WARNING: Long post ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Everyone has been posting their years in review all over social media, looking back at 2018 and I figured I might as well do the same. I mean, why not, right? I will do a recap of significant events that happened throughout the year, according to the timeline. Some of these events deserve their own separate post, so I will work on that later.
Korea
In February, a friend (Elena) and I made our way to Korea for a trip. We flew there together, but once we arrived, we went our separate ways. I spent my trip with my best friend, Justin! I had the most amazing time ever. Justin took great care of me, fed me, made me sleep etc- he pulled me out of my zombie-like state that was apparently scary haha. To be fair, two weeks before the trip, I had not slept or ate well as I was trying my best to finish up a course assignment that was unexpected.
SCOPE
In case you don't know, SCOPE is the official student organisation of my business school which I was a Board member of. I planned my second, and last active member weekend, this time fortunately I had the help of my lovely committee. We booked a chalet in Belgium, and the place was beautiful. We had nice rooms, a ping pong table, table football, etc. It was definitely an upgrade from our previous place. If you asked me, what I miss most about SCOPE were the people, especially members from my pillar. It was an honour serving you guys. 😊 I also retired as the Social Activities Coordinator of the Marketing and Management Pillar around June and was proud to hand my position over to Ruby, who was in my committee. Three out of four of my committee members received Board positions and one finished her exchange and went back to Switzerland (missing you, Michelle!).
Bali
In March, I travelled to Bali to attend a wedding, where I was also one of the bridesmaids. It was great to have another break in the midst of studying to meet up with friends from Malaysia. It was a beautiful wedding and I'm glad I was given a chance to be a part of it.
Gym
April was the official month that I started going to the gym. Justin had been pressing me to do it since Korea but I just didn't have the time. Anyhow, since I started, gym has been my life ever since! It was really difficult at first, but it was also exciting as I was curious to try new things and see how far I can push myself. With Justin as my personal trainer, customising exercise and meal plans for me, I was certain I was in good hands. Soon, I found myself going to the gym three to four times a week, with three hours per session, and it became an addiction. When I was back in Malaysia, I went to Celebrity Fitness in One Utama, and boyyyy do I love that gym! They have great equipments and the employees were super nice to me. During my internship, I would wake up at 4:30am, get to the gym by 6am, train, then I'd be off to work. I preferred it that way as the early morning sessions got me pumped and feeling productive, ready to take on whatever the world brings. Plus, I love how empty the gym is in the morning. Sometimes after work, I would attend classes such as spinning or yoga with my Shu. ❤️
Keukenhof
After almost three years of living in the Netherlands, I finally made my way to Keukenhof in Spring. It's mainly a tulip festival and is basically one of the world's largest flower gardens, decorated by around seven million flower bulbs per year. The flowers in the garden create a beautiful world of it's own. I went with my girl Julia and we had such a nice time admiring the gorgeous scene, taking pictures and even having a small relaxing picnic by the park. After that, we stopped by Utrecht for dinner (it's another small yet charming city in the Netherlands).
Sam Smith
Sam Smith has always been my favourite singer. His voice is angelic and I find his songs so meaningful. In May, I attended his concert at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, and OH MY GOD, it was unbelievable! He is the kindest and most down to earth celebrity ever. The concert was just magical, his live voice sounded the same (or even better) than in his recorded songs.
Case Competition
If you've been following my blog, you would've probably known about me getting into Maastricht University's International Case Competition team. In April, I had the privilege to help out during the International Case Competition @ Maastricht (ICC@M). However, in October, I was selected to join the Hong Kong International Case Competition (HKICC) with my dream team: Daniel, Niklas and Jonas. It was definitely an unforgettable experience and I was extremely happy to be given this amazing opportunity! It was my first case competition, but I fell in love with it and now I'm thinking of venturing into the Consulting field after I graduate.
Internship
From mid June to the end of Aug, I was a marketing intern at Mondelez Malaysia, the parent company that owns big brands such as Oreo, Cadbury, Twisties, Belvita, and so on. I was in the biscuits (BEST) team with incredible colleagues. I got to handle multiple projects on my own, and my proudest one would probably be Oreo Colourfilled. I also volunteered, visited the Google office, made lifelong friends, learned a ton and grew as a person, not to forget I also had the time of my life (the free snacks were pretty great too 😛).
Hong Kong / Macau
After HKICC ended, I stayed on longer and completed my first ever solo trip in Hong Kong, and also a day trip to Macau. It was honestly kinda scary and also kinda boring, but I might be biased as something sad happened during that trip. Anyway, I don't know but personally I found HK a little disappointing. I may have set my expectations too high.
Cologne
Made my way to Cologne for the first time to celebrate Carnival. It's just one of those days where people dress up and get shitfaced drunk haha. I was in a phase of trying new things and I went with a group of people. The festival was quite okay I guess, but the weather was really bad, it was cold and drizzling the entire day which was kinda annoying.
MaRBLe
I was accepted into the Maastricht Research Based Learning honour thesis programme. The benefits of this programme include us having the "freedom" to choose our own topic and also getting assigned a personal supervisor. Students of MaRBLe dive deeper into the academic research aspect. However, we would also need to write a longer thesis as compared to other students. Speaking of which, I'm still looking for respondents for my survey! If you are a Malaysian woman and is currently working in Malaysia, please click on this link and help a girl out 🙏🏻, I will elaborate more about my chosen topic once my survey collection period is over.
United Kingdom
Kickstarted my winter holidays by flying to London right after my last exam in Maastricht. I was in London and Bristol for around a week each. I celebrated my last Christmas in Europe by having a Christmas dinner / "weekend" at Bronson's, where I came to know a bunch of crazy yet fun peeps.
Spain
Hola from Barcelona! Part Two of my winter holidays was traveling to Spain. My sister and I first spent a day in Madrid, then we made our way to Barcelona. All I can say is, I'm IN LOVE with Barcelona! My New Year's Eve / Day were spent here, we even tried out this Spanish tradition, where you eat 12 grapes, one grape per second, for the 12 seconds leading up to New Year's. It was super interesting, so we bought grapes on NYE and attempted to do that. It was more difficult than it sounds tbh lol I probably shouldn't have bought non-seedless grapes.
A lot has happened in 2018; I've laughed and I've cried, I've loved and I've lost, I've made new friends and I've also lost old friends. 2018 has been a rough year for me- I would even say my most painful one to date. However, I still appreciate the good times and will learn to take the bad times as lessons for future growth. Sometimes, we are too caught up with things that are happening around us that we begin to lose sight of what's truly important. I'm still incredibly blessed and lucky to have everything I have.
As for friends, 2018 has indeed been a turning point for me as I've come to see clearly who my real friends are. To those who were there with me at my best and also picked me up at my worst, I'm grateful for each and every one of you. You know who you are. ❤️
With a new year comes new experiences, new places, new memories and new people. I'm closing the last page of the old chapter and starting fresh with a blank page. It's exciting to know that anything can happen because the possibilities are endless. Here's to becoming the best version of myself. 🥂 I'm looking forward to an amazing 2019!
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