The life of a 21st Century graduate! : Año Nuevo

It’s 2015! How did that happen? As a child I never understood when people said ‘oh haven’t you grown?’ or ‘I can’t believe we haven’t seen each other for a year’A year?? A year to me consisted of Christmas, my birthday, Easter, summer holidays, tattie holidays and Christmas again. The time in between these things seemed like forever! Now I am an ‘adult’ I am now watching friends children grow and develop at a stupidly fast rate with others due to pop this year.

So what did I learn over the past year? I have picked a random ten points:

Who my true friends are, not just those who are there for the good times but those who are there for the bad too.
.That some people are not worth all of the effort if they would not do the same for you.
That Spain is a beautiful place full of beautiful people.
Goats are awesome.
Work hard and play hard.
Things that you really want are not going to come easily.
I am a pushover.
I can work 17 hour days but I really do prefer at least 8 hours sleep a night.
You cannot expect other people to see your great points if you refuse to see them yourself.
.Life is precious and you never know when you are going to lose a loved one.

Because of these points I have decided to shy away from the resolutions of eat healthier, do more exercise as I have said this at various points throughout the year and although it is important I am not going to set an official target as then I won’t have to beat myself up about it if I don’t meet it. For the moment I am relatively healthy and happy and improvements can be made but not in January it is cold and there are still Christmas chocolates to be eaten. I would love to stop biting my nails as it is truly disgusting and I don’t know why I do it but again I think it is going to take more than a resolution to make that happen. Thirdly I would quite like to find that someone special but I don’t like when people make this a resolution as come 2016 if they haven’t found that person they feel like they have somewhat failed when in fact they have chosen not to settle for anything less than what is perfect for them.

Therefore my resolutions are simple but relevant for me.

1. Stop being such a worrier. Okay you might be a bit late, miss a flight, piss someone off. So what? It is not the end of the world, calm down a little.

2. On a similar note stop trying to please every single person I come across. Some people are not going to like me and that is okay. I am going to dislike other people and that is okay too. Don't waste time on people who are not having a positive impact. I have some spectacular people in my life and they are the people that matter. My opinions also matter so rather than sitting back and not saying what I think in fear of upsetting someone I think I need to speak up a bit more.

3. Finally that leads me onto make sure the people I love know exactly why. I don’t think anyone knows the true impact they have on peoples lives until they are gone and by that time they can not appreciate the difference they have made. Therefore this year it is my mission to let the people who are important to me know why. It may be a passing comment at the pub or a written letter that they can hold onto forever but hopefully come 2016 my friends and family will know exactly what I think makes them special.

Now 2015 who knows what it has in store but I started it with a bang by catching up with old friends and meeting new people. Edinburgh had a cracking fireworks display and I can now say that I have attended the globally famous street party.

I went off to Spain as a last minute trip booked just before Christmas. It was amazing! Got to go to Barcelona and meet up with Marcus who I have decided to call my spirit animal. He has this ridiculous aura about him that just brings joy to life!(see third resolution Marcus) It was a pleasure to see him again and I am glad we could appreciate the beauty of Barcelona together.

I then went back to Ùbeda to try and surprise the family. I gathered that the parents may have already known I was coming but they were pleasant enough to act surprised when they saw me. Noelia the daughter however had no idea and didn’t even register it was me when we went into her busy work. That was until her mum dragged me directly in front of her. It was so nice to essentially give something back to the family that had done so much for me at the beginning of last year.

Me being me however did not research my arrival date which was the day of the three kings. This is an important day in Spain and is essentially when the three kings bring the presents for the children to open on the morning of the 6^th January. Bit different from our Santa Claus tale. That meant I got to watch everyone open their presents and I became an extra ‘regalo’ for the day! We watched the parade and the next few days I went back to the farm and then I got sick. Really sick and my trip ended with me being ill. Regardless of this I had a wonderful time and sadly did not get to catch up with everyone I wanted to but just gives me all the more reason to go back.