So, let's start off where last year ended. Thursday August 15th 2013, A Level Results Day, my final day as an A Level student at Aquinas College. From 14th June, the day I finished my final exam, up until the Monday before the big day I hadn't really thought about the outcome of my results. For most of the summer I really just wanted to know but once the time was upon me I decided I quite liked the whole situation of being in limbo, unaware of where my future would be. My first choice: Southampton my insurance: Birmingham or neither! Doubts started to develop in mind during the nights leading up to Results Day and my brain kept me up for most of them asking me questions ("Do you really think you did well in that French exam?", "will those 4 questions you didn't answer in the Spanish written paper come back to haunt you?" "Did you revise enough for that Politics retake?" etc.). I started playing through different scenarios in my head whilst trying to sleep and some of them seemed so realistic I thought they'd actually happened. I'd wake up from another unsuccessful attempt at sleeping thinking that I'd got straight A*s only to find it was still the middle of the night and I was still in bed. Other times I would get a series of E and U's and have to deal with the disappointment of my parents and worst of all myself. All the self-fabricated panic got to such an extent that on the night before Results the only thing that could keep me sane was playing Fifa on my iPod and listening to Bob Marley records like Three Little Birds (Don't worry about a thing), Smile Jamaica and Is This Love? until my body eventually forced me to sleep due the sheer exhaustion of being up for so long.
When the day arrived, I woke up nervous, no amount of Fifa or Bob Marley could make me forget what day it was. I decided to drive into College to collect my results in person with my Mum beside me for support instead of getting my results online like most normal teenagers. The year before when receiving my AS results I was on holiday in Holland with the family where it took me the best part of 6 hours to eventually get my results online. Very nerve-wracking. So it was safe to say I wasn't trusting technology this time. College was much emptier than I'd expected, only a select few had made the trip in which was a shame as I was hoping to have a chat with those I hadn't been able to see over the summer and to say goodbye to my teachers for the last time. I made my way to the LRC where results were being handed out and upon entering I took a deep breath in and closed my eyes, "This is it" I told myself. I tell one of the Women from reception my name and she hands me a brown envelope that matches, I open it, reading from bottom to top for some unexplained reason:
Spanish-A? French-B!? Government & Politics-B General Studies-B.
All of a sudden, my heart sank. I'd missed my AAB offer for Southampton by just 4 marks on my French and it seemed as if I'd be going to Birmingham. The night before I would've happily taken any place at any University however now it appeared that my chance to go to Southampton had vanished, the idea of going to Birmingham seemed much less appealing. Heartbroken, I went to see my French teacher (Patrick) about getting a re-mark on one of my French exams (a D in my final exam) and after a few minutes of conversation he convinced me to look at UCAS Track to see what the actual outcome of my results was. I opened my account to find the message: "Congratulations! Your place at University of Southampton SJ7 for Modern Languages R990 has been confirmed" I did it! Southampton accepted me regardless of missing my offer by 4 marks. The relief was overwhelming, so much so that I spent the rest of the day with a smile right across my face before going out in the evening to celebrate with literally the whole of Aquinas at Tiger Tiger. Turns out all those months of hard work, revising, and speaking in foreign languages about just about every subject on the planet had been worth it. I earned the right to be a Southampton student and I can't wait to start studying there in 2014.
Here's a picture of the victory steak I had at The Hare And Hounds on Werneth Low to celebrate with my Mum, Brother and Sister on Results Day
Now Results Day had been and gone and I'd relinquished the identity of a student (well, for a year at least) my gap year had officially begun and it was off to the annual exam results/end of summer party that is Leeds Festival where I took on my first job as a 'Gapper' working as a CAT volunteer for Hotbox Events. In between seeing some great live music acts and drinking copious amounts of Cider I had to work on the campsites during Wednesday (9AM-5PM), Thursday evening(5PM-1AM) and Monday morning (1AM-9AM). My job as a CAT required me to help people carry their stuff, put up tents, ensure the emergency/fire lanes were free, keep an eye out for thieves, regulate fires and on the Monday shift put them out. I found the shifts hard work because in my normal job as a Swimming Teacher I have never worked more than 3 hours at one given time but the actual work itself was fairly easy except putting out fires after 7AM on Monday morning when we received the staff order over the radio to put out all fires on site. This led to me being called various unspeakable names, threatened with violence and having various things chucked at me like cans and candles most bizarrely (seriously who brings candles to a festival???) . I'd say the overall deal of getting a free weekend ticket and staff camping all for a returnable deposit of £200 was an absolute bargain which I would definitely be happy to do again. Whilst volunteering I had the chance to meet so many different people be it volunteers, security or general festival goers as well as spending times with my friends before they all head off to University and although I didn't party as hard or drink quite as much as I did the previous year as a punter, I do believe I had a better experience altogether. Music-wise there were so many acts that blew me away including Biffy Clyro, Alex Clare, San Cisco, HAIM, Dog Is Dead, Spector, Dry The River, Frank Turner, Bastille, Green Day, Theme Park, Foals, Jake Bugg and Alt-J but my personal highlight was Lucy Rose. If you're not familiar with her and her work, she is a singer/songwriter/guitarist ,better known for her involvement with Indie band Bombay Bicycle Club (one of my favourite bands), who has an angelic voice and is very attractive. In short, she is my ideal woman. I had the pleasure of meeting her at the NME Signing Tent and she was a real delight. As she wasn't one of the better known artists at the festival I had plenty of time to have a chat with her as she signed my copy of her debut album 'Like I Used To' as well as another autograph (which is now hung up on my bedroom wall). She gave me a hug and I got a picture which you can see below. I left the tent with a huge grin on my face and butterflies dancing around my stomach. She is such a genuine, understated, nice person which is not always the case with musicians who often feel they have to try and act cool which was most certainly true of when I met Jake Bugg only a few minutes before at the Signing Tent and unlike other famous/semi-famous musicians I've previously met, she actually smiled in the picture I had with her! It was just such a lovely moment. Her set later that evening was equally impressive in an almost packed Festival Republic tent where she played the hits from her album as well as some new songs alongside her band which I saw all from right on the barrier at the front of the tent singing along to every song I knew. The crowd was immense and you could really tell that having this kind of support really meant something to her, I swear I saw her tearing up towards the end. Truly special.
I apologise if I've rambled on a bit, wasn't exactly the short post I'd originally planned! In my next post which will be arriving in the next few days I will inform you of my upcoming plans as well as what I've been doing most recently to truly get my gap year blog started up. To finish, I've left a shortened collection of photos taken from my time at Leeds Festival for your pleasure.
Au revoir for now! FP #FraserOnTour
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Alt-J headlining the NME/Radio 1 stage on Sunday night.jpg)
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