As always, I tend to do a last post of the year on New Year's Eve to remind myself of the past year and just recap everything. So, a monthly recap of 2016:
- January: Italy trip, quiet times back in Strasbourg after half the Erasmus gang left, snow in SXB, weekend in London, Car's birthday weekend in Paris
- February: Visited V in Brussels, day trip to Antwerp, hanging out with K, Italy round 2 with YL, exploring Venice alone (amazing place) and meeting up with YS there, back to SXB for classes
- March: Oh Wonder concert in SXB, day trip to Colmar, generally quiet and mostly classes and revisions
- April: Birthday with friends, Paris after my birthday, exams, Dijon with A and YX
- May: Post-exams with amazing weather, 10 days in Spain, went back to London, collected keys and moved into new house!
- June: Came back to SXB, Hamburg to visit V, last 2 weeks in SXB and pre-internship prep, packing, goodbyes :'( , back to London, BM garage sale and started internship
- July: Internship, hanging out with friends on the weekends
- August: Internship, came back to SXB for K's birthday, end of internship, P's birthday back in London, left for Paris to visit YM!
- September: Paris and day trips with YM, came back to SXB for 4 days, back to London for the weekend, BM garage sale 2, left for Tours, farming for 2 weeks, back to London
- October: Start of uni, apps and networking, came back to SXB for one weekend, O's birthday, lots of work and school basically
- November: More work and school, interviews, figure skating etc, Black Friday sales and BM sale round 3
- December: More work and school and figure skating, Lazy Oaf and BM garage sale round 4, started working at HCo, came back to SXB for Christmas and New Year!
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If 2015 was an amazing year, then 2016 was a strange year. On 1 Jan 2016 I embarked on my first solo trip to Italy full of positive vibes and everything felt so refreshing and full of hope. But this feeling didn't continue for the rest of the year, even though I wish it did. The first half of 2016 was exciting and adventurous - I'd booked so many travels and I remember going back to London on a whim, weekend in Paris, mid-week trip to Belgium, Italy again and exploring Venice on my own, day trip to Colmar, Paris after my birthday, exploring Dijon with friends, 10 days in Spain, and finally my last Erasmus travel to Hamburg before returning and departing Strasbourg. Erasmus was like a dream, and sometimes I felt I lost myself in it. The second half of 2016 came like a reality check, and there were moments where I felt truly miserable, lonely, tired and disenchanted. Following my short respite of exploring France and farming in the Midi-Pyrénées I was back in UCL and launched into an intense period of work and apps. But hard work pays off, and I'll always be grateful for all the opportunities and second chances I've been given. And through the ups and downs of this year I've become more conscious and aware of my own priorities. I guess it's true that sometimes you gain some and you lose some, but I always believe what's meant to be will be. 2017, I think I'm ready.
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