Looking Back at 2010

My travels are officially over. My month of exploring China is up, which is as saddening as it sounds. However, I’ve still got about two weeks of vacation left before I head back to school. Two weeks to enjoy spending time with friends and family in Hong Kong and soaking up every bit of free time I get before going back to another semester of intensive Mandarin Chinese language study in Beijing!

At the end of every year, I have a habit of reflecting on the months passed and whether or not the year treated me well. This is the first night I’ve had some “breather” time in quite a while. As a result, I’ve been thinking about the last year a lot. So much has happened that I can’t believe it all was in the same year! Even though there were some not-so-great events, 2010 was definitely a huge improvement on 2009. In fact, it may have been one of my best years yet.

I fell in love with my communication studies and realized that it was exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I got a scholarship to study abroad for a year in Beijing, China, which has definitely impacted on the decisions I make for my future. I had my first internship, and learned a lot about workplace dynamics as well as my field of study. I lived in an apartment on my own for the first time. I went to Europe over the summer and had the best host family experience I’ve ever had. I learned tons and tons of Mandarin and feel so much more confident about my language abilities. I had new experiences regarding personal relationship dynamics, both of the platonic and romantic variety. I gained a new best friend, and I don’t use that term lightly; I know that real best friends are rare and hard to find.

I’m a little upset at having to say goodbye to 2010 because it was such a fantastic year. I hope even better things will be in store for 2011!

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.