2012.

In 2012 life was unexpected to say the least. Yours truly worked in 3 places and embarked on an MSc, finding two passions along the way. She also (randomly) moved to Slovakia, after spending most of the year travelling to Sweden, Finland, Spain and Hungary. She didn’t read quite as much as she would have liked to. Some of the gems that made it to her (non-existent) beside-table, however, are Dance, Dance, Dance and 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, as well as The Great Gatsby (finally!) and works by Platonov and Kapuscinski. A 5+-year relationship ended, or more precisely, it transformed into a great friendship. At the end of the year a lot of her thoughts were doubting and melancholic in nature. Everything that wasn’t dealt with in the past couple of years is bubbling under the surface, and at moments those thoughts are really painful.

Spring 2012 in Mariehamn

Fortunately those thoughts have been accompanied with the knowledge that laughter conquers all. The people we meet, the stories we hear, the memories we create are the things to cherish in life. And as if that’s not enough, there are all those other activities, ideas and interests that can be pursued. Pondering about Marxism, laws and policies, travelling, boys, wine, laughing, social injustice, words, raw food, languages, time management (or the lack thereof), working out… and the list goes on.

Summer 2012 in Helsinki

2012 was also the year she became a coffee addict.

Autumn 2012: drinking coffee in Budapest

In the past few weeks I’ve been feeling a certain mix of anxiety and tranquility – it feels like the calm before the storm: there’s the knowledge that something will happen soon, something big. I don’t know what it is or where it will lead me, but rarely has my intuition been this strong.  Maybe that’s the best way to start a new year? With endless excitement?