Anyway. I’ve got 357 more days to appreciate whatever the year has to throw my way, so no matter. Instead, I’ll talk about 2010, which was actually a pretty good year. Like most years, I did an absolutely shit job at remembering — let alone keeping — my resolutions, and there are still areas in dire need of self-improvement. However, 2010 wasn’t like 2009, which got off to a fantastic start only to fizzle out come September. Nor was it like 2007, which swung to pendulum-esque extremes of highs and lows. Nor was it like 2006, which uh — plain sucked, end of story. The fact that I made it through 2010 alive and enjoyed myself along the duration of the ride is probably a Very Good Thing, because usually during intropsective times like these, I tend to launch into hyper-critical mode where I’m like THIS YEAR COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER IF I (verb) AND IF I HAD BEEN MORE (adjective). Yeah, my super-deep entries about Life and Other Facets of the Universe are, in fact, glorified Mad Libs games. What about it.

Since pictures do a better job of speaking a thousand words or whatever, and I’m feeling inarticulate at the moment, I’m going to pilfer through my Flickr and present to you my year in pictures. So, let’s do the Time Warp (…AGAIN!) and relive my 2010. It’s picture-heavy and it errs on this side of rambly, so don’t say that I didn’t warn you!

(click on the photo to zoom)

JANUARY:

Still reeling from the hot mess that was the latter half of 2009, I rang in the New Year at Phuket in Thailand. I distinctly remember I had a delicious Pad Thai, pineapple rice, and Thai iced tea that dinner, and I watched the fireworks from the window.

WHY HELLO, Singapore. I went with my mom on a business trip to the Lion City, and just about gorged myself on every delicious thing known to mankind: naan, grass jelly, mee rebus — no seriously. Check out the Flickr set if you think I’m merely listing deliciously good food solely for shits and giggles. Needless to say, all the abundance of good food more than made up for the swelteringly hot weather.

…and I turned 21 aka the legal drinking age in the US.

I also got a New York driver’s license that month and kicked off the spring semester of my junior year.

FEBRUARY:

(source)

Let’s see — February? I basically stanned the hell out of the Winter Olympics (2). There are few other forms of entertainment as gratifying as fangirling your favourite athletes and screaming at the TV, so thank goodness for those glorious two weeks.

MARCH:

PARIS, je t’aime! During Spring Break, I visited a good friend of mine who was studying abroad in the City of Lights (and Love!). I chilled out at her apartment, and while she was in class, I’d venture out in the city and stuff myself silly with macarons.

Which brings me to my new favourite European city: Brussels! During my week in Paris, I took a day trip to the EU capital and fell in love with the city. I can’t really put my finger on why the city appeals to me so much, but there’s something to be said about things like lambic beer, moules-frites, Le Pain Quotidien, art nouveau, and the Magritte museum.

Not too long after I got back from Europe, I gave this site a much-needed brand-spankin’-new facelift. And a couple friends and I worked on NOM^3, a student-run business venture to bring a food truck to our campus.

APRIL:

April was a relatively quiet month, as I had just wrapped up my midterms. I took two different weekend trips that month: one to D.C. and another to Princeton. I didn’t really take many photos during that time, so um, have a gratuitous photo of a meerkat that I took in the zoo at D.C.?

MAY:
I finished junior year, and let’s just say I was ever-so-glad to put that year to rest.

After exams, I headed home to Shanghai with a few friends in tow. We visited the Shanghai Expo, which consisted of super cool pavilions (like the UK one) that made my inner architecture geek swoon and super long lines that would put any major theme park to shame. I remember waiting around 3 hours for the Switzerland one. In my defense, it had a SKI LIFT ON THE ROOF, OKAY.

While I was on the other side of the hemisphere, my mom had a business trip in Taipei, and I tagged along. It was there I uncovered my love for night markets and rediscovered my love for grass jelly and steamed pork buns.

And then near the end of May, I had a weird fever/flu bug, which meant that I was basically confined to the house for the last few days of Shanghai. Boo. But on a plus side, I got featured in this wallpaper showcase for Smashing Magazine!

JUNE/JULY:

I’ve got two words for you: WORLD CUP. I don’t understand what is with me and organized sporting events that reduces me to a ridiculous level of excitement and fangirlishness, but we can discuss my sanity later and talk about the World Cup. Talking about the World Cup gives me pangs of nostalgia because I suddenly get “Wavin’ Flag” by K’naan stuck in my head and I fondly remember going pub-hopping for all the games and bonding with so many people over the beautiful game. (And for all the games that aired on weekdays, we’d watch them all on a projector screen in the office, so there was no way I was missing a game.) There’s no possible way for me to elaborate more without me blathering about how proud I am of Die Nationalmannschaft. Germany/Argentina — look that game up and watch it in its 90 minutes of amazing entirety if you don’t believe me! (And I’ll um, forget that 07/07 ever happened. Selective memory LA LA LA.)

In non-football related events, I got an apartment for the summer with two friends of mine, I started a new internship, and my brother came to visit me for about a week.

AUGUST:

If I had to make a list of the top 5 places that I’ve visited, Kenya would rank among them. It’s one of those places that renders words like “breathtaking” or “stunning” so prosaic and inadequate. I went with my family on a safari to Masai Mara, Nakuru, Aberdare, and Hell’s Gate, and I’ve been itching to go back.

Later that month, my friend and I finally fulfilled our dream of going to South America, and we went on a weeklong backpacking trip in Peru, where we trekked around the country through Huaraz, Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Lima. The high altitude got wind of me, but no matter! If you want an otherworldly travel destination with natural splendor and good food to boot, GO TO PERU and never be disappointed.

SEPTEMBER:
I started senior year and immediately kicked into let’s-freak-out-about-the-LSATs mode. When I didn’t have my nose buried into an LSAT prep book, I went to Fashion’s Night Out (where I saw Marc Jacobs! In the flesh!), I met Anthony Bourdain at the 92Y (he signed my copy of Medium Raw!), and I stalked Joseph Gordon-Levitt who was filming his new film on our campus. But I mostly freaked out about LSATs. So much so that I have no photos to capture my alarming stress levels.

OCTOBER:
I finally took those darned LSATs. And I had midterms following that week, because academia is a cruel mistress.

For fall break, my friend and I went to Las Vegas, where we hit up the Strip and took a day-long jaunt to Death Valley. We didn’t gamble much because I’m of the risk-averse sort, but um, we ate a bunch of good food if that’s worth anything. And we went to a Halloween party at a club. In Vegas.

NOVEMBER:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows got released, and I went to the midnight premiere and remembered why I love the series so much. Not that I actually needed a reminder, but you know.

On a suckier note, I got a nasty bout of food poisoning during Thanksgiving break, and subsequently spent the remainder of the break getting acquainted with the bathroom floor. And then I got a nasty cold right after. Now that I think about it, my immune system was a bucketload of FAIL this entire year.

DECEMBER:
I finally finished my exams! First half of senior year — complete! Cue the unnerving epiphany that I’ll be graduating in four months hitting me like a ton of bricks.

Later that month, my family and I went to Vietnam (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City) and Cambodia (Siem Reap) for our winter break vacation. I ate enough pho to feed an entire family and went to many of the locations filmed in Lara Croft (Angkor Wat, anybody?), albeit not with the intent of going through the Cradle of Life.

PHEW. Typing this entry was like a whirlwind in itself because there’s something to be said about trying to recount what you did in X month of Y year especially when you have only the dregs of your immune system to combat this devil of a flu. Also, I realize that I never blogged about most of these events. FOR SHAME. There goes one of my failed resolutions from 2010.

Sickness aside, I’m curious to see what 2011 has in store. For one, I graduate, which is a daunting milestone event with possible side effects that include job-finding stress, existential crises, and a weird sense of nostalgia for the last four years. I don’t know where I’m going to be a year from now, let alone eight months. This is a fact that is both exciting yet extremely capable of raising my blood pressure levels. It’s crazy to think that four years ago, I was in the exact same position, not knowing where I’d end up for uni, and welp. Here we are again.

What do you have planned for 2011? Any resolutions or goals that you’d like to accomplish?

To make up for lost time, I present to you 2009 in picture form! (click the images to enlarge)

I went to London mid-March with my friend, where we ate lots of scones, Pret sandwiches, and Wagamama noodles. Since I had never been to the UK, I hit up all the usual tourist-y spots and museums. Suffice to say, it was a much-needed break from my midterms. And I still miss clotted cream.

The Green Tea Ginger Ale isn’t exactly a staple of my college diet, but the heap of papers and books in the background should give you an idea of the problem sets, papers, and midterms I had throughout the semester. Anyway, moving on to more pleasant things!

In late June, my friends and I took a roadtrip along the east coast of the US. Our itinerary included Virginia Beach/Norfolk (VA), Raleigh (NC), Charleston (SC), Asheville (NC), Washington (DC) and back to good ol’ NY. We clocked in enough mileage to make it to DC just in time for the 4th of July, which was spent at the National Mall.

Charleston, South Carolina: so many colorful houses, biscuits, and magnolias!

The Blue Ridge mountains near Asheville, North Carolina.

4th of July fireworks in Washington, DC.

When Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince premiered in New York, I stood in the crowds surrounding the red carpet and caught a couple Emma Watson photos (and some incredibly blurry ones of Alan Rickman, Bonnie Wright, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, and Daniel Radcliffe).

In early August, I spent 10 days in Egypt (Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Hurghada) and Turkey (Istanbul). Both countries were incredibly beautiful; the picture above is the desert at sunrise.

Hagia Sophia at Istanbul.

After three weeks back home in Shanghai, I arrived in New York jetlagged as ever, thus beginning the Semester from Hell. I either overslept or pulled an all-nighter, I got sick on four separate occasions (I hardly ever get sick, which says something.), and I pulled off my worst GPA ever. Whoo!

So I came back home in late December right after taking a brutal final exam, and the next day, I went to Thailand (Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phuket), where I snorkeled, ate Pad Thai, drank so much coconut juice, and rang in the new year.

So in the spirit of New Year’s and my embarrassment at last year’s pitiful attempt at blogging, I’ve made a resolution to keep a regularly updated blog here. So here’s hoping I don’t go MIA this year! This site has too many cobwebs already.

With that said, happy 2010. Here’s to something great.