Looking back on 2015

The new year is already nearly 2 weeks old and I meant to post a review on 2015 for a while now. The holidays were just too busy, since we had to travel between Amsterdam, Nürnberg, Heidelberg and Stuttgart and then had my brother and his girlfriend stay with us for several days.
I guess I'm mostly writing this for myself - I recently found again some year-reviews on a blog I kept as a teenager that brought up some forgotten memories.


*I visited 4 countries:
Germany, Belgium (Gala Nocturna), UK(Cumberbatch's Hamlet), Spain (Singapore Reunion)

*I went to 1 wedding:
Carmen and Stefan's wedding, a very lovely night with a radiant bride and many friends at the party. Sadly, I had to cancel another wedding invitation, due to circumstances.

*I went to 2 funerals.

*I won at least 2 prizes in Scruffy's pub quiz
Considering how few time I spent in Karlsruhe, thats quite an achievement :P

*I had 1 bike stolen from me
It was bound to happen sooner or later

*I went to 3 conferences
Slowly I'm getting the hang of this and I'm not as shy anymore.

*Best books I read:
Sylvia Plath - The Bell Jar (very relatable in many aspects)
Neil Gaiman - The Sleeper and the Spindle (beautiful story, beautifully illustrated)
Milan Kundera - Festival of Insignificance
Andy Weir - The Martian

*Best Movies/TV Series I watched
Agent Carter
The Martian

*Best Moments:
New Year's Eve with the two most important people in my life in Amsterdam. Completing the Sherlocked Escape Room. Opening night of Wave Gotik Treffen, dancing barefoot in candle light on a meadow. Meeting some friends I met on exchange in Singapore in 2008 again on a reunion in Barcelona. Meeting Benedict Cumberbatch in a pub was pretty awesome too :)

*What I'm proud of for 2015:
- I survived without going too insane, without dropping out of my studies and without scaring away my boyfriend
- I daresay I made some rather pretty clothes
- In september I started doing Yoga lessons 2-3 times a week and right now I'm in such a good shape as I have probably never been.
- I read a lot - more than 30 books, as opposed to barely 19 books in 2014. The book club and my Harry Potter re-read certainly helped there. (And, incidentally, after more than 15 years I finally got my Mum to read Harry Potter - and she loved it!)

*What I'm grateful for:
- My brother and my boyfriend, who kept me sane and supported me through this hellish year
- Not having to worry about money. It really does matter if shit goes down.
- The amount of people who came to visit us here this year. Although at some point, when we had had visitors for nearly 4 weeks in a row, I felt like a tour guide.
- All the new people I met.

*What I regret:
- Not having called him often enough. That he didn't even come to visit me here.
- Not having seen my friends as often as they would have deserved
- Not having made better use of the amount of free time I had this summer, particularly in June. I should have travelled more.
- Seeing how rotten some people turned out to be on the inside

*What was new?
- I joined a book club and it's the best book club in the world.
- I got a job as a research assistant ("Hiwi") at the university
- First time owning real estate
- First time organizing a funeral

*What changed in 2015?
- He's gone.
- My hair color was purple for a while :)
- I own a TV now. Which is weird, after 10 years without one. Netflix just got the better of me.
- My attitude towards cruises: I'd love to go on a cruise on a tall ship <3

*What stayed the same?
- I'm still in the same relationship - and it's getting better and better
- I still love cooking and with restaurants being so expensive here I got a lot better than I already was. I'm nearly through 2 of my Jamie Oliver cookbooks and my boyfriend, who used to claim that food wasn't that important to hi, says that he wouldn't want to miss my cooking anymore :)
- I still don't speak Dutch - although I'm at least trying more and more to use some phrases in everyday life.

*What do I hope for in 2016?
- I'd like to keep my current fitness level
- Finish my studies
- Stay in Amsterdam (& hopefully in the same appartment)
- Go travelling with some of my favorite people