New Year, New Oppportunities

Well, I haven't had time to write up my Christmas stories yet.  I've been too busy spending time with awesome people :) Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about what I've done throughout 2012:

January: I went to the March for Life and met some awesome people as well as applied for this assistant job.  As strange as it may seem, these two things are actually connected.
February: I believe it snowed...no, that was the year before.  At any rate, I was in school, bored and exhausted.  Nothing much happened...
March: I went with Laura to NOLA for an English Honor Society Convention.  It was pretty sweet.  Met some more nice people there and had a blast in the sultry weather before returning to misery aka the Chicago winter and finals.
April: I found out that I was accepted to the program.  I was also really stressed about my thesis.
May: Again, really stressful (why is it that I can only remember the negative things?).  I turned in my thesis (yay!) and presented it at another academic conference (as well as attended a very special dinner for people who turned in their theses early. Score for me!).  The last bit was all parties and saying goodbye to my college days...parts of which I never really want to remember.  I always tell myself that it's the people who count and make things worthwhile, not the places you visit.  The more I travel, the more I find this to be true.
June: I graduated and turned 22 with my twin sister.  We had the most fabulous family party (and got to play ultimate frisbee with my favorite people).
July: We had another party with friends...more of a bonfire, actually.  I also helped out with a vacation bible school with more amazing people and tried to organize my life a little, knowing that I was leaving the country.  I got my letter posting me to Verdun.  At first I was upset, but I'm glad I'm here (I don't want to be mean, but some towns I pass through I think, boy am I glad they didn't send me here!).
August: I went to visit a friend in Kansas City, with a pause to see my darling great aunt Helen (going on 90 something, and still as youthful as the day she was married).  I also vacationed with my family in St. Louis, where we visited City Museum (the coolest place ever!) and then took a trip to Mackinac Island and the Dunes National Lakeshore.
September: I left for France, laughed a lot, cried a lot, and was generally overwhelmed by the French.
October: I started my new job and again, made all sorts of amazing new friends. We went to see the royal wedding in Luxembourg and I fell in love with that little country.
November: I went to Luxembourg (again) and Dijon. Then, we celebrated Thanksgiving with the other assistants. Good times.
December: I spent a wonderful Christmas with my friends (and went back to Luxembourg, incidentally) and finished out the year with a trip to Paris.  Let's just say the food was the highlight of the trip (art and architecture, no matter how famous, can never compare with excellent French cuisine).  More on this later.

And now, I am looking forward to 2013. I think this is going to be a quirky year.
--Mary