From 2019 to 2020

Wow! I have recently realised that I have only written one New Year’s post here. Honestly, I remember thinking about “aa that is such a good idea, I can do it every new year” well it didn’t happen. The problem is that I don’t always make the time to write for my own page, whereas I do for other people’s blogs, or I simply don’t create any time at all. Even though I know I am a bit late for a New Year’s post, here goes nothing….

I know I have said the same things for 2016 already, but 2019 was also an amazing year in my life. I was living in a new country again, with a new job, with a new family away from home…

2019 started with my parents, who came to Munich to celebrate the New Year’s with me. I don’t get to see them as often as before, so these tiny holidays are when we see each other the most

January ended with a well-deserved and highly anticipated trip to Budapest with friends. It is such a beautiful city; it made me feel like I belong there. I enjoy dark cities with Gothic architecture, and Budapest provided me with all that. With its old streets, unique boutiques and lovely cute cafes, it was amazing! It was a bit colder than expected, but walking 20 km a day kept us all warm. Here is a lovely photo we named “second personalities showing off”

February arrived with a short trip to Istanbul, and I realised I had missed my friends and needed to see them. It was also Cemre’s birthday soon, so I decided to visit them all together. It was short, yet a lovely break from Munich. However, I have also realised that I don’t really miss the city; what I miss is my friends and my social circle. Another photo of me not opening my eyes. It is not that I don’t open them, it is my extra happy smile, so no eyes!

March surprised us with a spontaneous trip to Amsterdam just for the weekend. Amsterdam holds a special place in my heart. I have been there several times, yet everything feels unique in some way. Each time I visit, new things are going around, the city is in constant change. Which might be the reason I love this city. Nothing stays the same in Amsterdam, I guess.

April started in Sri Lanka for me, another precious trip with my family. Since my siblings get their Easter holiday a week before me, I needed to take some days off and arrange my holidays accordingly, but it was worth the trip with them. From a cold Munich to warm, calm Sri Lanka, it was an unforgettable trip. April brought something else to me as well, Tuna, my friend, for I don’t even know how long. She paid me a visit from her cold, dark Bath, UK.

And May, Frühlingsfest, ahh, my lovely Munich and its beer festivals. Imagine Fruhlingsfest as a smaller-scale Oktoberfest, primarily for local people. During this month, we also took a trip to South Tyrol, which I should’ve written about here a while ago, but I’m still getting my head around it. I promise it will arrive soon!

June was a bit of a sad month, many of my friends were leaving Munich…

July and August happened quite fast. I visited the summer place a few times, as you may have read in previous posts, because I have a deep emotional connection with our summer place. A summer without visiting there wouldn’t be a summer for me. Near the end of my Munich journey, I began packing and preparing to leave for Alicante, Spain.

In mid-September, I relocated to Alicante for my new role as a project management trainee. Honestly, it has been almost six months, and I am still struggling to live in Alicante. My heart is still beating for Munich; that’s why I went back for the Oktoberfest, of course. To my cold, beloved beer-smelling Munich.

I haven’t had this kind of November, December before Alicante is really hot, people, like LA hot. You don’t get much winter or cold here. Only for a few weeks, maybe. And honestly, I am not much of a summer person.

November, meaning my birthday month, two lovely angels surprised me in Alicante and came all the way from Munich just for my birthday 🙂 I might have had one of the best birthdays ever. Thank you so much, family away from home!

December brought a lovely girls’ trip to Rome. By the way, it was my first time there. The Rome post will come, yes. And it was almost the end of the year when my parents revisited me. We travelled a bit around Spain and finished the year back home, at our summer place, Datca, with the whole family. I don’t know how long it has been since I celebrated New Year’s with the whole family, not even sure if it ever happened before. But it was magical; it was the best ending of the year and a welcome to the new one.

As you see, 2019 was great AGAIN! And here we are already 1 month down in 2020. This year brings a lot of uncertainty to my life; I don’t know where I will be after Alicante, yet I hope to end up in Dublin for my master’s. But who knows what life will bring, as always I say it again, let whatever meant to happen, to happen. But 2020, please be kind and don’t push my boundaries too much, and please don’t make Alicante too hot; otherwise, I don’t think I can survive.

Happy late New Year, everyone!

Ilkim