back and forth

January, or at least its first couple of weeks, is spent looking back at the past year, but also looking ahead to what the new one promises to be. By chance (I actaully meant to do this earlier), I am writing this post on 06.01.07 so it is kind of appropriate for swinging between these two years!

2006 will remain a memorable year. I am not sure if to classify it as my best year so far. However, together with 2005, it was definitely one of the most eventful years in my 22 years of existence. There were several highs but also quite a few lows. Some I blogged about, others will just remain imprinted in my mind. I learnt, I cried, felt genuinely happy. I laughed and danced, argued and eventually made up. I fell in love, got hurt. I felt blessed to have some wonderful friends both near and far. I was scared and paranoid. I had a great adventure in an amazing country. Kept myself busy, very busy. I was confused and at times miserable. I got nostalgic. And I learned some more.

Yes, 2006 was quite a year. Although sometimes I questioned the meaning or reason behind certain events, considering everything, I am grateful for every single thing that happened including the negative points. Granted, I wish that some did not, especially those in the latter part of the year, but we cannot escape what is not in our control. I am grateful because each event has been a lesson and in the last few days of the year I kind of reaffirmed my belief that everything happens for a reason. More likely than not, we will not realise this until much later, but it does make things easier. It does lighten the load.

So, a few of the highlights of 2006 were:

completing my MC term, with all the peaks and lows that it involved

the WENA Newies Conference - a truly amazing week

the business seminar for one of our credits, which most definitely exceeded expectations

the greater part of April and May...

attending Sting's concert and the Bob Sinclar party, among other live music performances

practically every day spent in Morocco, but particularly, the Sahara

Zak's week in Malta and everytime I was a tourist guide during the year :)

after four consecutive summers working at the same firm, I started a new working experience

seeing that some of my MC work whose results were not directly visible, paid off a few months down the line

the World-Cup and celebrating Italy's win, hehe.

finally, after being a spectator for a couple of years, started blogging myself

health scares

AMS and connected events

thesis proposal

2006 is now a closed chapter in the book called life. What will 2007 reveal? As expectations go, the first six months are going to be hard. With looming finals and dissertation writing, it's not going to be easy nor quite pleasant. However, there will hopefully still be those moments relieving me from boredom and putting a smile on my face. As for the second half, if things go according to plan, it should be just brilliant with plenty of travelling, starting work full-time and graduating on the cards. Hopefully. The first few hours of 2007 were generally pleasant, so I'm hoping that augurs well! Here's an (imaginary) toast to the new year, wishing you all a fulfilling, meaningful year ahead.