What I Did & Learned in 2009

What I Did in 2009:

1. met my first love
   
2. was besotted with another human being in a way I had never been before (i.e. boundlessly and completely selflessly, almost to the point of self-destruction)
3. had my heart broken twice
   
4. lost 17 pounds (and counting!)
5. found a much-needed job
6. made a very anti-climactic return home from Europe
7. positively pined to move back
   
8. got into and began a postgrad program
9. taught myself katakana
10. rode the same canon twice in Monaco (no, that's not a euphemism for anything)
11. got hit on by an old, Italian director in Cannes
12. wrote the LSATs twice
13. totaled my car
14. got a new one
15. taught myself to cook almost decently
16. knit in front of the Mediterranean for a few months, which was heavenly except for the creepers bothering me
    
17. went to Alaska and met locals who were just the kind of people Rick Mercer would interview
18. had a family reunion in Toronto
19. lived in glamorous poverty (and virtually without hot water) in Nice
20. chilled in Air Canada's VIP room! :D
21. endured a 7h10min layover in Heathrow
22. after that, raced through Heathrow like a madwoman on several occasions and cussed myself out in my head every time for choosing such short layovers
23. went to Paris for the third time
24. masqueraded as an HEC student and snuck into MBA parties :D
25. made the conscious decision to commit my greatest act of love - tolerating an insufferable, abusive person for the sake of someone important to me
    

What I Learned in 2009:

1. I have a waist!
2. I have more willpower and self-control than I give myself credit for
3. I have what it takes to follow my dream of moving to Spain
4. "big, brown eyes can hypnotize"
5. "there’s nothing more dangerous than a boy with charm"
6. how to say the words dimples, sweater, pants, jeans and cup in Dutch
7. how to sing the Ajax Amsterdam song
8. drinking isn't really that fun
   
9. how to eat healthy - and that it's not so bad
10. Japan is the most fun place in the world!
11. Amsterdam is the most romantic place in the world
12. if you get a couple people to take your picture on the Croisette at the Cannes Film Festival, other people will follow suit even though they have no idea who you are, and then you'll get let into exclusive parties even though you're nobody
    
13. European boys > North American boys
14. there's nothing in Alaska but rain and Palins - and disappointingly small icebergs
15. cruises are not my cup of tea (as ungrateful as that sounds)
    
16. not to pick up the phone if I don't recognize the number on call display
17. (non-discount) European airlines serve free booze and provide excellent service
18. there's a famine of cute boys in Nice and an overabundance in Paris (at least at HEC)
19. if you don't get hit on on the streets of Nice (or anywhere in France, Italy and Spain, really) you know you're looking really nasty
20. European women have feet of steel - they can last all day walking around in killer heels
21. not to trust out-of-country landlords
22. what my "type" is (personality-wise, anyway)
23. relationships based on friendship, respect and mutual admiration are so much better than ones based on just initial attraction
    
24. cultural exchanges are just about the best things ever and my biggest reward out of studying abroad
25. I am capable