1 last post 4 the year

2014 was a pretty good year.

(I'm not going to say it was the best most amazing year of my life thus far, because 2013 set a ridiculously high standard that 2014 wasn't able to attain, thanks to only 2/3 of the main items on my checklist becoming true.)

It will certainly have a place in my memory of the 2010s as a year where some major events took place, and it won't be considered uneventful like 2011 (because I really don't remember much about that year, other than applying to be an exchange student at the end of it). But hey, this is the first full year I've had this blog! I'm quite excited about it, as it has seen the occurrence of certain life-changing developments. The main one, of course, being accepted into Harvard, which had been a dream of mine for years and years. 

Thus, this post is not only going to be dedicated to 2014, but it will also be a post resuming my first semester at Harvard. 

How could I even begin to write about my first semester at Harvard University?

Reading back on the old entries I wrote at the start of it, I realize that I was very lost and confused. Not only did I not know what path I was taking, I didn't know how to walk along it. 

Now, I still don't know what path I'm taking, but I at least know how to proceed along it. 

Thanks to the four extremely enriching classes I took, I am now competent at German, I have enough knowledge of the field of linguistics to consider myself an amateur linguist, I now know more about the complex language issues that plague the African continent (a place I previously had very minimal knowledge of), and I have become much more confident in my academic writing thanks to a class in which I was able to write about topics such as female travelers and the immigrant experience. 

A few years ago, when I just started high school, I thought I knew for sure that I was going to pursue studies in the sciences and go to med school right after graduating college. Now, I'm uncertain about it all. What I do know is that I still want to be a pre-med, but I want to make my field of study for my four years as an undergraduate something in the humanities or social sciences. Will I want to continue delving deeper into linguistics? Or maybe will anthropology suit me better? Harvard also has this cool concentration called History of Science with a track called Medicine in Society... 

It's all so tantalizing. At this point, I can't imagine having to choose one thing. Luckily, they encourage freshmen to use their first year to explore all their interests and try new things, which is what I've been doing. So far, so good. I don't have to declare anything until fall of sophomore year, anyway. 

This first semester at Harvard has opened up so much more of the world to me. I can't wait to see what else I learn for the rest of my time as a student at this university. 

As for the rest of 2014...

This year saw two items on my ever-growing bucket list checked off: swim with whale sharks, and meet a head of state.

Although a controversial activity, I was still absolutely thrilled to get the chance to swim with whale sharks in the quaint seaside town of Oslob, Cebu, when I visited the Philippines over the summer. 

"I swam with whale sharks. No big deal."

As for the president I got to meet, the President of the Philippines gave a speech at Harvard in September. For some reason, the undergraduate Filipinos of Harvard were able to get the best seats in the house. I ended up being right front and center. 

"I was this close to the President of the Philippines. No big deal."

Afterwards, some of us in the front row got to thank him personally and shake his hand. I was one of them. The entire event felt so surreal.

As it is for me every year, the introduction of new people in my life that end up being a major part of it become themselves highlights of the year. And this year, I've been especially lucky. 

In 2012, shortly after my family and I left the Philippines, my sister and I got a new cousin. (I am well aware that the way I phrased that sentence makes it sound like cousins can be purchased at the local Whole Foods.) Her name was Cassie. 

We reacted to her coming into this world not-so-joyfully. We were just really weirded out by the fact that on my mother's side of the family, where previously the only children had been us and Karwin (our cousin-more-like-a-brother who was born a year after me and a year before my sister), there was suddenly a new...thing. 

My sister and I were at times appalled at her facial expressions from seeing them on Facebook. She seemed to be a very odd baby. When we found out we'd be going to the Philippines for the summer, we knew we'd end up meeting her, and weren't quite sure how to feel.

We ended up loving her.

Oh, Cassie. I miss her so. She was quite a precocious child, and could understand English, Tagalog, and Cebuano. I'm proud to be related to her. Here's a picture of the two of us, and I hope she won't have grown up too much when I see her again!

While on the same Philippines thread, my best friend Sari came over to visit me for a week. To learn about the story behind our meeting, read this entry.

Anyway, it had been exactly 13 months since I had seen her last in a Paris train station. We were reunited in an airport in Manila, and went on having more grand adventures to add to our book of friendship already brimming with stories. Here it is celebrated in pictures...

Us when we first met in Paris, April 2013, and then us shortly after being reunited, in the aftermath of a typhoon in Manila...

 

Us on Eurotour with the Alps in the background, and then us after having ridden up Taal volcano on the back of a pony... 

 

And finally, us on a gondola in Venice still in Eurotour, and then us on a bangka (traditional Philippine boat) going across Taal lake on the way to the volcano in the middle of it.

After having pulled off numerous crazy voyages with her, I wasn't too sad to see her go. It was never a "the end," it was only a "to be continued;" I think that's the essence of lifelong friendships. I wonder where I'll see her next? 

I think at this point, I'm at an age and in an environment conducive to lifelong friendships. It shocks me how quickly I've developed more of these in the few months I've been at college, with people from all over the world. I didn't think it'd be this easy to find some people I connect with really well. Granted, living in the same place as all these different people also makes it incredibly difficult to escape drama and the extremely fast pace at which it develops, but it also means that reliable friends you can turn to are never too far away. They might even just be in the room directly above you.

"The Cave" is what my friends and I refer to Straus A-31 as. Straus A-31 is the suite directly above mine and is currently home to those three boys. Though they are the origin of The Cave, the group also refers to our wider circle of friends. 

Look, we even have our own greeting card.

This isn't all of The Cave, just the ones who could make it out to the photoshoot.

Some more pictures of some of the greatest people I have ever met...

Some members of The Harvard Philippine Forum! "The coolest brown people on campus."

My ever-so-endearing ukulele Praliné continues to be a major presence in my life, and I have added three more friends to the list of people I have converted to ukulele aficionados. I love the enthusiastic and dedicated people I've met at school, and I am learning as much from them as they are from me.

Impromptu late night jam session in the Grays common room. Link to a performance here!

Tim from Tallinn with Praliné. He got his own ukulele upon returning home to Estonia for the break!

Last but not least... Harvard boys though ♥

My good friend Lucas from Brazil. This is a picture of us on the day we volunteered at the sickle cell anemia walk by cheering on participants by singing and dancing on a tree stump. Oh, and we were running on three hours of sleep the night before.

My good friend Lucas from Argentina. This was a picture we took after he had just discovered Photobooth on his laptop. He's from Buenos Aires, and actually knows one of my exchange student friends from there. Small world!

Literally us against the world? 

Pictures like this don't need captions ;)

Now that I reflect upon the semester, most of the people in my friend group are guys. This is highly unusual, considering I didn't have any guys in my friend group in high school, and the only guy friends I had were other exchange students and the guys from speech and debate. Hm, not that I'm really complaining. ;) (overuse of wink faces alert)

 

To end on that positive note, I have high hopes for 2015. They're hopes rather than expectations; no checklist this time. I'm convinced that the year is going to write itself in the most incredible way, and I'll just go along with whatever ends up happening. I know it'll certainly all be worth writing about.