Retrospective 2018

For me, 2018 has been... something

I wouldn't say that was the happiest or most successful year of my life so far as there were disappointments, incidents, and failures

But there were definitely a lot of things to be grateful of, some valuable lessons I've taken, and some of my dreams came true in 2018!

So I was thinking maybe 2018 is worth to recount here in my blog (pardon my simple English, it usually takes me ages to produce a well-written writing in English) so I can look back at 2018 in the far future and cekikikan melihat kepahitan hidup gue di masa lalu (I still do that to my 10-year-old posts here on my blog! haha)

My 2018 began here :

No, just kidding, I couldn't stand the crowd and cold so I was sleeping in my rented airbnb room when the calendar changed. Yeah, I was in the city I had dreamt to visit at the first day of 2018. It may sound childish or too mainstream to have such dream lol

Last semester of my master

Okay so as some of you might know, I was finishing my master degree in France during the first half of 2018. I already planned my 2018 onward back in 2017 when I chose my thesis topic. However, I had to rethink about that plan (and eventually changed it) after getting through a couple of #$%@)#^# stuffs during this time and I considered that as a failure since that exactly what I prayed so hard for back in 2017. Do I regret? No, I don't and I don't need to be forthright about that particular topic here but I'd say I had learnt a lot during this roller-coaster-like time (not necessarily about my thesis experience, though)

Some of my highlights during this period:

Unusually cold winter. It even snowed in April

Hiking by the sea

More hiking. It keeps my sanity

I paid a short surprise visit to my mom and sisters in Depok
 all the way from France. My mom's reaction was priceless

Celebrating France's victory in 2018 world cup

First time doing Eid Fitr prayer not in Alun-alun kota Sukabumi

Dreams achieved

I eventually got my master degree after 2 years of studying in Europe (my upmost thanks to European taxpayers). When I look back to 2 years ago, I made a hard decision to change my course of life by applying for this program and I'm really grateful for this. Apart from allowing me to achieve my dream to study abroad, it allowed me to become a better person (professionally and in general), to see the world and to meet tons of amazing people.

My parents and one of my sisters had a chance to attend my graduation ceremony in Belgium. We also visited 6 other European countries (I was the guide for the whole trip). Don't get me wrong, we're not rich. I know well how my parents saved money for this trip and I was struggling formulating an economical itinerary without sacrificing to much comfort for my parents. We didn't use taxi at all as European taxis are too expensive for ordinary Indonesians (we used mass public transport all the time), we booked our flight and hotel way in advance to get the best price, and we mostly visit free attractions (with some exceptions). I traveled a lot while being in Europe and I always wanted my family to experience the same :)

So after I officially graduated, I decided to go home and work in my home country rather than extending my visa to find work there. Not that I didn't want to work there, I was just thinking there're much more opportunities to work in the field that has to do with my degree in my home country. I didn't want my journey home to be an ordinary journey, so tried to check my another bucket list item:

I came to Europe from the east and I went back to Indonesia westward, so I technically did a round-the-world trip through the Atlantic, Mexico, the US, the Pacific, and eventually Asia albeit it involved only a few countries.

First time visiting Latin America ^^

A short trip to end my 2018

So what's for 2019?

I'm looking forward to starting my new job this January 2019. It's finally something strongly related to my degree (both my undergraduate and my master one). I know well how it feels to be a worthless piece of meat when my job has nothing to do with my degree and I'm not so into it. I'll just dedicate the whole 2019 to focus on my career, I guess

I'll try to spend less time in social media and do more writing on my blog as well as my quora account to develop some skills that writing can help to develop as well as to practice my language skill

Speaking of travel (you know I can be crazy when it comes to traveling), I visited 12 countries in 2018 (but only two new countries, though) which means way less than I did in 2017. By the way, I failed to reach my targeted number of countries visited in 2018. I guess I'm just too old and I've reached that age when I'm not as adventurous as when I was before. I'm not planning any trip for 2019 (not that I don't want to travel anymore, but I don't think it's possible due to my new job). But I'll definitely roam again somewhere (with whom? who knows) in 2020