2009: Year in Review

I've been meaning to write this blog post for a few weeks now. I thought it would be a good idea to look back on 2009 from a personal point of view and to be able to analyse it completely. I think it will be quite interesting to read the posts that i wrote throughout 2009 and then to be able to read this review to see how those events affected me or potentially change me in any way.

Here goes....

I suppose the beginning of the year was quite a busy one, finishing up working in River Island, exams looming and then the hiccup that occured between one the closest groups of friends. I will try to analyse each of these seperately.

First of all, I enjoyed working in River Island even if I complained about it alot, it gave me a sense of accomplishment that I was earning my own money and not relying on a particular individual. I was quite dissapointed not to be kept on but I suppose it was a blessing in disguise considering the exams I had to sit and how busy I was with college in the coming months.

With regards to those exams I sat in January, I failed one marginally and was quite upset at the time because the thought of doing another repeat in the Summer was unbearable. However at the time I soon found out that if I passed all of my summer exams then I would be able to pass the failed exam on compensation, a glimmer of hope you could call it.

Looking back on the incident between my friends which is documented in the post "Hate to be the bearer of bad news", I'm quite happy to say that my relationship between the people involved is alot better than I forecasted at the time when the whole incident occured. It has come to my knowledge that some of the information in that post is incorrect, however, I don't think I will change it because it will take away from the emotions I was feeling at the time and I feel that it is important to be able to look back and see how I was feeling accurately. Like I said, right now, things are pretty good with those friends, well my relationship is anyway, I've regained trust in my best friend and I have forgiven him for what he did to me and my other friend. My two friend's (males) relationship with each other may never be the same again but luckily enough that doesn't affect me too much.

I suppose the next major thing that happened in that year was organising my summer trip to NewYork, it was definetly something to look forward too. I was quite excited about it and it was good to have something like that when college was so stressful. Anyway, the trip didn't last as long as I would of hoped due to me having to come home to repeat 2 exams (the one i failed at xmas and the other in may). I feel that trip helped me accomplish a number of personal goals which included getting over my ex (which I am glad to say is completely and utterly in the past), finding out if I could go to a foreign country and major city for a sustained period of time and be able to live and work comfortably. Overall it gave me the confidence that I could travel anywhere and be happy.

I came home in July and quickly immersed myself into studying for my repeats which had alot riding on them, especially my study abroad programme to Australia. Luckily enough I passed them both. 3rd year in college has been quite difficult and a huge step up from my previous years. Im glad to say that I perhaps I have finally overcome my constant procastination with regards to college work. There has been so much continious assessment, lab reports and assignments to be done every week this Semester. I feel this constant college work is giving me more confidence to apply the same attitude to studying for exams. I currently have 3 exams which begin on the 20th of January, I plan to study every single day and hopefully it will be enough to pass them comfortably.

Last but not least, I have a girlfriend!

I first met this person on the day i came back from New York. Her best friend from college is my best friends girlfriend. So she was spending time with her best friend for a few days during the summer. I noticed her straight away, and was quite impressed with her, even if we only had a brief conversation that day. However, she was currently in a relationship at the time so there was no chance there at the time. We encountered each other once again during the summer on a drunken venture to the seaside town of Lahinch. The night basically involved alot of vodka, embarrasing confessions and skinny dipping. Quite fun to say the least. Anyway after night I was quite obsessed with her and couldn't get her out of my head. However she was still in the same relationship at the time. My best friend's girlfriend did tell me that she though I was good looking and that her relationship with her then current boyfriend wasn't the best. This gave me a sense of hope and excitement. Anyway, at the beginning of Semester 1, she broke up with her boyfriend and we decided to go on a "date", however it was simply masked as an excuse to give her cardigan back after she went to a house party in my house, I saw through the plan straight away! Anyway, the date went well, even if i did become a bumbling fool, there was an awkward kiss at the end of the night and through the coming weeks we spent more time with each other.

Quite soon after that we decided that we should go out with each other even though we both knew that I was going to Australia for 6 months in Febuary. It just felt like the right thing to do at the time, and im so glad to this day that we decided to go out with each other. It has been a pretty amazing few months, it will be 3 months together by the time 20th of January rolls around. She is beautiful, intelligent, caring and has an incredible sense of humour. We mutually decided that we would break up before I leave to Australia, ideally its not the situation we both want to find each other in but I honestly believe it is the fairest thing to do for both of us. We havent made any promises about what is going to happen when I get back. Which again, I think is the fairest thing to do. Anything could happen when I come back, we could get back together, or we could not. However I feel one of my ethos is "If its meant to be its meant to be", it does seem to be a cliché of sorts but I believe it to be true. Alot can happen in 6 months but very little could occur also, so it will be interesting to see what happens when I come back. Overall, I am so glad i met this girl, she has made my life so much better in the past few months and it is great to have someone who cares so much about me and to have someone to care about. There is no doubt about it, I will miss her when I leave.

In conclusion, this year has been a year of ups and downs. Though, it has been a huge improvement on 2008, I feel that I am a stronger and happier person after 2009 and I hope this trend continues in 2010. I will be writing a preview on 2010 soon.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and I would like to wish everyone (if anyone) a happy new year for 2010.

Goodnight.