2012: A year in review…and my New Year’s Resolutions!

2012 is a big year for me, despite starting off pretty boring. But somehow I’ve managed to go from studying German in my university in the small town of London, Ontario at the beginning of the year, to living in Germany and taking trips to London, England half a year later!

Check out my 2012 at a glance!

January – With my final semester of uni, I spent a lot of time deciding my post-graduation plans. During the Christmas break, I worked a lot on my application for teaching assistants in Germany, so that I can hand it on by the January deadline. I decided that applying for the UK Youth Mobility Visa to live in London was also another option to let me live in Europe, and with a Norwegian friend who was also toying with the idea of moving to London in September, both options seemed great!

February – This was probably one of my most uneventful months ever, so luckily, it has the least amount of days!

March – March was a momentous month for this blog as I made the move from a free Blogger blog to a paid self-hosted WordPress blog. Obviously I was taking this to a higher level, and after seeing my readership increase so rapidly, I felt that was a good decision. However, I am also horrible with html and web design, so it took me quite a few painstaking days (and lots of help!) to get my new blog to my liking. But in the end, I really have become quite fond of my little  travel blog!

April – The beginning of April was filled with exams, but just as quickly, it was finished, and I had finally completed my undergrad degree!! It was a great feeling to be free (until I do my masters that is).

May – I finally heard back from the organization, and was notified that I got the job in Germany! It was definitely the best news I’ve heard all year, and an exciting moment when I realized that my dreams were finally happening! And all a week or so after I graduated! I proceeded to spend the following months with my friend Miriam, who was moving to Switzerland to be an au pair, talking about our exciting plans for Europe.

June – June was an exciting month packed with the Euro Cup games. The weather was great in Canada, and we watched the games outside in the city square and also at a German bar. It was fun and Germany was on a winning streak, until that sad day when they lost to Italy….but the final game between Spain vs Italy was still epic and to be remembered.

July – I got into a car accident in the beginning of July, which effectively cancelled all the travels I had planned for the summer. Then again, after having such a busy start of the year where I had no free days, it was kind of nice to sit at home and watch tv or read. Of course, after a week or so, I became pretty restless….but luckily my injury wasn’t serious enough to have to undergo any surgeries. I spent this month contacting the school I was teaching at to prepare for me teaching there, as well as looking for an apartment in Mannheim through wg-gesucht.de (which was hella hard in Canada).

August – I finally got my leg immobilizer taken off at the beginning of August and it was great being free again! My move to Germany was delayed due to my injuries, but in between my physiotherapy sessions, summer parties and sad goodbyes to my hometown friends, I finally moved on August 20th, and it was great! My first trip was to my work orientation in Cologne, where I met hundreds of other language assistants, and quickly made some new friends!

September – September was spent running errands and other things I had to do upon living in a new country. I was subletting an apartment for two months, but near the end of the month, I moved into my permanent German apartment, and with my home base settled, I was able to finally start some traveling!

October – At the beginning of October, Miriam and some of my British friends came to Mannheim, and we traveled to Munich for our first Oktoberfest! It was tons of fun and hopefully, there’s many more to come. Then there was the weekend in Amsterdam, which felt like one big trip.

November – November started with me and Tania’s long weekend trip to London, and London definitely did not disappoint. End of November was the start of the Christmas markets, and I definitely went all out and visited as many as possible during my first year away from home during the Christmas season.

December – Lots of really great things happened in December, which makes me really happy to call Germany my second home. While it’s my first Christmas away from Canada, I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend it!

New Years Resolutions:

1. Return to going to the gym regularly and maintaining an active lifestyle. Ever since my accident in July, I haven’t done much exercise, and when you stop going to the gym for a prolonged period of time, you just get lazy! Now that it’s fine for me to start running again, I can’t wait to get sweaty!
2. Figuring out my plans for later this year. I know I want to continue living in Germany, and I will probably do my masters here. I already have a few universities in mind, so I have to start working on my university applications. Fingers crossed!
3. Continue blogging, writing and painting. As I continue to soul search and decide on my career path, I want to take advantage of Europe, and what I originally came to Europe for – the art scene. In 2013, I plan on updating my blog as often as I can, start writing that travel e-book I’ve been putting off, and working on some more paintings for potential gallery work.