my homework until the last week, I haven’t revised for a single subject and by no means am I prepared for the school year ahead of me, but I’m not itching to go back to a routine like I have in past years. It must be the best summer yet.

For a long time I didn’t have many friends, I had a few but we were all as anti social as each other so our summer holidays consisted of one sleepover and a plethora of promises to meet up that would always fall through. This year? This year I think I went out every single week and I finally feel like I’ve gained a social life. The first step of becoming an adult maybe.

I say this because before now I would refuse to go anywhere without my parents, but I’ve taken trains and buses to all over the place in August. So let me tell you just what I’ve been up to.

Going to college has its perks, less mock exams, not having to call a teacher sir, breaking up a month early. The latter particularly excited me, a two month break compared to our regular six weeks. And it was wonderful, except my best friends still had a month to go until they broke up too. It was the first month where my hopes of a good summer started to wilt, spending day after day in my room watching Gilmore Girls and fantasising about the next chapter of my Harry Potter fanfiction. It wasn’t all boring monotony though, being my age you can’t just sit around and wait for school again, I’ve got a year until University takes me away from home and makes me into a real functioning adult. So we went to look at the first of many options. It was wonderful, a friend of mine slept over, we watched Fifty Shades of Grey and cry-laughed ourselves to sleep. The university itself was lovely, big and modern and a place in which I’d get lost more times than I can count. I went in certain I wanted to study Creative Writing and Publishing and came out thinking maybe Journalism would be more fun. Typically, all it did was stem a stressful few weeks of finding a new course.

Continuing on the line of university, we found one. We saw it, I fell in love, I adore the town, the course is perfect. Now it’s just trying to get in. So me and my best friend spent a good few hours writing our personal statements. Honestly, it’s much easier than it looks, I say now until I realise I’ve done it completely wrong and have to rewrite it from scratch.

Considering how terrible 2021 was, I think this summer was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Adventuring into Liverpool with my best friend, singing the Beatles while ducking to avoid branches on an open top bus. Dancing the night away while a friend’s band plays a pub in Birmingham. Sitting in the local park gossiping about our celebrity crushes. I can only hope next year can be just as fun, as it will be the last before we all go our separate ways.

As I head in to year 13 and almost my 18th year of life I’m starting to wonder if finally I’m getting the life that’s been sold to me since such a young age and I’ve thought about ever since.