2011 has been a great year.
A year of fun, accomplishments and achievements, a year of hellos, goodbyes and reunions. I left some good friends I had seen everyday for years, I saw some old friends I hadn't seen in years and I met some of the most amazing people of my life this year.
I played Carnival, played with dolphins and played in parks. I graduated high school, I was in a fashion show, I lived in Italy. I've been to ten different countries. I've learned so much this year. I've loved so much this year.
As 2011 is quickly drawing to an end I recollect my best memories, my greatest moments, my strengths and growth, my pride in myself for this year past. I also remember my low points, the times I cried myself to sleep, the times I walked through the city alone, the times I let my thoughts rule me and bring me down. And I remember how I overcame all that, and came out for the better. I know I am a better person today, this 31st of December than I was on the 31st of December 2010. I am one year older and one year stronger.
I've had more fun and been more continuously happy this past year than I have for as long as I can remember. I have so much to be thankful for, so much I am thankful for.
And it's only just begun.
I'm excited for 2012, eager to see what it will bring, ready to overcome whatever obstacles are thrown my way and happy that I am healthy enough to face this year head on. As everyone does at the end of a year I am beginning to plan my resolutions for next year. I do this every year and I have not kept a single New Years resolution in my life. Sometimes I write them down, sometimes I forget about them the next week, but this year I am sharing them with the world so I have no excuses. That being said…
1. Stop making excuses
I am so good at convincing myself why I shouldn't do something, focusing on the consequences or the discomfort, I often forget to think about all the good that can come out of taking a leap of faith and forcing myself to do something even if I'm trying to talk myself out of it.
2. Be better at long distance communication
For me Skype is pretty much reserved for my sister, and I have friends all over the world, from Australia to America to Holland to Trinidad to England, Scotland, Finland, Ireland, and so on and so forth. I need to stop closing myself off to the people I can't see everyday and make more of an effort to communicate with all of my wonderful friends.
3. Stop being so lazy
This is going to be the hardest by far.
4. Accomplish at least one thing on my bucket list.
http://memoirsofarat.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-bucket-list.html
5. Allow myself to get hurt
Because it probably means I took a chance, risked breaking out of my comfort zone and fell hard. But at least I would have hit something great on the way down.
(Unless I fall down the stairs, there's nothing great about falling down the stairs.)
I hope you all have had a great year, and that 2012 is good to you in more ways than you can even imagine right now.
Happy New Year!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
"Today is a gift, that's why it's called the present"
Today is the 21st of December 2011. It's been four days since I left Florence. It is four days before Christmas day, and 10 days before a New Year. I should be writing my college application essays, and therefore anyone who knows me or has been reading this blog for a while will know that means it is time to procrastinate.
Today I slept late, my sister made me a yummy omelet for breakfast while I messaged my roommate and good friend from Florence, I made an entire playlist on my iPod devoted to how much I miss the tourist infested beautiful ancient little city. The first song on the playlist is called 'This City' and my favorite part of the lyrics say "This city is my city, And I love it, yeah I love it, I was born and raised here, I got it made here, And if I have my way, I'm gonna stay" I know I wasn't born in Florence, but I feel as though I came out of my experience there a new person, a better person, and I like to think a new me was born and matured in the small streets and cosy little apartment I shared with three amazing girls. Today has barely begun for me, though it is almost 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I do not know what I will eat for lunch, or what I will do this evening, or who I will see. I could finish all my college applications today (though I'll admit that is not likely), or I could simply watch the season finale of Doctor Who with my sister. Today is unknown, and at the same time it is familiar. Today is the present, and as I promised myself and my roommates I am living in the present. I can't help but reflect on the past, however, and I wanted to bring you on this time travel with me. (I've been watching way too much Doctor Who…)
Exactly one week ago was my last day of exams for the semester. I only had one exam, Italian, at 9am, and I think (I hope) I did quite well. It was my last day of classes, my last official day in Scuolo Lorenzo de Medici for the Fall 2011 semester, and the mark of the end of my time in Florence. It was a sad day for me, but also a reflection on the happiness I had experienced for the last three and a half months. It was a good day.
Exactly 6 months ago was four days after I graduated from high school. I hadn't spent a summer in Cyprus yet, I had never been to Florence yet, I hadn't learned what I know now, or seen what I've seen. I was excited, scared, anxious, and hopeful. I couldn't speak a word of Italian yet. High school feels like years ago now, not months. But six months ago I was saying goodbye to the people I had known and seen everyday for four years of my life. Six months ago I began my journey, and took the first steps towards the rest of my life.
One year ago I was sailing through the Grenadine islands with my family and the family of one of my best friends. I was opening myself up to the idea that maybe Christmas didn't have to be terribly sad to me, as it always had been in the past, maybe I could have fun this year, maybe I was luckier than I ever appreciated before, because I had that opportunity and I was with people I loved- then and now.
Two years ago my family changed once again. I was confused, upset, selfish, skeptical and young. Two short years ago I seemed so young. That was a very dark time in my history, not just that Christmas but that year was hard for me. I cannot remember exactly why now, though it seemed so important at the time. I was struggling and very unhappy. Two years ago I wish I had known I would be as happy as I am today, as lucky as I have come to appreciate, and as wise as I have become. Two years can be so short, yet see so much change. I'm glad to say that I am a different person from who I was two years ago. I like this version of myself much better.
Where were you one week, six months, one year, and two years ago? What were you thinking, feeling, seeing? I dare you to think back, look at a calendar and travel time. You don't need a TARDIS. I hope memory lane is as rewarding for you, and makes you appreciate who you are today, because today is the most precious day of your life. Live in the present.
In the wise words of Henry David Thoreau; “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their islands of opportunity and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.”
Today I slept late, my sister made me a yummy omelet for breakfast while I messaged my roommate and good friend from Florence, I made an entire playlist on my iPod devoted to how much I miss the tourist infested beautiful ancient little city. The first song on the playlist is called 'This City' and my favorite part of the lyrics say "This city is my city, And I love it, yeah I love it, I was born and raised here, I got it made here, And if I have my way, I'm gonna stay" I know I wasn't born in Florence, but I feel as though I came out of my experience there a new person, a better person, and I like to think a new me was born and matured in the small streets and cosy little apartment I shared with three amazing girls. Today has barely begun for me, though it is almost 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I do not know what I will eat for lunch, or what I will do this evening, or who I will see. I could finish all my college applications today (though I'll admit that is not likely), or I could simply watch the season finale of Doctor Who with my sister. Today is unknown, and at the same time it is familiar. Today is the present, and as I promised myself and my roommates I am living in the present. I can't help but reflect on the past, however, and I wanted to bring you on this time travel with me. (I've been watching way too much Doctor Who…)
Exactly one week ago was my last day of exams for the semester. I only had one exam, Italian, at 9am, and I think (I hope) I did quite well. It was my last day of classes, my last official day in Scuolo Lorenzo de Medici for the Fall 2011 semester, and the mark of the end of my time in Florence. It was a sad day for me, but also a reflection on the happiness I had experienced for the last three and a half months. It was a good day.
Exactly 6 months ago was four days after I graduated from high school. I hadn't spent a summer in Cyprus yet, I had never been to Florence yet, I hadn't learned what I know now, or seen what I've seen. I was excited, scared, anxious, and hopeful. I couldn't speak a word of Italian yet. High school feels like years ago now, not months. But six months ago I was saying goodbye to the people I had known and seen everyday for four years of my life. Six months ago I began my journey, and took the first steps towards the rest of my life.
One year ago I was sailing through the Grenadine islands with my family and the family of one of my best friends. I was opening myself up to the idea that maybe Christmas didn't have to be terribly sad to me, as it always had been in the past, maybe I could have fun this year, maybe I was luckier than I ever appreciated before, because I had that opportunity and I was with people I loved- then and now.
Two years ago my family changed once again. I was confused, upset, selfish, skeptical and young. Two short years ago I seemed so young. That was a very dark time in my history, not just that Christmas but that year was hard for me. I cannot remember exactly why now, though it seemed so important at the time. I was struggling and very unhappy. Two years ago I wish I had known I would be as happy as I am today, as lucky as I have come to appreciate, and as wise as I have become. Two years can be so short, yet see so much change. I'm glad to say that I am a different person from who I was two years ago. I like this version of myself much better.
Where were you one week, six months, one year, and two years ago? What were you thinking, feeling, seeing? I dare you to think back, look at a calendar and travel time. You don't need a TARDIS. I hope memory lane is as rewarding for you, and makes you appreciate who you are today, because today is the most precious day of your life. Live in the present.
In the wise words of Henry David Thoreau; “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their islands of opportunity and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.”
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Firenze- Fall 2011.
Sono triste perché io bisogno partire. Non voglio dire addio a Firenze! Non voglio dire addio a miei amici! Non voglio partire. Ma, sono felice perché io sono vivuto a Firenze per tre mesi, e sono le più fortunata ragazza nel mondo. Sono innamorato con Firenze. Sono più felice qui.
Mi mancherà vivere in Firenze, mi mancherà parlare in italiano, e mi mancherà miei amici! Firenze é mio posto preferito nel mondo. Ho visto David di Michelangelo, sono salito del duomo di Brunelleschi, ho visitato di palazzo di mecidi famiglia e più e più.
Ho visitato molti posti. Ho visitato Capri, Sorrento e Pompeii, e ho visitato Munich per feste di Ottobre, e ho visitato Svizzera, e Milan e Cremona per il compleanno di mio nonno e ho visitato Perugia per il feste di cioccolato, e ho visitato Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Cracovia e Praha, e poi ho visitato miei amici a Londra. Ma, dopo di tutti, mio posti preferito é ancora Firenze.
Sono fortunata ho incontrato tutti bravi personi. Loro voglio bene tutti.
Sono felice io ho crescuto. Ho diventato una brava ragazza! Arrivederci Firenze, e arrivederci a miei amici.
(This is not a translation, simply a continuation of my thoughts and feelings about Florence:)
Climbing Brunelleschi's Duomo, walking past Ghiberti's golden doors of paradise, saying goodbye to Michelangelo's David… I am the luckiest girl in the world. Sitting behind Michelangelo's sculpture of David, staring at his perfectly curved rump and strong powerful hands I cannot help but get more than a little bit emotional. This perfect sculpture of the perfect man is the pride and joy, the symbol of Florence. My Florence. And therefore he is a symbol for me. He reminds me that I came here to find relationships and somewhere along the way I found myself. David shows me that I don't need anything more than a stone figure to make me happy, because just like him I can conquer anything I set my mind to. When I came to Florence I was young, I was eager and hopeful and terrified. I didn't know what life would throw at me for the next three months and that was hard for me. Now I don't want to leave. I want to stay here, in this place with these people for as long as I can. Not just because it's fun, and not just because I like it, but because I have never been so proud of myself, and never felt so good in my own skin. Florence brings out the best in me, as do the people I have shared my life with for the last three months. I feel more at home here, and happier here than I ever have in my life.. I'm going to miss David as much as any of my friends here. I'm going to miss Florence. I'm so fortunate, not only for my 3 months in Florence, but for my life up until this point, and for my family and friends, and for my appreciation of everything around me. I love Florence, I love my life. And this sadness that i feel now, this heavy heart I carry, is simply proof of how much joy and love I have been lucky enough to experience, only a side effect of my good fortune and my time here. Though I hate saying goodbye I'm glad to have to, because it means I had a hello in the first place, and a magnificent 3 and a half months in between those two fateful words.
Mi mancherà vivere in Firenze, mi mancherà parlare in italiano, e mi mancherà miei amici! Firenze é mio posto preferito nel mondo. Ho visto David di Michelangelo, sono salito del duomo di Brunelleschi, ho visitato di palazzo di mecidi famiglia e più e più.
Ho visitato molti posti. Ho visitato Capri, Sorrento e Pompeii, e ho visitato Munich per feste di Ottobre, e ho visitato Svizzera, e Milan e Cremona per il compleanno di mio nonno e ho visitato Perugia per il feste di cioccolato, e ho visitato Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Cracovia e Praha, e poi ho visitato miei amici a Londra. Ma, dopo di tutti, mio posti preferito é ancora Firenze.
Sono fortunata ho incontrato tutti bravi personi. Loro voglio bene tutti.
Sono felice io ho crescuto. Ho diventato una brava ragazza! Arrivederci Firenze, e arrivederci a miei amici.
(This is not a translation, simply a continuation of my thoughts and feelings about Florence:)
Climbing Brunelleschi's Duomo, walking past Ghiberti's golden doors of paradise, saying goodbye to Michelangelo's David… I am the luckiest girl in the world. Sitting behind Michelangelo's sculpture of David, staring at his perfectly curved rump and strong powerful hands I cannot help but get more than a little bit emotional. This perfect sculpture of the perfect man is the pride and joy, the symbol of Florence. My Florence. And therefore he is a symbol for me. He reminds me that I came here to find relationships and somewhere along the way I found myself. David shows me that I don't need anything more than a stone figure to make me happy, because just like him I can conquer anything I set my mind to. When I came to Florence I was young, I was eager and hopeful and terrified. I didn't know what life would throw at me for the next three months and that was hard for me. Now I don't want to leave. I want to stay here, in this place with these people for as long as I can. Not just because it's fun, and not just because I like it, but because I have never been so proud of myself, and never felt so good in my own skin. Florence brings out the best in me, as do the people I have shared my life with for the last three months. I feel more at home here, and happier here than I ever have in my life.. I'm going to miss David as much as any of my friends here. I'm going to miss Florence. I'm so fortunate, not only for my 3 months in Florence, but for my life up until this point, and for my family and friends, and for my appreciation of everything around me. I love Florence, I love my life. And this sadness that i feel now, this heavy heart I carry, is simply proof of how much joy and love I have been lucky enough to experience, only a side effect of my good fortune and my time here. Though I hate saying goodbye I'm glad to have to, because it means I had a hello in the first place, and a magnificent 3 and a half months in between those two fateful words.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
My Bucket List
At the beginning of my semester in Florence my roommates and I climbed to the top of Piazzale Michelangelo together, drank a bottle of wine, and wrote out a Bucket List of things we hoped to achieve from our time here. We had just met, we were still new to each other and I for one was still new to Florence, but after that night I knew we were the four best possible people to live together. We share similar views, similar goals, similar outlooks on life but we are each still our own person with very different backgrounds and most probably very different futures. I am the luckiest person in the world to have had the privilege to live with these three amazing young women for the time that I did, but I digress…
We are quickly approaching the end of the semester and thus the end of my time in Florence. With final exams in one week and my history for overly exaggerated stress around exam time I know that these last two weeks will be a blur of stress, studying, and a lot of eating. My roommates and I plan to find sometime amidst all that to climb back up to Piazzale Michelangelo and check our progress on the Bucket List we made together. Ever since that first night, and increasingly so now that the time to re-vist the list is approaching, I have been thinking about my own Bucket List for life, everything I hope to accomplish before my time comes to an end.
Nothing is set in stone, some things I have thought about for years and some I am just making up as I go along, but I know that I hope to look back on my life fifty, sixty or seventy years from now and say I at least tried to complete each one of these things:
1. Go to Venice- not only for Carnivale (which is a must!) but to learn, to be inspired, and to write.
2. See the Northern lights
3. Go to Australia
4. Decorate my very own apartment
5. Celebrate each Carnival around the world
6. Ride the Orient Express train through Europe
7. Publish a best selling novel ;)
8. Live in an apartment with my sister
9. Get my British citizenship
10. Become fluent in a second language. And then become fluent in a third language.
11. Learn how to play an instrument
12. Meet my favourite author
13. Create one work of art of which I am proud (I should mention here that my artistic talent never really progressed beyond macaroni picture frames in kindergarden)
14. Do a night dive and a wreck dive
15. Travel in Space
16. Make a profit at a casino
17. Sleep under the stars (ignore the mosquitoes, the discomfort, and all the monsters obviously hiding in the shadows)
18. Go on a road trip
19. See my favourite musician perform live
20. Found a charitable organization
21. Travel to Antarctica and see the Penguins
22. Sponsor an endangered animal and travel to wherever it is in the world to meet it
23. Sing karaoke in front of a crowd and not be ashamed (alcohol will most probably be a necessity...)
24. Make a positive difference; in one person's life, in many peoples lives, in a town or a country or the world
25. Be remembered for something great
They are not in order of importance, each of these things is equally important to me (though some will be easier to accomplish than others). I admit that I did my research and borrowed some of these great ideas. There are many more things I cannot think to add to the list now, and many more I haven't even thought of yet, but for now, this very moment in time, this is my Bucket List.
What's yours?
We are quickly approaching the end of the semester and thus the end of my time in Florence. With final exams in one week and my history for overly exaggerated stress around exam time I know that these last two weeks will be a blur of stress, studying, and a lot of eating. My roommates and I plan to find sometime amidst all that to climb back up to Piazzale Michelangelo and check our progress on the Bucket List we made together. Ever since that first night, and increasingly so now that the time to re-vist the list is approaching, I have been thinking about my own Bucket List for life, everything I hope to accomplish before my time comes to an end.
Nothing is set in stone, some things I have thought about for years and some I am just making up as I go along, but I know that I hope to look back on my life fifty, sixty or seventy years from now and say I at least tried to complete each one of these things:
1. Go to Venice- not only for Carnivale (which is a must!) but to learn, to be inspired, and to write.
2. See the Northern lights
3. Go to Australia
4. Decorate my very own apartment
5. Celebrate each Carnival around the world
6. Ride the Orient Express train through Europe
7. Publish a best selling novel ;)
8. Live in an apartment with my sister
9. Get my British citizenship
10. Become fluent in a second language. And then become fluent in a third language.
11. Learn how to play an instrument
12. Meet my favourite author
13. Create one work of art of which I am proud (I should mention here that my artistic talent never really progressed beyond macaroni picture frames in kindergarden)
14. Do a night dive and a wreck dive
15. Travel in Space
16. Make a profit at a casino
17. Sleep under the stars (ignore the mosquitoes, the discomfort, and all the monsters obviously hiding in the shadows)
18. Go on a road trip
19. See my favourite musician perform live
20. Found a charitable organization
21. Travel to Antarctica and see the Penguins
22. Sponsor an endangered animal and travel to wherever it is in the world to meet it
23. Sing karaoke in front of a crowd and not be ashamed (alcohol will most probably be a necessity...)
24. Make a positive difference; in one person's life, in many peoples lives, in a town or a country or the world
25. Be remembered for something great
They are not in order of importance, each of these things is equally important to me (though some will be easier to accomplish than others). I admit that I did my research and borrowed some of these great ideas. There are many more things I cannot think to add to the list now, and many more I haven't even thought of yet, but for now, this very moment in time, this is my Bucket List.
What's yours?
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