2014: A Fond Farewell

The cover flips shut and there it sits, face down on the table. The book of 2014, my book of 2014.

2014 is over. How did that happen?

While it's been another year that has flown by, 2014 was long in the best way and for the first time I feel like I can honestly say, I've grown up. I can recognise it in myself, I've grown, and I've come out the other side a stronger person, and hopefully, a fuller person.

• I've officially graduated university. I have a degree, to go on with as I choose, and memories and friends that will stay with me forever.
• I've made mistakes, owned up to them and dealt with their consequences.
• I was wise enough to say "No. Letting him kiss me is not a good idea right now."
• I was brave enough to say, 'do you know what, I'm going to do with my future what I want to do, not what society expects.'
• I learned how to make time for friends, and know that no matter how far away they were, it didn't make them less important to me. I now have lifetime friends all over the country, from London to Liverpool to Manchester to Yorkshire. 
• I fell in love with sport as I volunteered at the event of a lifetime, and took a plunge into the unknown as I signed up for the next Commonwealth games in the Gold Coast.
• Girls, I went down another clothing size. Jeez. Skinny jeans? Come at me.
• I learned that it didn't matter how long you knew someone for, it was the quality of the friendship they brought you. Here's looking at you my handful of wonderful work pals and fellow clydesiders.
• I learned that heartbreak doesnt break you. Not really. It's hard, but you will get through it, all of us survivors promise you that.
• And I recently learned that no matter the mistakes they made, it wasn't my place to judge or distance. I am their friend and I will be there for them, as I hope they will be for me if I ever need it.

So here's to 2015. A year of seeing friends old and new, far and wide. To job interviews, adventures and goodbyes. 

And that will be the crux. While I cannot wait for my adventure to begin, saying farewell to the year I became who I am will be nothing compared to saying farewell to the people who made me who I am. I will be leaving my job behind - or more importantly, the people I work with. I'll be leaving behind any opportunity to jump on a train south and see my friends. I'll be leaving both my parents on their own - a difficult thing to comprehend and admit - and I'll be leaving my wonderful city.

But I'll be seeing the world. I'll be travelling a continent I fell in love with in 2013, learning how to say hello and thank you in a dozen different languages. I'll be popping down to Australia and visiting the brother in Sydney I miss every single day. I even plan to pop over to New Zealand and geek out in Hobbiton (yes I just admitted that.)

So I raise my glass (naturally with champagne in it) to all of you. Happy New Year to all you wonderful people. I wish you all the best in your own adventures, whether it be travel, work, a new family, school or just getting through the next uni term with money left over.

I thank you all for making 2014 the special year it was.

Time to open the front cover on a blank page, and while I sale shop for the things I need for my ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME, I realise I've already started writing. I hope you do too.

Sarah x

Farewell from a Weegie

Farewell from a Weegie:

The world is getting smaller is often a phrase I hear from the older generation. They encourage us to go and see as much of the world as we can while we're still young - because when else do you have the freedom to do so? The world is getting smaller in that almost anyone can go anywhere.

This is never truer than when a major event brings the world, or even just the commonwealth together. You know where I'm going with this now.

Glasgow was catapulted onto the world stage for the recent XX Commonwealth Games. Glasgow 2014 was bringing up the rear of London 2012 and boy did we have a lot to prove. No, we would never be the Olympics of '12, but those who wished to compare us were those who wished us to fail.

We took on the challenge, we worked hard and we pulled it off. Never have I been more proud to be a Glaswegian than in the last month. I was privileged enough to be a Clydesider and I want to thank my fellow volunteers.

Without you, the games would not have been the success they were. You came from all over the world to become our friends, our leaders and our colleagues for a short amount of time. Glasgow wants to thank you for the time and family you sacrificed and the journeys you had to make. I can say with certainty that the people I met and worked with for 9 days have become fast friends & were a massive part of my experience.

I want to thank the people of Glasgow and the spectators of the games. Hampden Park, already famous for it's "Hampden Roar" opened it's doors and said "yeah, come on in, change us, we're ready for the top athletes to compete here." And despite the renovations and the loss of seats, visitors would be mistaken for thinking it was still at capacity. The electricity, the emotion and the deafening support will live in memories for years to come. We raised the roof no matter who was in front of us.

Athletes, we didn't care where you were from. Whether you were Scottish, Irish, Kenyan, Jamaican or even English (you were surprised weren't you?) We screamed until our throats were hoarse and applauded til our hands were numb. We wanted you to succeed. We wanted to see you win and for two weeks, no one cared about race or religion. Hampden, and indeed every other venue, I'm so proud of you.

I was lucky enough to be in the Hydro for the duration of the gymnastics. I was part of a wonderful team of people and together we saw England dominate, the Welsh come through for surprise wins and heard 12,000 voices singing Flower of Scotland on two separate occasions. Never has my heart been fuller, nor my emotions so frayed, but I got to experience it with new friends (from Canada, England and all over Scotland) and I loved every second.

So, while Glasgow winds down, and the Commonwealth says it's thanks to the city; this one Weegie wants to say thanks to you.

I love this dear green place, and now, maybe people will understand I don't say this from a place of bias. Why? Because we showed that for two weeks we were the best city in the world and we put on the best Commonwealth Games in living memory.

Thank you fellow Clydesiders, without you, none of it would have been possible. We were asked to "bring it on" and we delivered. Our dreams and ambitions were met and piped to fruition by the Royal Scot Guard pipers. Throw in a bit of tartan, some giant tea cakes and the maker of Irn Bru as a sponsor and you have the biggest, best and most Glaswegian Commonwealth Games the world has seen.

It's curtain down on my Bonnie city for now, but we will meet again my friends. Whether it be in Rio, Toronto, Glasgow for the World Championships 2015 or even the beautiful Gold Coast in 2018.

It's back to real life again, and I genuinely wish you all the very best with whatever you go on to do. We are all on much of a "comedown" after such a long build up, but together we will remember and reminsce. The XX Commonwealth Games, 2014 and Glasgow will be much talked about for the foreseeable future.

Cheers everyone, you will be missed.

Sarah x

A Small Thank You

What now?

It's a strange thing, suddenly being an "adult."

There are so many connotations of the word, are we just supposed to know? What suddenly makes me an adult? Is it just because my student card has run out? Because I'm working full time and paying bills - it can't be, I've certainly done that before. So what?

When does everything I learned at school come into play? And when does someone sit me down and tell me everything they failed to teach us?  Sure, I can use the co-sin rule, but when is someone going to tell me what the hell my credit rating is...or heaven forbid, does??

I graduated less than a month ago on a spectacularly sunny Thursday evening in Manchester, and come Friday, I was back home in Glasgow enjoying a day off - eating cake and watching sport on the TV. The hat and the gown and the handshake and all the photos didn't change anything. They didn't change me.

I can list with absolute certainty what did change me. University as a whole. In three short years I met people who changed me for the better, people who became friends quicker than you can imagine and people who grew with me. I have no doubt in my mind that the girls I lived with and the friends I made on my course will rock the world in all their different ways. I met some of the most creative minds who fueled my own, shaped my work and spurred me on through the writers block and just helped me have fun. I met people who spend even more time in their heads than I do and people even louder than me.

But opposite them, I met some of the most critical and brilliant minds in psychology, criminology, philosophy and business. Minds that see things in whole other ways, minds that see humour in everything and made me laugh on countless occasions. Girls confident in themselves, their image and their beauty who helped me see the same in myself. Girls who didn't judge if I sat on the sofa with a pint of ice-cream, but would encourage me to the gym as quickly as they would to a three-course meal in a restaurant.

I will miss these people more than I can imagine, but I know they are not simply part of my past, but a part of who I am. I have a lot to thank these people for, and I know they know who they are. We've already parted and gone our separate ways, but in these digital times, no distance is too far. Some are working, some are working to save, some are setting themselves up for further education and some are even jetting around the world as we speak. The wonders of the modern age.

So, to my fellow graduates, housemates and friends, I miss you. I wish you the best of luck. I thank you for everything. And of course, I wish you all the very best. You are some of the best people I know and you have given me the best three years of my life.

"Congraduation" class of 2014.