Year 1

So, I dropped the ball on this… for an entire year. Oops?

I will start by saying that my first year was incredible. I went to so many new places, did so many new things and met some amazing friends. If you know me you probably know or have seen social media posts of these things, but if you don't, or haven't kept up, um, get with the program. But I'll be nice and give you a quick rundown.

September 2021: I moved to London to attend Richmond, the American International University in London. Trips of the month: Windsor and Latvia. Yeah Latvia. Turns out plane tickets in Europe can be as cheap as dirt. My friends and I were looking for a weekend trip and found round trip tickets on RyanAir to Riga, Latvia for less than $25. In all honesty, I had never heard of Latvia, having it confused with Lithuania. Damn the American education system for not teaching me geography. Anyways, we went to Latvia and had a great time being scammed out of our place we were supposed to be staying. Found a hostel to stay in, all was well. We visited the Baltic Sea and saw a gorgeous sunset. All in all a 10/10 experience.

October 2021: My friends and I took a day trip to Bath the day after Timothee Chalamet was there filming the new Wonka movie. It was neat to see the filming crew and everyone clearing out the sets. Both of my parents came to visit, separately of course. Would have been really awkward if it was together (if you don't get the context clues here: they are divorced). With my dad, I went to the Falcons vs. Jets game in London at Tottenham Stadium. Never in my life had I been to a Falcons game and my first one was across the pond. Pretty cool I think. We also visited Abbey Road Studios and took our Beatles album cover picture on the crossing.

When my mom came, it was for my fall break. We took the Eurostar to Amsterdam, and spent a few days there. Highlight of Amsterdam: the unlimited wine and cheese boat cruise. And not unlimited cheese, unlimited wine. We were sitting in the back of the skinny boat with 3 Irish girls we met and between the 5 of us, we probably went through about 8 bottles of wine. We also spent literally 48 hours in Berlin where my mother had the fantastic idea to get on one of the world's largest helium balloons that takes you 500 feet

up into the air. Only tethered to the ground by a single chain/rope, whatever it was, I did not trust it. One point of contact that breaks and I'm flying up into the air over Germany. No thank you, never again. We made our way back to London where, once again she got me up in the air, but on the London Eye this time. If you can't tell, I don't really like heights. We went and saw the crown jewels, had a nice dinner and then I sent her on her merry way back to the states.

November 2021: I went to Rome, Italy. My friend Arianna is from there, so we went for 72 hours for her birthday party her mom was throwing her. It's always fun when you don't speak the local language and can't understand a single thing the Italians are saying in the restaurant. Luckily we knew a couple of her friends and a few others spoke some English so we never felt excluded. We spent about a day in Naples, Italy because it was cheaper to fly out of there versus Rome. I had the best pizza I have ever had in my entire life and one of the most amazing cannolis at the airport.

1. The Colosseum

2. Ariannas Birthday

3. Naples, Italy

December 2021: my favorite time of the year. Christmas markets, Winter Wonderland, and the city is decorated with all the lights. I love it. Sophia and I went to Jingle Bell Ball at the o2 arena where we saw about 10 artists perform, my favorite being Ed Sheeran. My flight home was at 10 the next morning. I went home for break around the middle of the month trying to surprise everyone but my mom, but they pulled a complete 180 on me. My best friend, Madison, came to pick me up from the airport which had me in tears. She took me home where I surprised my sister, who had her in tears (maybe not due to me coming home but her choking on the chip she was eating when I walked in the door). My dad, sister and I also went to Nebraska right before Christmas to visit his side of the family.

January 2022: New Year, same me. Went back to London mid month and switched my major from International Business Management to Communications in Advertising and PR.

February 2022: We attended the Brit awards. If you don't know what that is it is essentially the British equivalent of the American Music Awards. I got to see Adele, Liam Gallagher, Sam Fender, Anne-Marie, and Ed Sheeran all perform which was so cool. It's always weird being in the same space as some of your favorite celebrities and realizing that they are just people like you. February is also my birthday month so we went out and celebrated that at a bar which has ball pits in it.

March 2022: Spring Break. Sophia is from Brazil so we went there for spring break because surprisingly enough a plane ticket to Rio from London with a stop in Paris or Amsterdam is cheaper than flying from London to Atlanta. Rio truly is an amazing city and being able to see it from a locals point of view was such an amazing experience. Obviously we went to both Copacabana and Ipanema, and also visited Christ the Redeemer. My least favorite part, the 2 cable cars we took up to the top of the Sugar Loaf, but honestly the sunset views were worth it.

April 2022: Concert month. Soph is my concert buddy. We have the same taste in music and if you look at our text string its 99% links to concert tickets. We went and saw 5 Seconds of Summer (my favorite band) at a small club just south of Richmond for what was supposed to be their album release party but was canceled because of covid and rescheduled. There were only about 500 people in attendance and I can confidently say it is one of the best live music experiences I have ever had. No person in the club was more than 20 feet away from the band. Not even a week later we saw 5sos perform again, this time at Wembley Arena on their London tour stop.

Later that month I got the opportunity to see a french singer, Zaz, at Royal Albert Hall. Soph and I also went and saw Louis Tomlinson (formerly of One Direction) also at Wembley arena. My new favorite trick at concerts is to walk up to a worker and ask the question “is there a way to upgrade our seats once we are already inside”. Nine times out of ten it has worked. We were put into the closest seated section to the stage. The exact same seats that Louis' family was in just on the other side of the arena.

May 2022: I started my 4 month long summer back home.

June 2022: My mom and I went to Miami to stay with my grandfather, and when we went outside baggage claim at the airport, we ran into Anthony Ramos. As in Hamilton and In the Heights. We also spent a day down in Key West where I think I ate my weight in peel and ate shrimp. We also stopped by my mom's college friend's house in the Keys where he took us snorkeling at Looe Key Reef. I do not like open water or the ocean at all, and I got in, but I made sure someone was within 5 feet of me at all times. I had an underwater camera and was videoing 3 big fish when one of them started swimming towards me and I freaked out not knowing where anyone was. I don't think I have ever swam faster in my entire life.

July 2022: 5 Seconds of Summer Concert number 3. This time in Atlanta with Avery. It was her first time seeing them so it was special that I got to be the one to take her. My uncle also got tickets to Garth Brooks in Charlotte so Ave and I drove up there for the concert and to see him. One of my friends from camp that I have not seen in years was also there so we met up.

August 2022: Ave and I went to see Morgan Wallen. This is also the month I felt the most lonely because all of my friends had moved back to school already so I think I was the only person between the ages of 18 and 22 in Marietta. The day before I flew back to London I took Avery to see OneRepublic, who is her favorite band. Let me just say Ryan Tedder is basically the music industry.

I’ll pause here to tell you a little more about my uni. Since its founding, the campus had been on Richmond Hill. Well, that is no longer. Our campus has moved to Chiswick Business Park, which is still in West London but a bit more north than Richmond Upon Thames. The school has taken over an old Disney office. The coolest thing I can tell you is that it is a super modern building, but they have kept the filming studio doors as the entrance to the library and the now much smaller film studio for the film studies classes. So many cool things were filmed there but my favorites include Pirates of the Caribbean and Iron Man. Yeah, cool right? In the exact same room I am sitting learning about advertising and PR is where Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr. have filmed their movies.

The business park also offers so many internship and job opportunities that you would not get on a normal campus. Some of the companies located in the park include Starbucks, Virgin Media, and my favorite, the UK headquarters of Warner Bros and Discovery. Being in such a professional environment has me excited for the future and what these companies may have to offer in terms of future career opportunities.

September 2022: I landed in London on the first, and started classes on the fifth. So far I enjoy my classes and my professors. Soph and I once again went to a concert at the o2 arena, this time Lewis Capaldi. If you have no idea who he is, I beg you to look him up. You would totally know his music if you listen to pop radio, but his voice does not match how he looks or even how he talks. Hailing from Scotland, he is by far the funniest performer I have ever seen, finishing the opening song by telling our section of the arena that he shagged all our moms. He also does not play the piano but is hoisted in the air with a mini piano for a few songs, where he proceeds to fake play to “keep up the facade” because “it's show business baby”.

In other news… this week has been an absolute mess. I had sent 2 duffle bags containing basically all of my clothes and shoes to London, but they have yet to arrive. Even now 5 days after their estimated arrival. They are actually back in Atlanta as of this morning. No idea why, all I know is I am living off 3 shirts, 2 pants, 2 pairs of shoes and everything else I had to buy at the mall because I don't have anything to wear. On top of that a new Prime Minister was appointed on the fifth so that has been insane hearing all the news about that and how that affects the country. To top it all off, Queen Elizabeth died. Yeah, not that we didn't know it was going to happen, she was 96 for god's sake. Anyways, being here for such a historical event has been crazy. My entire almost 20 years of life have only known her as the queen. Being in London, I was able to go to Buckingham Palace about 2 hours after it was announced with about 300,000 other people. I saw the official notice paper announcing the death. It's a weird feeling knowing that the country has a king, as my entire lifetime there has been a queen.

In conclusion, the year has been jam packed with fun, travel and so many unbelievable events. I feel fortunate to be able to share all of this with you, but no promises I'll keep up with it once again.

Thank you again to everyone who has made this possible and supported me. I love you all.

This ones for you Queen Lizzy. Cheers.

Ashton xx