Looking Back on 2017 and What I Want for 2018

Looking Back on 2017...

2017 was quite the year for me. I traveled to France on a study abroad trip, I finished my freshman year of college, and it was the worst year in terms of reading for me. 2017 was exactly as that sentence was, it had a lot of highs but it had its lows too. I don't regret a second of it and I want to take many of the lessons I learned from the last year and improve on myself in 2018. 

Let's start with school...I started my second semester in college and I hated every second of it. I was taking classes I didn't really enjoy and it reflected in my work. It wasn't even that I didn't enjoy my major (biomedical engineering), I was just taking such basic engineering classes that I got no joy out of. Luckily, I was enjoying time with my friends and family. Once that I ended I left for a study abroad in Troyes, France!

Troyes was the main town we were staying in since we were studying at the University of Technology of Troyes, but we did visit other places in France!

 We visited the Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France.

 The Sacré-Cœur in Paris. This was absolutely breathtaking and while it was quite a walk, it was well worth it. 

 

We went to visit Versailles but I decided to tour the gardens rather than the Palace due to limited time. 

  

I think we visited the Eiffel Tower about 3 or 4 times because we wanted to see it at different times of the day!

I just really like this picture from a carnival we visited in Paris!

While we were studying abroad, we decided to take one weekend to visit London which was a dream come true for me! I want to spend at least a year in the United Kingdom and this trip solidified that for me since I loved every second of it. 

 

I finally got to head to Platform 9 3/4 and be like Harry Potter. Yay!!

After that, my summer consisted of normal human things like work, video games, and reading. 

The first semester of my sophomore year was amazing. I was finally taking classes that directly pertained to my major (except for Differential Equations 😭) and I was thriving. I did, however, learn who my true friends were this semester but it brought my other friends that I consider family now.

I ended 2017 with my best semester in terms of GPA and friends and couldn't be happier. It was the year where I truly fell in love with who I am. I stopped worrying so much about what others would think or how I looked. I do makeup because I think it is fun rather than doing it because I think I'm having a bad skin day, I smile more, and I'm overall in a more positive mood. This is the thing that makes 2017 worth all the stress and struggle I went through. Being happy with ME is the best.

The only place I was unhappy with was my bookish side. I read only 65 books this year, and while I know that's a lot for some, it's not a lot for me and the books were not quality at all. Many of the books were easy reads that I was finding on Amazon and iBooks for free or for a low cost. None of them were books that I could say that I truly enjoyed. It did get somewhat better in December after I read The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. Blogging was basically nonexistent, and I didn't even want to stress about it with school.

Looking Forward to 2018...

I want 2018 to be MY year. While I enjoyed 2017 for the most part, I want to accomplish more in 2018. I want to read more quality books rather than just more books (even though more would be great). I want to work on the blog to make it the best it can be, and I know there will still be months where I might not be around as much since I've got exams and finals in college, but I want to actually have somewhat of a presence. I want to do better in school, and continue on this path of self-acceptance and happiness. 

For the reading and blogging, I think I'm going to put aside 15 minutes before I go to sleep every night to read. It's going to be a book that was given to me by a publisher, borrowed from the library, or I bought myself. It's going to be a QUALITY book I actually enjoy and have interest in. For the blogging, I'm going to set aside at least an hour every week to write. It might just be one blog post that goes up per week but its something rather than the radio silence for weeks and even months we had this year. Hopefully, there will be weeks that I can write more but at least one hour for one blog post per week.

I'm not totally sure how I'm going to continue on my path of happiness but I'm going to work on it. I still have my low moments but they are getting farther apart and that is what is important. I think it has to do with working out (I've started dancing!), eating healthier, and surrounding myself with the right people. By working out and eating healthier I don't feel gross and it really improved my skin. I'm not even working out a lot, I'm dancing once or twice a week for two hours, and my eating habits have only changed by cutting out fried foods. It has made a world of difference. The most important thing is surrounding yourself with the right people. I had people in my life who were negative and didn't always think positive and once they were gone I really noticed a difference. My group of friends and I were happier people who didn't complain as much, and we were more open with each other. 

As for school, now that I'm taking classes directly related to my major I am enjoying it much more. Next semester I am taking a YA Literature class so I am definitely excited for that and it makes me eligible to apply for an English minor, and I am definitely going to be applying. 

Happy New Year you guys! Here's to changing our lives for the better!

How do you want to improve or change this year?