Maddie's 2020 Year In Review
- Maddie Sheinker
- Dec 30, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 27, 2021
"2019 was unlike any year I've ever encountered" was how I started off last years review. Fast forward 365 days and I can still say the same, but for very different reasons.
2020 was unlike any year any of us have ever encountered. It brought me some of the lowest lows of my life: multiple family losses, a cancelled college graduation, unemployment, a halt to my early 20s. The world as we knew it took a hard turn that none of us were expecting. I'm not writing this to complain. I know that there are a world full of people that have been treated worse by 2020 than I have (although that doesn't mean my sadness over the past year is invalid). And I know that all of us are over hearing about the troubling times 2020 brought along. So here is my 2020 year in review, where I focus on the highs- month by month.
January
I rang in 2020 at a fun bar in Hoboken, NJ with some of my best friends from high school. Not too long after, I went back to the University of South Carolina to start my second semester of senior year. The energy and vibes that my friends had going into our last semester of college were immaculate.
February
Road-trip month! Every weekend of school I was somewhere new. First I took a trip with my sorority to visit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. It was a 9 hour drive that I took with 2 of my best friends in my sorority. The experience was so meaningful and we also got to explore Memphis. On the second week of February, I flew home to surprise my mom for her birthday. On the 3rd weekend my friends and I got an AirBnB in Charlotte, NC for no reason except to have fun and explore a new city. It was one of my favorite college weekends and we also discovered our all-time favorite sushi restaurant. Lastly, I was invited on a fraternity mountain weekend to West Virginia. The trip was 6 hours and although I can't say I'll ever return to WV, it was fun while it lasted.
March
The last normal month before shit hit the fan. But low-key the most fun part of the year because my friends and I spent our spring break in Key West, FL. Ask any of my college friends what the best week of their college experience was and they'd agree that it was Key West. We spent our days tanning by the pool and nursing our hangovers. At night, we'd get yummy dinners, go out and drink a little too much. It was in Key West that we found out about colleges all over the country closing down due to COVID. To say this was a last hoorah would be an understatement.
April
All of my college friends and I had decided to stay at school during quarantine, since South Carolina had much lower COVID cases than NJ at the time. So we did all the typical quarantine stuff, but in the comfort of our off-campus apartment. We became tie dye masters, professional chefs, All-American fanatics. We took shots of Tito's at 2pm for no reason. We went on lots of walks and worked out outside. We got closer with each other, which honestly may not have happened if it weren't for COVID.
May
The month that was supposed to be graduation. Instead, my college friends and I made sure to get professional graduation photos taken together. Because things were still open in South Carolina, we took a few day trips to Charleston and Myrtle Beach. One weekend we even rented an AirBnB in Savannah. At the end of May, we decided to leave school for good. It was a tough decision because technically nothing was forcing us to leave, but we knew that it was time to get serious about post-grad plans. So we did what we had to do- went to our favorite restaurants one last time, had a drink at our favorite college bar, had an emotional night with our best friends, walked around our college campus one last time and we left for the last time.
June
My high school friends had a little graduation party. I also went to Long Beach Island for about a week to see my college friends, where again we got really tan and really drunk.
July
Happy 22nd birthday to me! My mom, aunt and I took a quick weekend trip to my favorite place: the Hamptons to celebrate my birthday. At the end of July, my high school friends and I went back to the Hamptons for another weekend trip.
August
NYC outdoor dining was finally open so I took advatanage of the rooftop bar opportunities. My family also took a short trip down to the Jersey shore, which was so nostalgic of the trips we used to take every year in my childhood. August was also my virtual graduation, where I watched myself give a virtual commencement speech for my entire 5,000 person graduating class. This was definitely my biggest accomplishment of 2020 and something I'll be proud of forever. At the end of August, my college friends and I met up in Charleston and Charlotte for a few days to reunite.
September
My high school friends spent a weekend in upstate New York in the mountains for Labor Day. We road ATV's, had nightly bonfires, cooked a lot and saw a bear. My family also threw me a graduation party in my backyard.
October
My friends and I took a weekend trip to Salem, MA and Boston. We explored witch city and I tried my very first lobster roll (4/10). We also celebrated Halloween at my friends house where I dressed up as Serena van der Woodsen (it was last minute, what can I say).
November
I started a dream job with an interior design PR agency in NYC! After months of job-searing this became my other biggest accomplishment of 2020. And so far i'm loving it! I visited my friends in their new NYC apartment for the first time. I also took a 24 hour trip to Charlotte to reunite with college friends. And of course, we celebrated Thanksgiving with just my immediate family this year.
December
And here we are- 2020's end. I celebrated the holidays with my immediate family and have been focused on my new job.
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