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Memories

It's officially 2020, but I can't seem to let go of 2019.



2019 has definitely witnessed a lot of great things (of course there are the not-so-great ones but it's new year so who wants to talk about the not-so-great things right ahaks). This is not another series of my 'WandeRewind' nor any piece of my not-so-deep personal reflection. Just a piece of memory trail, I guess... since I don't really have much time to sit and think about things to write recently hehe

2019 was the year I turned 21. The start of a new decade of my life. It had also marked the 'halfway' journey of my undergraduate years. How did I start my 2019? Oh, with a trip to Vienna and also my first ever Europe solo trip to Bratislava. I still remember sending pictures to my family WhatsApp group just to let them know that I was doing fine being alone in that capital of Slovakia. 2019: Stepping up my game of travelling alone!

Nothing exciting really happened throughout my term-time, so the next thing I have got on the list is my training expedition to Snowdonia, Wales with my Duke of Edinburgh buddies. And, here comes the most stressful week of the year where I struggled to get my back-to-back assignments done before I flew to Paphos, Cyprus for my spring bioarchaeology field school. 2019: I finally get to learn and work with human bones!

After two weeks in Paphos, I was finally back in London a few days before my first exam, and had the chance to enjoy my Ramadhan and Syawal in the UK last year, alhamdulillah. I spent my first week of Eid in Toulouse, France with my favourite travel buddy before hiking up north in the Scottish Highlands for my DofE qualifier expedition. I should spend more time for my physical fitness but God knows when will that be...

I was back in London again, just in time for my favourite band's concert! 2019: the year I witnessed my boys singing for the first time on stage in real life! I then flew to Tbilisi, Georgia for my summer archaeological fieldwork. Had a layover in Amsterdam, Netherlands for 8 hours for my return flight so I took the chance to join a free walking tour of the city. Oh that wanderlust in me never dies, and will never be.

Oh wow, that was a hectic first half of the year, and it didn't stop there. I flew back to Malaysia in July and was back in USM, Penang for my second-time interning with them, while working on my dissertation. Felt so good to see the familiar faces, felt so great to have my motivation boosted. It was a privilege to join a fieldwork project in Kedah too!

Time flew so quickly and it's already time to pack for my flight for London Heathrow. Term started and life was as hectic as it has always been - though I managed to escape to Warwick and Southampton for some weekend getaways. Apart from the short escape(s), I was just either being buried with the never-ending assignments, or some on-and-off emotional crises along the way. But December came with very much appreciated joy: I basically ended the first term of my third year with a trip with my housemates to Nuremberg and Berlin, Germany, spent some quality time in Edinburgh with my beloved fam, and ended my 2019 with another 'fam' in Munich, Zagreb and Budapest.

(Can't believe I just spent 2019 at 13 different countries. And I know, I can never thank You enough for that :'))

Need to gather some mental and cognitive strength to recount all my travelling stories as I no longer have the pictures I took of most of the places I mentioned above - my laptop broke on the first month of my third year and my hard disk was not really doing great huhu (wait I promised not to talk about not-so-great things opss sorry!)

That reminds me that everything is temporary and nothing stays long in life really. I am listening to Maroon 5's 'Memories' as I am writing this, and I can't help not writing this down:

"Here's to ones that we've got
Cheers to the wish you were here but you're not
Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
Of everything we've been through"

 "Toast to the ones here today
Toast to the ones that we lost on the way
Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
And memories bring back, memories bring back you"

 Whoever is reading this, thanks for still being here today. But if you're one of those I have lost along the way, thanks for being by my side back in the days anyway :)

It's my final year in the UK - I lost count on the number of times it hit me that this will be the final several months I'll be seeing my coursemates, ahh the perks of being of being an international student isk isk - so I guess the most realistic thing to say is cheers to the wish that we're gonna be making more memories with people who will one day become a memory too :)

On a side note, I have a feeling 2020 is going to be another year of witnessing a lot of great things, so... to a lot more self-growth and self-reflection ahead hopefully!!
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