1) I survived my first year of grad school.
*\(^o^)/* *\(^o^)/* *\(^o^)/* *\(^o^)/* *\(^o^)/*
You have no idea how relived I am that it's over and NEVER coming back again. La la la la la...
2) Boston for Spring Break to visit my bestie and her husband. I just realized that I promised a post on Boston, but didn't deliver. Oops! Let's just say I LOVED IT, and this memory of Boston was made more poignant when the Boston Marathon bombings occurred a few weeks later. I'm glad the city pulled together through the difficult time. Thanks to my bestie and the city for being wonderful hosts. We did so many things: New England Aquarium, Museum of Fine Arts, Harvard Museum of Natural History (that had a STUNNING glass flowers exhibition), sitting public transportation, other things, and of course, American history which I soaked up like a sponge. Here's a couple more highlights:
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| Touring Harvard, and doing the standard "tourist" thing of touching the golden shoe of John Harvard |
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| Taste of home! Love love love |
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| Lunch at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, more commonly known as Quincy Market |
3) One month visit back to Utah in May- oh yeah! I had so much fun. You can read about it from THIS post and THIS post.
4) Drove from Ohio to Utah ALL BY MYSELF. 27 hours of driving, driving, driving. Not in a hurry to do that again. Thank goodness for awesome friends who let me stay with them in Kansas and Colorado along the way!
Which reminds me, I drove to and drove through 11 states this year!!! Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Michigan. Whether it's just to visit friends or to attend a wedding, I'm very grateful for the people in my life that give me excuses to travel :) And I love my 13 year old car!
5) Christmas Visit to Michigan. You can read about it HERE. Miss the kids!
6) Cedar Point (Roller Coaster Capital of the World!) on July 4th. One of my favorite birthdays ever! Plus this summer was beautiful and not too hot.
7) Gave my first presentation at a graduate student conference at Loyola University in Chicago. Nothing spectacular, and the presentation went fine, but it was weird to be a presenter. The things I do to boost my resume for a career I don't even know I want to pursue... what is wrong with me?!
8) Moved in with Miss Cee to a new apartment, and I love it! It is a blast living with Miss Cee, if you can't tell from reading THIS post (remember THE BAT anyone?), THIS post and THIS post. We also took my sister to visit Kirtland one day, and we enjoy exploring new places to eat as well. Plus, my apartment is only 30 seconds from the bus stop to school- hard to beat that!
9) I officially became a resident of Ohio (see THIS post)! HUGE significance because if you know me, I HATE change and I detest moving, and it takes a long time for me truly settle in and feel comfortable in a new place. This year, sometime after I got back from Utah, I finally felt like I belonged. I have a core group of solid awesome friends, I have a nice apartment, the ward (church congregation) is great, I'm collecting an income (tiny and unsteady but income nonetheless!), I'm slowly collecting furniture... Add in the fact that I was called to be the Relief Society president of my ward as well (so grateful for my terrific presidency!), and that I have to get to know all the women in my ward...Viola! Ohio finally feels like my home away from home (Singapore).
10) Last but not least, this year has been one which has been very painful but miraculously healing as well, and period of tremendous growth. Two events stand out in particular:
1. If you can't already tell, I'm not exactly having the time of my life in grad school. I'm dead serious when I say my first year was very traumatizing. Hence, it was such a pleasant surprise when I went back to Utah for a month in May, and was healed emotionally (read HERE). I never expected to heal while there, but it came. And all I can say is, God knows me, and He knew how to heal me, and I'm grateful for His power and mercy. I'm still deeply conflicted over whether I want to quit after my 2nd year, but I'm assured that if continuing is God's plan for me, He'll give me the strength to carry on.
2. This year I also got my heart broken for the very first time, and when I mean heart broken, I don't mean broken over a small tiny crush. I mean as in I was rejected and cried-for-a-few-days-type-of-heartbreak. No I didn't break up with anyone. Ha! If I started dating anyone you can be sure I'll let you know. Alas, that was not the case. To make a long story short, I had a really good friend whom I gradually developed a MEGA HUGE crush on over this year. I told him about it, and (sadly) he told me that he didn't reciprocate. Hold on before you call him a jerk though. He did it in a very mature and nice way, and handled it with a lot of sensitivity. In other words, he rejected me in the best way possible, and I thank him for that.
Suffice to say, I was really sad for a long time. But then you know what? The most amazing thing happened. About 2 months passed after the incident, and as I sat in church one Sunday, I realized that even though nothing developed there, I was now okay with it, and I even missed his friendship! So I called him up that Sunday night, and we just talked about school, family, life, etc. We didn't mention anything about what transpired before, and it was a good conversation.
And I felt liberated. Isn't that so weird?! But that was how I felt! It's like, I was healed and could move on with my life, and still enjoy his friendship. It felt great!!! Once again, God worked a miracle in my heart. I have no idea how He did it, but He healed me and made it possible for me to move forward.
Well, those were my top 10 memories for 2013. Wonder what 2014 has in store for me. Will I stay in grad school? Any new exciting travel destinations? Will 2014 finally be the year I meet him? We'll just have to see. Happy New Year to you, my readers, and thank you for putting up with my erratic postings!
7) Gave my first presentation at a graduate student conference at Loyola University in Chicago. Nothing spectacular, and the presentation went fine, but it was weird to be a presenter. The things I do to boost my resume for a career I don't even know I want to pursue... what is wrong with me?!
8) Moved in with Miss Cee to a new apartment, and I love it! It is a blast living with Miss Cee, if you can't tell from reading THIS post (remember THE BAT anyone?), THIS post and THIS post. We also took my sister to visit Kirtland one day, and we enjoy exploring new places to eat as well. Plus, my apartment is only 30 seconds from the bus stop to school- hard to beat that!
9) I officially became a resident of Ohio (see THIS post)! HUGE significance because if you know me, I HATE change and I detest moving, and it takes a long time for me truly settle in and feel comfortable in a new place. This year, sometime after I got back from Utah, I finally felt like I belonged. I have a core group of solid awesome friends, I have a nice apartment, the ward (church congregation) is great, I'm collecting an income (tiny and unsteady but income nonetheless!), I'm slowly collecting furniture... Add in the fact that I was called to be the Relief Society president of my ward as well (so grateful for my terrific presidency!), and that I have to get to know all the women in my ward...Viola! Ohio finally feels like my home away from home (Singapore).
10) Last but not least, this year has been one which has been very painful but miraculously healing as well, and period of tremendous growth. Two events stand out in particular:
1. If you can't already tell, I'm not exactly having the time of my life in grad school. I'm dead serious when I say my first year was very traumatizing. Hence, it was such a pleasant surprise when I went back to Utah for a month in May, and was healed emotionally (read HERE). I never expected to heal while there, but it came. And all I can say is, God knows me, and He knew how to heal me, and I'm grateful for His power and mercy. I'm still deeply conflicted over whether I want to quit after my 2nd year, but I'm assured that if continuing is God's plan for me, He'll give me the strength to carry on.
2. This year I also got my heart broken for the very first time, and when I mean heart broken, I don't mean broken over a small tiny crush. I mean as in I was rejected and cried-for-a-few-days-type-of-heartbreak. No I didn't break up with anyone. Ha! If I started dating anyone you can be sure I'll let you know. Alas, that was not the case. To make a long story short, I had a really good friend whom I gradually developed a MEGA HUGE crush on over this year. I told him about it, and (sadly) he told me that he didn't reciprocate. Hold on before you call him a jerk though. He did it in a very mature and nice way, and handled it with a lot of sensitivity. In other words, he rejected me in the best way possible, and I thank him for that.
Suffice to say, I was really sad for a long time. But then you know what? The most amazing thing happened. About 2 months passed after the incident, and as I sat in church one Sunday, I realized that even though nothing developed there, I was now okay with it, and I even missed his friendship! So I called him up that Sunday night, and we just talked about school, family, life, etc. We didn't mention anything about what transpired before, and it was a good conversation.
And I felt liberated. Isn't that so weird?! But that was how I felt! It's like, I was healed and could move on with my life, and still enjoy his friendship. It felt great!!! Once again, God worked a miracle in my heart. I have no idea how He did it, but He healed me and made it possible for me to move forward.
Well, those were my top 10 memories for 2013. Wonder what 2014 has in store for me. Will I stay in grad school? Any new exciting travel destinations? Will 2014 finally be the year I meet him? We'll just have to see. Happy New Year to you, my readers, and thank you for putting up with my erratic postings!
Wow, what a year for you! I could never drive that long all by myself. Sorry to hear about your broken heart, but glad you didn't lose the friendship. Hugs!
ReplyDeleteI'm sad when your writings end. I'm glad that 2013 was so many things for you. I think you're a terrific individual if I haven't told you that already :) I hope your 2014 will be amazing. You deserve it.
ReplyDeleteHurray for #2! Heard you are coming home this year! Double hurray! Come come, I introduce some good boys to you :D Oh dear, have become "auntie-fied" already. Oops.
ReplyDeleteThe first three years of grad school were awful and I would never repeat them. You seriously have to take it a day at a time and think of it like a job and not think about how much work/time you have left. That attitude helped me out a lot to get through. However being on the other side now is such a sweet victory. The day I defended was one of the best days of my life and so worth it in the end. Keep it up! You CAN do it. The best advice I have right now is to regularly listen to Kelly Clarkson's song Stronger. This was our lab theme song :)
ReplyDelete