I wasn’t going to do a post like this 1. because it seems that every blogger and her mother do one and 2. before I started to think about it, I didn’t find 2014 to be a remarkable year. However, I was in a list making mood the other night and decided to do a recap of 2014. When I really thought about all that had happened I was surprised at how great it’s been. Although I will always believe 2010 (which encompassed the later part of my freshman year of high school) was the perfect year of my life, 2014 is definitely a rival.
Get ready of a ton of pictures and a wicked long post! A lot did happen after all.
School: This has been the most academically challenging year of my life (I can’t wait until I’m in law school and look back on this post, laughing hysterically and saying “Oh you thought that was hard!?”). From logic, to accounting, to statistics I have certainly struggled, but my hard work and long hours in the library paid off. Also, taking Constitutional Law was amazing and I can hardly wait to delve deeper into the law.
Becoming a CA (community advisor): Being a CA this year (an RA at other schools) has been a blast! My floor of freshmen has been so wonderful and involved; any CAs dream. The picture above is the floor during the first week of school doing our hand symbol which represents Wolfe Three, our building and floor number. Although they can be loud at times (I got noise canceling headphones to fix that!), they have made the experience worthwhile. It has also been a pleasure to get to know the amazing CA staff in my building. They are a group of some of the best people I have had the privilege to meet and I am so glad to be one of them.
Staying close with my high school best friend, Katie: Katie and I became best friends nearly instantly in freshman year of high school (even though I called her Kaitlin for a couple of weeks. In my defense she didn’t correct me!) and it was important to both of us that we stay close despite going to different schools. From three hour phone calls to day trip visits, we have done our best to remain a big part of each other’s lives. We’ve done it and will continue to!
Skydiving: This was absolutely the most thrilling experience of my life. My best friend from college, Ally, and I went together and we could not have had a better time. I could go on forever about it, but how about you just click here to read more.
Wearing a lengha for the first time: So, I’m obsessed with India and Bollywood which means that when my friend Ashna lent me this lengha I was in heaven! Another highlight of the year was that cute guy becoming my boyfriend 🙂
Shooting a gun for the first time: My father and brother are really into weaponry so when they invited my mother and me to “family day at the range” I was excited to see what they love about it. It is quite exhilarating! Having that power in your hands and learning how to hit a target is great fun; I can’t wait to go back.
Having guy friends and surviving crew: Since I went to an all girls high school it was difficult to make guy friends. Once I came to college and joined crew I was surrounded by guys. In fact I was the coxswain (person who steers the boat and yells the commands in rowing) of a men’s four boat which allowed me to bond with a group of guys like I never had before. Being on crew was the most challenging undertaking of my life (getting up at 4am, sitting in a puddle of freezing cold water with a coach yelling at me, laying down in a boat with water splashing at me from every side while I tried to navigate and motivate my crew…) but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
The best night of my life: I LOVE Shahrukh Khan (the biggest star in Bollywood and the largest star in the world based on fan recognition) and I got to see him perform at the IZOD Center. Not only that but I was interviewed on Indian television and he tweeted back to me, which is completely unheard of! To get the full story of my excitement click here.
Getting back on the stage: Theater was a huge part of my life for many years but when I came to college and joined crew I didn’t have a spare moment to be on the stage. Once I stopped crew in the fall semester of this year I participated in WIRED which is a 24hour play festival. From concept, to writing, to casting, to staging, to rehearsal, to costuming, to performance, we put on a play in 24 hours! I had a great time with my cast and could not have been more pleased to have been named best actress of the festival.
Watching the World Cup in Newark: The excitement of the Portugal v U.S. world cup game was intensified when I watched it in the courtyard of a Portuguese restaurant in Newark. It was sooooo exciting because of the crowd, the technical difficulties we experienced, the goal in the final seconds, and the passion of the fans. I had a great time with my father and my friend Adrian while cheering for Portugal. You can read more about the madness here.
Being a finalist at the PSE Regional Pro-Am Sales Competition: I joined Pi Sigma Epsilon, a professional co-ed business fraternity, this year and went to the regional sales competition in Rhode Island. It was a totally new undertaking for me and one that I loved! Next year I’m going to Georgia and Texas to compete so hopefully I’ll continue to find success.
Player poker in a casino for the first time. I really like to play cards and my father loves to play so we decided to go to Turning Stone. It is a casino on an Indian reservation which means that anyone who is 18 can play. I played limit hold’em and lasted for five hours with only $100! As great as it was I won’t be running back soon because I am not particularly fond of the sensation of losing money.
Meeting my cousin Aidan. My cousin Aidan lives in Virginia and we hadn’t met until this Thanksgiving. It was a complete surprise that he came and I totally flipped out!
Taking up blogging: Although I did post some in 2013, this has been the year of blogging. I worked countless hours to design this blog, come up with and create content, join networks, guest post, and learn HTML coding. I can hardly think of what I did with my time before I blogged and I am so happy it is now a part of my life. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read (and to whoever made it to the end of this massive post)!
How was your year? What were the major highlights? Happy New Year!
-AJF
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