This is my sixth new year post. Sixth. That feels so strange and overwhelming in some way. That I've been doing this and documenting it for six year. That my first new years post was when I was 13/14. It's completely cringe-worthy. In the past I've always created elaborate lists for my goals of the year, but as I sit here, sipping coffee, I'm not sure if I can press forward with the same stamina. I also used to reflect back on my goals of the past year and see how I fared. Unfortunately, I can't do that this year because I never posted the list online and my old computer crashed last finals week in April.
But let's just take a gander at the past year in general, and at some of the highlights.
January...
My memories of January are mostly fond in among the bitter cold days of winter we experienced last year. My best friend travelled up to Ottawa and stayed with my for a week, so that made January extra-special for me.
February...
This month seems a bit of a blur. School was picking up, my shifts were picking up and I remember feeling pretty tired. I did buy a super cute dress this month though and the only reason I remember that is because I wore it on Valentine's Day after a shift on way to my Greek Civilization lecture. I think it was also in February that I travelled to Montreal and spent a weekend with Réb!
March...
March feels similar to February: all a blur mixed together of shifts and lectures and essays and coffee. I did finish up my job at Tim's the last week of March, however. I miss it a little bit, mostly because of the people, but I don't miss the hours or the rude customers.
April...
Ahh, the month of exams. This was a pretty frantic one as I had four exams in three days with my last exam being on Greek Civilization circa 1000 BCE - 100 CE and carrying a weight of 50 per cent of my final grade. I received no help from my program's director in changing that fate so I trucked through it, finished it (and did well) before making the long drive back home to New Brunswick the following day.
May...
This was my first kick at the can of journalism. Everything was still so shiny and new and a little intimidating. I found it really hard to find stories this month and definitely relied on Katelin for suggestions.
June...
I started to come into my own a bit in the newsroom this month. I gained a little more confidence at how things were run and started to chat more with my colleagues. This I believe was also the month of the newsroom switch, so seating changed and I was closer to the other interns. I think this was my favourite month of the whole internship.
July...
I think this was one of the roughest months. I felt really, really drained and the end was still far away from sight. I was working long hours and extra days on the weekends and I started to resent going to work a little bit, which is a very scary place to be starting out in your career. One amazing thing that happened this month, however, was that I interviewed the former premier of New Brunswick (current at the time) David Alward. I was working on provincial storm coverage for Arthur and happened to be the right reporter in the right spot at the right time.
August...
I think this is when I truly bonded with my fellow interns (ashamedly late) over our distaste for the late hours and how some things were run. We finally were honest with one another and realized we all felt the same way! It was wonderful working with all of them and August was a good month, albeit still very draining. I had one awful experience covering a boardwalk event when I could barely talk to anyone...
September...
Back to the hustle and bustle of school. September was an alright month. Full of a bit of homesickness for my mum and dad and best friend, but I was trying to fit into the swing of school and wasn't feeling too overwhelmed--save for journalism.
October...
In October I travelled back home for my cousin's wedding which was so wonderful and it made a dent in my finances but I honestly didn't regret it for one moment, even when I was down to eating soup last month! It was a bit tearful as I struggled with my decision to continue with my plans of journalism and wondered what I was doing it all for. I had one break down in Tiffany's car and then realized "My Hometown" was playing on the stereo...how apt.
November...
Things started to look up a bit in November, I finally landed a job so finances were a bit less of a worry, although it was still scary and touch-and-go waiting for my first pay cheque. But things were heading in the right direction. In terms of school I was feeling very overwhelmed by the poor quality of work I completed in October and had to pay the consequences for.
December...
Academically, the light was at the end of the tunnel. I finished my final assignments and then it was smooth-sailing for studying, which I find much more therapeutic, and almost fun, rather than essay-writing. This month also bought the confirmation that I wouldn't be returning home for Christmas. The lead-up to the big day was hard and full of a few tears, but the actual day passed smoothly and I made myself my first big turkey dinner--which turned out delightfully in my humble opinion.
Wow. So there we have it. My entire year revisited within the last 39 minutes of writing. It feels weird to have wracked my brain for certain memories while other flew from my fingertips onto the keyboard. It's been a heck of a year with jobs, travel, tears and memories. I can't even imagine what 2015 will bring: my third year of university, more jobs, definitely more tears.
Well here's to the last one, later on today I'll post something with my goals for the year, but for right now I'm going to make myself another coffee, maybe a bit to eat, and text my best friend.
