The end of 2011.

I'm very glad this year is coming to an end.
I know that just changing one number of the year won't make a whole lot of different to my life, but it will feel nice to have even that small change.

This year hasn't been the greatest year by all means. Compared to 2010, which was absolutely wonderful, it is a real disappointment. I've had a lot of stress concerning College - what subject to drop for A2, all the coursework and exams to revise for, pressure of waiting for results, not getting the results I wanted etc.
Then came choosing my degree. Eventually I was able to persuade my family to my way of seeing how much I wanted to do Asian Studies at University which was a painful and emotional journey which involved a lot of arguments and tears,  but in the end, my 5 choices were:

• Asia Pacific Studies @ Leeds
• Asia Pacific Studies & Chinese @ Leeds
• Cultural Studies & Chinese @ Leeds
• Cultural Studies @ Kent
• East Asian Pacific Studies @ Sheffield.

I was rejected from Sheffield which was a huge disappointment but I got conditional offers from all the others which was FABULOUS and I'm very happy but it was a stressful time...

Let alone all of this, I've had a bad breakup, fall-outs with friends, rumors going around College about me, and all of the stuff that a normal 17 year old girl experiences. 

2012 is a big year for a few reasons:

• It's the year of Doomsday! (Possibly xD)
• The year I go to University and leave my family, friends and everything I have in the South East and move 5 hours away where there is no one I know and everything scares me.
• The last time all of my friends will be together for a long time.
• FINALLY finish compulsory education.
• I have to become independent. 
• Holiday with my girls!
• Year 13 prom
• My 18th birthday
• A Level results (eeeeek)

So it's a big and scary year but I'm so ready for it just to be able to start a new life with independence and a clean slate with new friends and studying something I love. 

I'm petrified, but I know that that's natural and I just have to grit my teeth, be brave and embrace it!

Can I handle this year?

I'm seriously considering how well I'm going to do in Year 13 due to the amount of extra work I'm giving myself to push myself that much further to have a better chance at getting into University and onto the course I want.

The degree I'm looking at is a Joint Honours in Asia Pacific Studies and Chinese at Leeds.
However, to do this I need a grade C in a foreign language at GCSE... which I don't have. Therefore, I'm doing a GCSE in French for the duration of year 13... which is 8 months. I have quite good knowledge of French even though I haven't studied it formally since year 9, but my dad has had a house there for about 5 years so I've picked up a fair amount as we're over there a lot. But I keep being told how difficult it is to do well in it so I am starting to worry.. I just really want to be able to study Chinese.

I'm also have extra curricular Mandarin lessons at school hoping that it will put me in a more advantageous position and I'm doing an EPQ Extended Essay about Communist China in comparison to a non communist country such as South Korea or Taiwan.

As well as these I'm doing English Literature, Psychology and Music Technology A-Levels... not exactly easy subjects and I'm just so worried that I'm giving myself so much extra work to look better for University but I don't want it to affect my A2 grades... I don't know if I'm able to handle all the work because quite frankly, I am the master of procrastination.

I really need to get my head down and get off of Tumblr and Facebook and Twitter and just study study study. 

On a brighter note, the girls met up this evening to discuss our holiday plans for next year and to eat lots of pizza, play singstar and watch TV... I love my friends!

New start to my blog!

I've had this blog since 2010 but Katrina has inspired me to start actually writing a daily (or at least weekly) blog to clear my thoughts or even just to have something to look back on as I started to begin my life's journey properly.

So, I deleted all my horribly embarrassing posts from last year and am starting afresh!