Assalamualaikum, & hello everyone 🙂
It’s already almost the end of the month, but like they said, January is a trial month, and new year doesn’t begin until February, so it’s not too late for me to wish you a Happy New Year! It’s a new year, it’s a new day, it’s a new you! Yes, this is going to be the cliche end-of-the-year-and-new-year post, so please bear with me for a while, alright?
Looking back, 2017 has been pretty amazing. I miraculously survived a degree in Actuarial Science, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, started my first job at Monash University Malaysia, and, best of all, got engaged to my best friend in the whole world. Other notable achievements included being awarded the Harvey Meyerhoff Award (free $1,000 peeps!), got invited to speak on behalf of graduating students at the International Student Graduation Celebration, and received a casptone scholarship to attend the NASPA Undergraduate Pre-Conference program in Texas (my legit adulting where I personally decided to attend a conference on my own without knowing anyone there).
But 2018, it’ll be a year of new beginnings, insyaAllah. I have lots of things planned for the year, lots of new things to try out and lots of new adventures waiting to start. And as much as I would like to share the thoughts and plannings and what I’m looking forward to, I am also trying out a new thing in my life where I limit the things that I share online – unless they’re super confirmed and set in stone. So, this is me trying to stick to my personal goal of learning to keep certain things to myself and my family and close friends first before sharing the news out to people – just to make it a little more special for them 🙂
This post was originally typed as I was on board flight MH0002 from Kuala Lumpur to London, for my one-week trip to the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, me being me, the draft never got posted, so it was stuck in the drafts for a couple of weeks until now.
Talking about #travelognazu, yes, I was in the UK for about a week from Jan 6th to 13th. The trip was a little different though, as I was on my own most of the time and not with my family. The reason for the trip was to actually send off my youngest brother, Eizat, who is currently studying in Brighton, but I took the opportunity to do some travelling on my own, visiting prospective graduate schools (yes, again with the graduate schools lol) and meeting up with some friends.
So my trip was from London – Brighton – London – Huddersfield – London. It was tiring, yes, as I had to bring my luggage here and there on the tube and train (a small carry on wouldn’t fit my coat and all so had to bring a medium-sized luggage). I also took the liberty of meeting up with an old friend of mine from King’s Wood School from back in 2005, Tony Bowerman, on my last day in London. It was our second time meeting each other since I left for Malaysia in 2006, the first time being three years ago (I think?), and it’s nice to know that some things never change even after all these years.
Anyhow. That should be it for now.
Here’s to a better 2018, insyaAllah. I’m currently waiting on some news, and will update your guys if anything new comes up 🙂