Happy New Year!

So 2006 has finally arrived. Wow. 2005 flew by so fast and, boy, it was some year! Yeah, 2005 was, by far, one of my best years; my senior year in high school was another damn good year, too. (That was the year we, Em, Dem and I, did a summer roadtrip and followed Nsync on tour down the westcoast. That was crazy!) (This year was also my senior year, albeit in college.) My great year started in 2004, though, when I finally went to study abroad in England. I've been thinking about that day since my freshman year in high school - 8 years ago! It was a dream come true to receive the acceptance letter from the International Programs and Exchanges office for the UK program; even though I knew it was coming - I'd spoken with my study abroad advisor already - my heart still soared when I opened that letter. My entire experience in England was amazing. In one year, I experienced the joyest of joys and bluest of blues - at one point I seriously thought I was gonna lose my mind and sanity and be completely consumed by grief and heartache but I lived through it. I lost my breath when I saw Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and cried when I saw Michelangelo's La Pieta. My knees trembled at the top of the Eiffel Tower, my heart tripped at the sight of David, and my stomach dropped at the sight St. Peter's Square and Basilica. I awestruck of the Colosseum and Pantheon. I was humbled by the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock, and the Holy Sepultre...and pushed to the limits of my patience by the guys in the market place. Oh, and I got the tan of my life! Floating in the Dead Sea was unreal and Petra was incredible; humans can be an amazing species. That's just my travels.

I'm totally hooked on English tea...proper English tea that is, with milk and 1 sugar please. I found someone who makes my knees weak with just a look, who takes my breath away with just a 'hey,' who trips my heart at the mere thought. I fell head over heels in love unwittingly but gave my heart completely. In September (2004), lust and the pitter-patter of a heart ruled. October, idiotic smiles were abound. November, the bright light dimmed... From then through to March, it was an emotional roller coaster, with no middle ground. My life soundtrack was Will Young's Leave Right Now for several months, but I couldn't walk away despite it all. I remember thinking to myself, what the hell is wrong with me? If someone else was in my shoes and I was giving advice, I'd have told her to leave his sorry ass and move on to someone who deserves her...but I didn't. Looking back, I guess deep down inside, unconsciously, or whatever, I knew there was something special and different with what we had, yes, despite everything, and that it was worth holding on to. (Ok, I know I'm hitting a lot of cliches but, damnit, they fit.) I hit my peak on the morning of 8 Feb, the morning after watching House of Flying Daggers and before Team America: World Police. (Oh, the things I remember! Haha.) I hit my low on 24 March - smack dab in the middle of the Tuscan countryside of all places. My entire Italy trip was crazy and almost too emotional - that's good HIGH emotions and bad low emotions all the time and sometimes even simultaneously. Madness.

In April, I got my hair dyed with flashes of red and it was HOT. May held the End of Year ball at uni and it was essentially my prom because I wore the dress that I would've worn for prom if I'd gone back in high school. July saw Nick and I go to Israel and Petra in Jordan - just one of the best trips I've ever had - and, yeah, that's when I got my wicked tan (which is starting to fade now - *gasp!*). August gave me London and a love of Thai, separation and heartache. The remaining months of 2005 were busy, busy, busy with internship, school and work. All day, everyday I was working in some sort of way or form, keeping myself busy literally from sun-up to sun-down. Workaholic is my middle name I suppose.

It was a damn good year.