Bought a realm, cannot connect to it or close it despite being able to connect to other realms.

I'm really at my wit's end with this issue, and can't really find a solution online.

 

My PC and minecraft works great--I can connect to servers and other people's realms just fine. I decided to pay for minecraft realms and got it, but the realm just won't connect.

 

I can make the world with specifications (default map type, xyz seed, etc) but then when I try to join i get "connecting to realm..." for about 5 minutes, followed by the "an error occured, please try again later" message.

 

When I try closing my realm (settings -> close) it gives me "closing the realm..." for perpetuity. I can't even close my own realm!

 

Nobody I've asked has encountered this which makes me feel like this is an edge case. I know that mojang's servers are working fine because I can connect flawlessly to other realms--just not my own.

 

If anyone knows what might be going on, or has seen this before, PLEASE let me know! I just want to play minecraft with my uni friends.

 

This post seems to be describing the same issue but had no resolution: https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/REALMS-400