Reflecting on 2017!!

Hey guys!! As 2017 ends and 2018 begins, I’m going to be reflecting on the crazy but amazing year I’ve had on my blog and with City of Culture. 2017 has been one of the best years of my life so far, primarily thanks to Hull being city of Culture and I’ve received some amazing opportunities through my blog and met some incredible people. All the events Hull has hosted over this year have been incredibly unique and awesome in their own way however while Hull will still host some events next year as it transitions into 2018, there won’t quite be as many as there have been in 2017. So I can keep releasing a post every week, I’m going to blog about Hull as much as I can whilst also blogging occasionally about travel and lifestyle as well. Thank you for all your support over the course of this year, I couldn’t wish for better followers and it’s still so crazy to me that we recently hit 400 followers on Amelia in Hull. So in today’s post, I’m going to be exploring my first year of blogging and Hull’s year as 2017 City of Culture.

STATS

Over all, I’m very pleased with my stats which have gradually built up and increased over the course of 2017. As of right now, my blog has received a total of 8,899 views, 2,488 visitors, 2,142 likes, 1,089 comments and 439 followers. October was my best month for stats with 1,187 views, 313 visitors, 232 likes and 81 comments. Obviously, stats play a huge part in conveying the popularity of your blog over a period of time to you but I feel that a key part of blogging successfully is not obsessing over your stats but focusing instead on writing about subjects you’re passionate about. That being said, I’m sometimes guilty of obsessing over my stats so a goal of mine for 2018 is to strive to write about what I am passionate about without worrying whether other people will like it or not.

FAVOURITE BLOG POSTS OF 2017

I can’t explain how hard it is to pick out my favourite posts; it’s like being asked to chose your favourite child!! However, there are certain posts that stand out to me more than others and I will explain why after I’ve named each one.

• ‘Height of the Reeds on the Humber Bridge – This post was one of my favourites to write since I found the event so amazing and the words just seemed to flow out of me whilst I was describing it.
• ‘One day maybe’ event – With this being one of my longer posts, there were a lot of elements to it such as the historical background I researched and summarised and the great detail I delved into to fully describe the event. However, in the end, I produced a piece of writing that I was really proud of so all the time and effort I put in was worth it.
• ‘When Hull had a police force’ – Writing this post helped me feel a connection to my grandad George who sadly passed away before I was born. I would’ve loved to meet him but since that’s not possible, researching about the job he used to have for this post was the next best thing.
• ‘Open Bridges’ Video and Exhibition – This was another post which I spent a long time writing and ultimately ended up with a beautiful piece of writing that I was extremely proud of. Also, during the final parts of editing this post, my tablet crashed and it seemed I’d lost all of my work. With my dad’s help, I managed to thankfully retrieve the post and publish it before any further disasters could occur. 
  

FAVOURITE CITY OF CULTURE EVENTS OF 2017

This again is extremely hard for me to narrow down since all the events I experienced this year were so unique and amazing in such different ways. However, personally for me these are my favourite city of Culture events of 2017.

• ‘Hull light show for city of culture’ – This event was one of the first to take place in 2017 and in a word, it was spectacular. It gave me such excitement for all the other events that would be hosted in Hull because if they were anything like the light show, then 2017 was set to be one of the best years of my life.
• ‘Height of the Reeds on the Humber Bridge’ – I’ve already mentioned this event but due to how much I enjoyed it, I definitely believe it deserves a second mention. A walk across the Humber Bridge, one of my favourite landmarks, whilst listening to beautiful music? Of course it was one of my favourite events.
• ‘Radio one big weekend’ – Due to Hull’s city of culture status, Radio one big weekend took place at Burton Constable Hall in 2017 which is near Hull. Me and my dad were lucky enough to get tickets to go to it and I’ll never forgot the feeling I experienced when James Arthur, one of my favourite artists, was performing up on the stage and I got to watch him along with some other great artists. The day overall was amazing and I wish I could do it all over again.
• ‘Freedom Festival’ – This event has been running for the last 10 years in Hull and its 10th anniversary tied in nicely with Hull being City of Culture 2017. There were a wide spread of events occurring all over the city and whilst I couldn’t experience all of them, the ones I did watch were outstanding.
• ‘Open Bridges’ event – This event opened my eyes to the importance of bridges and I’ll never again take them for granted. It was clear how much work had gone into the event and I was very flattered when the creators of this event invited me along to the premiere of the video and exhibition for the ‘Open Bridges’ event which helped me understand more of the background of the event.
• ‘Answering a call from 2097’ – This event happened through all the telephone boxes in Hull ringing at the same time and it forced you to look into the future by picturing what Hull would be like in 80 years time. The idea of a conversation through a telephone box between people from 2017 and a girl from 2097 was ingenious and it made me so aware of the telephone boxes dotted around Hull that have been abandoned for newer technology.

If someone had told me last year about all the things I’d achieve and experience in 2017, I wouldn’t have been able to believe them. Now, looking back over the past year, it’s crazy how fast it has all gone; it only seems like 5 minutes since I started ‘Amelia in Hull’ and experienced the New Years fireworks to kick off Hull 2017 City of Culture. 2017 has been amazing and I want to thank every single one of you for reading my blog and following my adventures in Hull throughout 2017. I hope I’ve been able to give you an inside scoop to what it’s like to live in Hull and I hope you get the opportunity to come and visit Hull some day because I can promise you you won’t regret it. Goodbye 2017 and Hello 2018!! I can’t wait to see what the new year brings!!

There’ll be another blog post out next year but until then bye for now!!

Amelia Grace a.k.a Amelia in Hull