2017 in Review

It's kind of sad to think how hopeful we were that 2017 would be better than 2016 last January. I have to say that as much as 2017 was an international disaster in many ways, it was an incredible and transforming, though challenging year for me personally. I quite enjoy looking back at my 2016 Year in Review so I thought I'd do a 2017 one.

January 

I took January term off of classes to work on writing the bulk of my undergraduate thesis and went between between at Elon and at home. We got snow early in January and I spent an amazing few snow days with friends. 

February 

February brought my last first day of (undergraduate) classes and a realization that my time at Elon was truly coming to an end. There were many festivities including Elon Ball and some amazing parties thrown by me and my friends. I also got to be an actor in a friend's class project and see the filmed version of Newsies

March

In March, for spring break my family went to New York City. We saw Killian Donnelly in Kinky Boots, the beautiful stunning cast of The Great Comet, and Alistair Brammer and Eva Noblezada in Miss Saigon. Seeing Great Comet truly changed my life and having Alistair recognize me at stage door was amazing. Back at Elon, I was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society alongside two of my roommates and we indulged in our normal shenanigans. 

April

April was a very research focused month. I finished my thesis after three and a half years of working on it and presented two different research projects at my school's undergraduate research day. I also traveled to Tennessee (for the first time!) to go to the National Conference of Undergraduate Research with many good friends -- and eat some amazing food in Memphis. 

May

May was an emotional whirlwind from start to finish. I had my last Elon Tonight premiere as Head of PR. Then it was time for graduation festivities and graduation itself; I was so blessed to have so many friends and family from all over the country come to see it. 

May was also a bit of a low month as I graduated with no job and a lot of anxiety. I actually had a bit of a breakdown the night before graduation because I felt like I'd made so many choices in undergrad that were wrong for me but Kimmy and Lauren fixed it with champagne and sparklers. 

June

In June, after seeing my sister graduate from middle school, I traveled to another new state (Texas!) to see one of my best friends from growing up, Zach, get married. It was the first wedding in our friend group and we had an amazing, but emotional time. After that my family took a trip to Universal and Disney World and we had the best time even if it was super hot. I even got to cuddle Chewbacca! 

July & August

In July, I returned to Florida to go to Disney World with friends and visit my friend Kimmy at her house. I spent most of July and August going between home and our new beach condo and spending much-needed time with my family. 

September

I ventured up to Connecticut to visit Andrew's family and then we spent a day and a half in Boston (that's two more new states!). I'd never been to New England before and was surprised at how much I loved it -- and got to spend time with Alex and Andrew together again. I also celebrated my 23rd birthday with my family.

Near the end of September, I packed up my life and flew to London with my parents who got me settled into my new apartment. My mom and I also got to see Tom Hiddleston as Hamlet at the RADA before they left. I met Corinne for the first time, saw my first few West End shows of the year, started my Master's, and went to the Theatre Café! 

October

October was a month of a lot of theatre (oh yeah, and class too). I went out to Milton Keynes to see The Addams Family tour with Carrie Hope Fletcher, saw Venus in Fur several times, went to Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe with Corinne twice, and saw the anniversary production of Les Mis with Killian Donnelly as Jean Valjean. I also bought my membership to Historic Royal Palaces with some of my birthday money, started writing for BroadwayWorld UK, and got hired as a volunteer at the Charles Dickens Museum. 

November

In November, I went to my first awards show and saw Venus in Fur and met Natalie Dormer again. I also took a trip out to Brighton and relived my summer there (and bought a membership to the Royal Pavilion). I read The Woman in White, my favorite novel of the year, and attended the show's first preview -- my first ever opening! 

December 

December was crazy busy as well. In between working on essays and wrapping up things for BroadwayWorld, I attended an amazing event at Kensington Palace about the making of the TV show Victoria. I got to help interview Anna O'Byrne and go to the Christmasaurus press event for BWW (and met my favorite author Giovanna Fletcher!). 

I also had the most amazing time at the Barricade Boys Christmas concert with Corinne, featuring special guest Killian Donnelly (if you couldn't tell, he's my favorite actor). After that, it was home for the holidays and I was reunited with my family and celebrated an amazing Christmas. 

What were the highlights of 2017? Let me know in the comments below. x

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