2015 in review

2015 was an amazing year for me. Just looking back on it I have changed so much and done so much since the beginning of the year. I started 2015 off in Greece with my family which was a lot of fun. My mom, sister, and I also took a day trip to Cardiff, Wales after Greece. After they left I couldn’t wait to go meet them in the Bahamas later in January. After the Bahamas I was back in London for quite a while before I was going to see any of my family again. I started booking courses to fill my time besides volunteering at Brownies. I took several courses: photography, anthropology, psychology, book keeping, comedy of YouTube, and more. I met with my family friends and got to go to discos. I also hung out tons with my cousin in London. February was a bit of a bleak month for me after the excitement of January and going back to London with little to nothing to do. In February I went on a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon as well where I made my first real friend since I had gotten to London.

When March rolled around things started to pick up. All of the courses I had chosen started in March. My older cousin who I never see decided to come to London to go to a concert. The three of us cousins met up one day and went for Sunday roast besides going to a market, doing some shopping, sight seeing, and going for drinks. During this time I learnt more about who my one cousin really is as I have only met him a few times and he is about 15 years older than me. Later that month my younger cousin and sister came to visit me. It was my cousin’s first time in Europe so I got to show him around London and when my sister met us we all went to Dublin, Ireland. We all got to hang out with my older cousin, who lives in London, as well. I also took my younger cousin to Windsor before he left. Mid-March I also got a little job dog walking. I got to walk this dog named Pierre 3 days a week. This gave me something more to do making me happier.

April was when things started to slow down a little bit and I decided I wasn’t happy with how things were going and how I was trying to put in effort to make friends and have things happen but I still only had one friend. This is when I decided I was going to move back to Canada at the end of May/beginning of June rather than wait until August. During this whole time (end of 2014 on) I was also helping my cousin with his business. I can’t remember if it was the end of April or early May but I helped him prepare and went with him to film his advert which was fun. The same day I went to my family friend’s house to have dinner and watch a movie. Those full days where I got to see people who I knew cared about me and who I cared about were the days I looked forward to most.

In May my friend and I went to Ascot besides planning a small weekend trip with 2 more of her friends to the Isle of Wight. During this time I also met another friend while taking a class. Her and I got on well and she liked to write and make films. I went over to her flat to make some short silly videos after her and I had gone to a play and after party put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her, I, and a friend of hers went around London one day taking pictures to scout locations for her new film. It was so much fun just spending a day with people like them, who are so creative and friendly. One weekend in May I also got to dog sit Pierre which was fun and filled my days besides going to a craft making class were I got to make creams, scrubs, and lip balm. Later in May my cousin and I spent the morning of my birthday together for breakfast before I had to take off to walk Pierre and go to Brownies. That day in Brownies I was put in charge and was hosting a Canada day to teach the girls about Canada. I was also going to make my promise that day. The weekend after my birthday was the weekend we went to the Isle of Wight. The day before that I had helped my cousin with his business again and got to see his new office. The day of the Isle of Wight trip started early: a bus ride, 3 train rides, and a boat ride away. It was fun though. We explored the whole island and 3 days was enough for the trip. The last day we hung out in Portsmouth and I had gotten sick. By the time I got back home in London I was exhausted and went right to sleep. I had family friends who were my age come down from Scotland for a weekend that I met up with. We went for lunch as well as to a couple of art galleries, one including the National Portrait Gallery. We explored London a bit more, had some warm drinks, and headed home. It was a lot of fun to see them and just get to chat to people my own age who knew my family for a day. My mom came to help me move at the end of May. Before we started the hard work of moving we decided to go to Vienna, Austria for 3 days. I was meant to go on a big Europe trip with friends but that never worked out so my mom said we could go to Austria before we went back to Canada. Vienna was a lot of fun and since I had made a friend in London who was from Austria she had told me everything that I had to see and try. We got to see the Spanish School of Riding which was something on my bucket list. After Austria I got to see everyone one more time before leaving. I got to go to one more film party and get burgers after, get a drink and dessert while overlooking the river in Kingston, have one last Sunday roast and watch cricket in the park, have dinner with family friends from Scotland and England, and have dessert with family friends.

I came home the first week of June thinking that once I came back I would be happy with lots filling my days again. This was not the case though. I was happy to see my family and cousins but I had lost pretty much all of my friends except for one on/off friend in Canada. I was also missing London so much. I was so happy to see my dogs but the lifestyle, independence as well as my cousin and everyone I had met in London I was missing. In June I got to go to a women’s FIFA game, Japan vs Australia, with my dad and two cousins. I also got to see Ed Sheeran and One Direction in concert which was amazing! I love both of them so much it just made my June. I was really waiting for the day in July where I got to go back to the UK even if it was not for very long. June kind of rolled by as I got settled back in and got to go horseback riding a couple times.

When July hit I was so excited to go back to the UK. My dad and I went to the UK because he had a meeting in Cardiff, Wales. We flew into London and stayed just down the road from my old flat. We got to see my cousin for dinner which made me ecstatic to see him again. The next day we went to our family friend’s house for a BBQ and got to have some strawberries and creme as it was around the time of Wimbledon. After the BBQ we were off to Cardiff for 3 days. I was by myself most of the time in Cardiff other than dinner time. I did a lot of shopping and exploring. We met with another friend of my dad’s from university who lives just outside of Cardiff, he hadn’t seen her for over 20 years. She was really nice and we had dinner. After my dad’s meeting was done in Cardiff we drove back to London to catch an early morning flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia. We decided that since we had gone all the way to Europe we would go somewhere else besides the UK so I chose Croatia. We were there for 3 days before heading back to Canada. While in Croatia we drove to Montenegro. Both places were really lovely.

August was when my whole family went to Orlando, Florida. We went for a week and got to go to Disneyworld, Universal Studios, the Kennedy Space Centre, and more. It was hot but a lot of fun. This was our one summer vacation this year that was all four of us. We also met my cousin and his parents there as our trips overlapped by a couple days.

After all of this travelling I was staying in Canada until Christmas. Things were slow again. I got back in contact with and old friend I hadn’t seen for about 5 years and we met up for coffee one day. During this time I tried to get a job but wasn’t very successful as I didn’t want a basic job, such as grocery store or clothing store, but I wanted something more. I wanted something that I could use to find my interests in for university. I once again did not go to university this year. End of September/early October I ended up volunteering at a veterinary clinic. I am still volunteering there. I love it. Through volunteering there I have learnt that I want to become a veterinarian and I love surgery. I never would have thought that I would love surgery or want this as a career choice as I used to be so squeamish about blood but I have gotten over that completely.

December was when I went to Cancun, Mexico on a family reunion. It was a week long trip where I got to see everybody. It was lovely seeing family who I hadn’t seen for about 2 and a half years again. I was also really happy to see my cousin from London again to update him on how I’ve been and see what he’s been up to. We came home from Mexico on December 31 so I started 2016 back in Canada for the first time in a long time.

I hope 2016 is filled with joy, self-discovery, love, wisdom, and ultimately happiness. I hope you had a great 2015 and have an even better 2016!!!

Vienna, Austria

Hey guys!

Sorry this is so delayed but I’ve been super busy since my last post. So if you can’t tell by the title of this post I went to Austria. About 3 days after the Isle of Wight my mom came to London and later that day we went to Vienna. We had been planning this trip for a little while and I was super excited to go.

We arrived in Vienna and just hung out in our hotel the first night as we had to get up early the next day to explore the city. The first place we went was the Spanish Riding School as we were going to see a performance and go on a tour there the next day. We explored that area before we kept going. I made a friend in London who was actually from Austria so she gave us some hints of good places to see as well as things to try. We then went to the palace and got to go inside of it as well as into five different gardens. We then went to the Prater, which is an amusement park area, and explored for a bit and had dinner around there.

 

The next day we woke up early and headed to the Spanish Riding School and saw the performance which was amazing. We then went on a tour of the yard and stables of the school and got to see all of the horses. After we went shopping on the two high streets in Vienna and then went to try some different foods. We tried Radler, a beer and lemonade mix, as well as this Austrian dessert that my friend told me was like cut up pancakes. I will put a picture below due to my terrible explanation. It was really good though.

Even though we only had 2 days in Vienna it was a lot of fun and I would defiantly go back but maybe for a bit longer. The Spanish Riding School was most defiantly the highlight of this trip for me. I have heard about that school since I was very little and to be able to finally see it in person was just amazing.

I will be posting keeping up posts like this until I catch up to where I am now.

Ashley xx