The End of 2020

It started with hope. Everyone excited to have entered the new roaring 20s, and to be alive in a time where being able to travel anywhere was at our fingertips. Some of us, including myself, started the 20s in their actual 20s, and I couldn’t imagine what the year would hold for me. Finishing University with a Creative Writing degree, having my graduation where I can do the cliche boomerang and swing my cap up into the sky, and turning twenty-one; with the joy that I knew I could finally drink and gamble if I would ever find myself in America. 

It was like reading a book that is filled with many foreshadowing elements. Each week, twitter had a new trend about something awful. There was the thought that WW3 was going to start. The fires in Australia. And the sad passing of Kobe. Until finally news came about Covid. Every day, something new about this virus came out. Everything was shut: theatres, clubs, restaurants all closed. Everything that we had grown up with, was taken from us and we now had a new world to get used to; one that meant our house was our only scenery. 

During the first lockdown I was still in Cheltenham where I was studying at University, and everything moved online. Only one of my lecturers actually did the Zoom meetings - two hours once a week for drama. Yet the other lecturers only put a few things up for us to read… it wasn’t the best. 

However, I was lucky to not always have to stay in my house. On the weekends I had work, telling customers ‘Sorry, we have no more toilet paper, or soap… they’ve all been taken.’ Or constantly making sure customers were not breaking the rules, with a few grunting and showing how angry they were with all of the changes. 

Then came my 21st birthday. If I would be honest, it wasn’t too bad. I saw friends over Zoom, we had drinks and laughed and tried our best to play drinking games. My sister even created a quiz to do with the whole family, Italian and Dutch side; it was the 21st birthday that I actually needed without realising. 

When summer came, it was like a present from Mother Nature herself that with the warmth came good news. Rules were lifted, it was easier to see our friends, and restaurants were opening once again. It was such a tease, because before we knew it everything was going back in time and the lockdowns happened once again.

If you take a look back at this year, you might think most of the time you spent at home and binging over the newest Netflix series. That was me too! This year has been sad and awful, but also a great time for us to stay home and recharge ourselves, reflect on us and simply relax. 

You might have heard this a million and one times, but it is fine if you didn’t act like your friend who started a Youtube account and now has over a thousand followers. We all act differently, and we need to do what is best for ourselves to give us the happiness that we deserve even in this crazy year.

Let’s hope that 2021 is somewhat better, and that we can grow and learn from this year.