Yet again, another year passed by!
The last couple of years has been far from peaceful. While the world is finally done with the pandemic crisis, it, unfortunately, moved on to the new one – the war and financial crisis. Even though wars have been happening in many corners of the world in recent years, this one hits home really close. My hometown is only 300km away from the border with Ukraine; my best friend is Ukrainian, and her family is still there.
My heart is with all those impacted by the senseless ambitions of a small group of men. So many unnecessary tragedies …
For me, personally, this year flashed before my eyes and brought many changes in my life, excitement, and incredible trips. Even though the start of the year was far from perfect – I got Corona four days before my skiing trip, canceling it and wracking my plans, the rest panned out great.
The first trip of the year was to Gdańsk in Poland, where we had a lovely weekend with good food, incredible views, and escape rooms. Then we visited Barcelona for a pre-Easter break, enjoying sangria, tapas, and sun before going home to spend the rest of the holiday with family. May and June were crazy with traveling every weekend; I didn’t even notice when it went by. I went hiking in the Polish mountains with my mom and flew to Sofia twice for a work trip. Then, with my boyfriend, we visited Stockholm, where I finally took him to a super awesome Viking restaurant. We then flew to Poland to spend Mother’s day with my mom and the rest of the family, hiking in the mountains once more and stopping over in the capital – Warsaw, where we went to the best escape room in the country. And then, finally, after two years of canceling, we visited London, coincidentally in the middle of Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, where we saw the Hamilton musical and tried to redeem our Hogwart’s letters.
July and the summer holidays started with us going to Ebeltoft in Jutland for a week of holidays with family, where we visited many cool places located nearby. Then August came, and after trying for the last three years (thanks, Corona!), I finally flew with my work team for an incredible hacking conference, Defcon, in Las Vegas. While already there, I extended my stay and got my boyfriend to join me for the most wonderful two weeks of visiting national parks and having fun in the USA.
Autumn came, and with the change of season, I made one of the biggest changes in my life. After ten years in my company, I decided to make a leap and change the workplace. The transition was scary, intense, and challenging. At the same time, it’s fun to try something new, meet new colleagues and finally work in the city center, where it is so much easier to meet my friends!
Before starting our new work, we visited Poland for my birthday and, after returning, drove to Sønderjylland to celebrate new job and relax a little bit. Then at the end of November, we flew to the Netherlands to meet with my brother and his fiance in the amusement park called “Efteling”, where we spent a fantastic weekend. I am thrilled that my brother and I managed to keep our promise of visiting the amusement park together once a year.
December was mainly spent on meeting friends and family on Christmas lunches and dinners. We were so busy we didn’t even get time to buy a Christmas tree! We enjoyed tremendously celebrating holidays together and reminiscing about good old times 🙂
And now, I am writing my yearly summary from a small house in the middle of nowhere on Senja in Norway, where I am looking out of the window hoping to see Aurora lights and where I am celebrating New Year’s with my friends.
I have no idea what the new year will bring, but I hope that I will finally be able to go snowboarding this year! Three times the charm, huh? 😛 I will try to write about all the places I’ve been too, but I don’t have the greatest track record 🙂 So who knows?
Thank you to my family and friends for being there and supporting me in everything I do. Even though we are spread around the world, and quite often, daily life kicks in, making keeping in touch harder, we are still trying to make the best out of it and be there for each other <3 Thank you!
I wish all of you an incredible New Year’s Eve and hope the upcoming year will bring you all the best!