2013: A Reflection

To say this year kicked my butt would be an understatement. In preparation for this post I took a look at my last yearly recap in 2011. If my 19-year-old self thought that was "a trying year," I can barely imagine what she would do with herself had she been around these past twelve months. Thankfully, she's grown up quite a bit. Somehow, all of the troublesome things I encountered this year managed to be equally matched by the amazing opportunities that came my way.

I went to San Francisco for the first time, but surely not the last.

I had several independent study opportunities this past spring where I worked in digital content creation. This stop-motion video was my favorite project to work on.

I watched a dragon boat race for the first time on the Schuylkill River. 

I studied abroad in Prague!

I also visited Rome...

...Budapest...

...Berlin...

...Vienna...

...Amsterdam...

...Paris...

...and London! I know. I still can't believe I saw everything I did.

The beginning a long night finalizing the Style layout; our color palette for the magazine, dubbed "a rainy day in April".

I also started working as editor of the Style section of my university's newspaper and as editor-in-chief for a student-produced magazine.

I finished my first internship, fulfilled my long time aspiration of visiting Paris and I traveled by train and lived out of a small suitcase for several weeks. I started applying for internships like it was my job, and I'm lucky enough to be starting a new one in New York City this January. I can't wait to get started and see what I can learn.

On a different note, I noticed I never posted my recap for 2012. I started a draft but I never wrote more than a couple of sentences. I came close to deleting my blog on several occasions last year but something always made me change my mind. I wasn't passionate about what I was doing and I knew I needed to make a change. In October, I had the chance to talk to Crosby of PR Couture during one of my media-related classes. After our video chat I was inspired to re-brand my blog, the first step of which involved buying my own domain name. Especially after everything I've experienced this year, most of which is far too personal for me to post on the internet for (potentially) half the world to read, I have decided it's most important for me to channel my energy into things I'm passionate about. And that's that. I feel so much more confident than I did two years ago, more confident in my abilities and with myself in general. Rather than just speculate about all of the things I wanted to do, I went out and actually did them. To be honest, sometimes that confidence is coupled with a crippling insecurity or overwhelming emotion that I just don't know how to process. And even though I have far too much on my plate and some days I just want to give up on this never-ending quest for fulfillment, most people think I have my shit together, and I guess that's all I can ask for.

If you've managed to read this all the way through, thank you. I'm wishing all of you lovely, faceless readers the best in 2014. Hopefully we'll see more of each other.