Year Recap - 2011 Edition.

Happy holidays!!! I was going through my blog archive and came across my 2010 recap. It was a good read and I decided  to do a one for this year. This is definitely an online diary act.

So here we go with the 2011 recap.

Travelling

I thought 2010 was my euro trotting year but boy, 2011 brought it on. I travelled to similar or the same cities but I had more fun in 2011.  Cities - Budapest (my home, technically), London (study abroad), Wales, Oxford, Amsterdam, Brussels, Oostende, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Venice, Abuja (my home in my heart), and of course North-East Tri-state in the USA. I was glad that I got to visit my favorite city, Paris, twice in 2011. It still remains my favorite Euro city, although Amsterdam is a major competitor in my heart. I should add Lisbon because I leave for there later today and would be there till the New Year's. I doubt 2012 would be as crazy because I would be making more thoughtful choices in my countries and be more thrift with my earnings for leisure travelling. 

I'm going to Geneva for 4 days, early January next year. I hope to venture to the south of France like Grenoble during my stay, fun times before my last semester as an undergraduate. Let me know if you have any suggestions for enjoyable activities in Lisbon and Geneva.

[Non-Platonic] Relationships

I seldom blog about this but 2011 had no romantic loving for me. I did not fall in love but I went on way too many dates *cough*. Well, ‘too many’ is relative to my dating history. I definitely understood love better this year but it remains a tricky concept. This year entailed a lot of marriage talk from my mother and friends. I paid none of their persuasions attention because I was really busy and geographically unstable, this year. However, I have started thinking about it. I want to get married early but there are many feats, like a terminal degree, that I desire to accomplish before taking such a major step. Tsk tsk. I believe in settling own with the right person when you feel it is the right time, simple. I will just continue to go with the flow.  

Friendships

I have always been a social person but I lack tact in choosing friends. In 2012, I will be working on making conscious choices on the kinds of friends that I want to have, post-college. While I was abroad, I met some of the best friends that I’ve ever had – shout out to Michelle and Kiah. It was amazing to go abroad and make friends with like-minded students who had truckloads of energy for adventure. The Nigerians at QMUL were also hilarious. There is something weird about Britigerians, good weird. My main study abroad friends are back to the US and our schools are far apart from each other but I hope we stay in touch. My summer in Abuja also nurtured several friendships from working with Kay to hanging out with Ms.Oreoluwa and getting to know an awesome ‘curfew boy’. On another note, I was glad that I remained friends with my college crew because I thought my semester abroad would strain our friendship but it didn’t! College has taught me not to push myself unto people. Everybody that I want to be friends with must not be friends with me.

Finances

I was consciously lavish with the travels, party-hopping, eating out etc while abroad and I loved every second. I was living my college dream and my purse had to feel the impact. #Notmad. Nonetheless, I am still a student on work-study. Thus, I had to find a way to repair the study abroad dent that I had made on my savings. This semester, I got a well-paid job as a Residential Assistant position on campus. I have also cut my wardrobe spending. I have been giving out lots of stuff too. Senior yr has been pro-decluttering.

Religion

2011 was not a very religious year for me, despite my conscious effort to improve in the latter half. I was concerned about this in the fall and I wrote this post here. I am trying but I tend to shove my spiritual ego aside because of academic and social commitments. I can only hope for a better 2011.

Blogging

This blog is about 30 months old now and I currently have 120 or so followers. My blog traffic significantly decreased in 2011 as a result of my minimal blogging. Much gratitude goes out to the readers who have  I commend bloggers like Ms. Oreoluwa and TWP, who keep up with their blogs. 

In sum, 2011 was eventful but I was happier in 2010. I know, I know. I had too many solo sad moments in 2011, despite my busy schedule. Life as an adult is definitiely not rosy. As usual, I have no New Year Resolutions but I’m starting this year with more positivity. My only regret 2010 is that I did not perfect my driving skills. My goal for 2012 is to become a confident car driver. I need to stop depending on people to get me to places.. I’m really excited to graduate from college this May with a Bachelors’ degree in Neuroscience at 20. Unfortunately, I don’t know what I would definitely be up to yet. Crossed fingers on my public health ambition.

Btw,  I finally won something i.e this awesome hand-made clutch made out of adire, below from Agsowho's one year giveaway. She has an awesome blog, mostly about fashion. 

Have a rest of 2011 and an awesom 2012! Don’t get caught up making resolutions, get it moving, time waits for no one.

Je t’embarasse

@yinkuslolo