2017 is over, and it was one of the most eventful and life-changing years I have lived through. A ton of things happened, all of which took my life into positive new directions.

  • I received the result of my master’s thesis and graduated as “Master of Arts” with an excellent grade.
  • The supervisor of my master’s thesis asked me whether I want to do a PhD, which is an amazing accomplishment and a show of confidence and trust in me. I said yes, and I started working on my PhD project in April.
  • I ended an 8-year relationship. I started the year still thinking that I could save it, but after starting therapy around March, I soon realized that it’s the source of my depressed mood1 and it’s been a toxic relationship for years and the only way is out.
  • I was thrown out of my ex’s apartment and had to find a new place to live within a week. I was lucky to have found a really affordable temporary solution quickly, and still in 2017, I have received an offer for a new, permanent place which hopefully will work out.
  • I switched my hair care and I’m very happy with the results, and with the fact that I’ve switched from washing every 1-2 days to twice a week.
  • I travelled through Canada for two weeks and finally went back to New York after not having been there for 5 years. It was my first time travelling on my own again in a long time and it was awesome.
  • I started my career as a “real” lecturer, teaching my first 80+ person class. I had previously only taught tutorials with 10-20 people.
  • I have read 29 “books” in 2017 – I read the complete Sandman series by Neil Gaiman, the spin-off series Lucifer, and I started reading The Expanse series (I’m currently reading book six).
  • I have probably watched around 700 episodes of TV shows this year, and at least 20 movies. My TV highlights this year were Legion, American Gods, Bron (The Bridge), Please Like Me, Fargo (mostly S1), season 2 of The Expanse and rewatching Doctor Who (2005) seasons 1-4. The most awesome movies I’ve seen with year were all Taika Waititi all the time; Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Thor: Ragnarök.
  • And finally, but most importantly, I have taken board gaming to a whole new level (all thanks to my amazing friends). In 2017, I have played board games 415 times, I have played 166 different games out of which 129 were new to me this year. I have played with 169 different players at 23 different locations across two continents. I have altogether played games for 323 hours this year. Highlights were Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 and starting Gloomhaven. Some of my new favorite games that I first played this year are Sagrada, Dice Forge, Bärenpark, Pulsar 2849, Valeria: Card Kingdoms and Terraforming Mars.

I hope 2018 will bring many more new achievements for me. I will move to a new apartment in a new neighborhood, which will change my life a little bit again. But mostly I hope that I’ll get to spend just as much time with my amazing friends, and that I’ll get to travel to some new and exciting places this year.