My month in review: December

For the sake of the New Year I have thought of a new thing I would like to do: my month in review. I wanted to kick this off in January, obviously, but I’m impatient so I figured December last year is also a decent month to talk about.

So, let’s start at the beginning. On the 1st of December, a Thursday, I was lying in bed feeling very ill and simultaneously struggling to pack for a city trip to Barcelona with my friend Kirsten. I’d been struggling with being ill all week ever since I’d returned from my trip to London with my sister and brother in Law, Daisy and Erik. That day was the absolute low though, so I’d decided that despite my social anxiety I had to call in sick to recover a little bit. I remember forcing myself to the supermarket to get food and the guy behind the counter mercilessly evaluating my groceries on sensibility; a bunch of fruits and absolute loads of crisps and chocolate.

Anyway, the day after I fortunately felt slightly better so I woke up early, grabbed my suitcase and made my way to Kirsten’s place where we were picked up by a taxi to drive us to the airport. Being slightly afraid of flying, I was a little concerned about this part of the trip, but in the end I was reasonably fine deafening myself with loud music so I wouldn’t be able to hear the engines falter and our plummet to death start.

Barcelona was great; we stayed there from Friday to Monday morning and it was absolutely perfect. We stayed in this gorgeous apartment in the middle of the city and we walked around a great deal to see all the different lovely places, each better than the one before. The only downside I would say was that I was still coughing out my lungs each night so I figure poor Kirsten must not have had the best time sleeping next to me.

The days after Barcelona were more about survival than anything else. It had gotten to a point where I was pretty much constantly coughing and I didn’t want to call in sick again after having gone on a holiday over the weekend, so I powered through. Well, struggled on is a better description. Over the weekend of 10/11 December I told myself I would do nothing but rest but instead I ended up going to the park and the day after meeting Kirsten and her friend for food and then going ice-skating with them.

Ice-skating was definitely one of the highlights of the month though. I felt like a little kid and behaved like one, probably.

The reason I’d wanted to have a quiet weekend, though, was because the week after things were about to go down. Monday and Tuesday were fine. Wednesday evening is when things became hectic as I tried to go for a run, pack my bags for the next two and a half weeks and get my chores sorted out with the goal of going to bed on time as I would be picked up at 5 in the morning the next day.

I managed though and the next day I went on my first business trip to the most exciting place in the world; the Netherlands. We got there an hour late due to delays which forced me to call our customers and re-arrange the meeting and it was all a bit of a hassle but in the end we managed to find them and we had a nice, albeit a bit confusing, meeting.

After our meeting we took the train to Hilversum where we were to meet with our customers at the NCOI. I mainly remember sitting on the train and thinking about how horribly ugly everything looked and how wrong it felt to be there, but also how I really didn’t want to go back to England.

In any case, in the evening we flew back to Birmingham and then drove back to Derby. I finally got back home at around 11 in the evening, I think and instantly crashed.

The next morning I woke up at around 5 again to get my stuff sorted out before being picked up yet again by a taxi to take me to the airport. Flying to Gran Canaria was my first experience on a plane on my own and it was honestly so much better than expected. Because of the previous flights to Barcelona and Amsterdam I was already much more comfortable with the entire process and having several hours to just sit and contemplate was a welcome change.

When I finally arrived in Gran Canaria I was exhausted, hungry and very much excited about being there on my own for an entire day before my other sister and brother and law, Lisa and Daan, would arrive.

I ended up having an awkward encounter at the place we rented, trying to figure out which language best to use and then finally crashing on the beach listening to Christmas songs in the sun. When the temperatures started to drop I got myself some food and wine and lay down on the sofa to watch loads of Christmas movies trying to stay awake while waiting for Lisa and Daan to get there.

The rest of the holiday was quiet, peaceful and pretty much perfection. We went out for dinner every night, got drunk most nights, lay in the sun for many hours and just rested. By the time the holiday ended I felt like I was on top of the world. The entire streak of good things happening to me in December was getting to me, I think and even with the holiday ending I couldn’t stop myself from grinning constantly.

We flew back on Christmas Eve and were picked up from the airport by Daisy and Erik. The next day, so Christmas, started with an awkward morning in church and then getting back and arranging everything for our Christmas brunch. We all dressed up in Christmas outfits and looked ridiculous and Daisy and I prepared lots of delicious food and then I sat down at the head of the table thinking how lucky I was with my family.

On the 26th I went to my mom and was reunited with my dog. I think this was honestly one of the things I’d been looking forward to the most and fortunately she had not yet forgotten about me. In the evening we went out for dinner and had the best food and that was it for Christmas.

After Christmas, things didn’t quiet down though. The next morning I traveled to pretty much the other side of the country to visit my dad and stepmother. Then in the evening I returned to my sister’s and had a quiet night to myself. The next day Daisy, Erik, my brother, Terence and I went to a safari park where we freaked out about giraffes, drank hot chocolate and ate the best delicacy in the entire country; croquettes. In the evening we went to my sister for another great Dutch dish; Kapsalon.

On Thursday my sisters, my mom and I went wedding dress shopping for Daisy who is getting married this summer, got lunch afterwards and then pretty much immediately drove over to my brother for his birthday where we spend the night playing games on the Wii.

And that was it for my time home. The day after Lisa and Daan drove me to Rotterdam where I got on the Thalys to Paris for New Year’s with my friends. They picked me up there at the train station and we went to my friend’s apartment. Honestly, time was flying. We went out that evening, slept in the next day, finally took a quick stroll through Paris before stopping for a nice dinner somewhere and then we returned to her apartment to celebrate New Year’s; the end of 2016 and the end of December.

Honestly, I doubt that every month will take me over two pages of writing to fully describe, but December was just one of those months that just fly by because of all the things happening. I think it might have been the craziest month of my life. I know that there were a couple of times when I was just so overwhelmed but at the same time it was honestly one of the best months as well and I’m so grateful for it.

I hope you enjoyed reading about what I’ve been up to lately. I really enjoyed writing it and reliving all the highs and lows and I can’t wait to do it for the coming 12 months as well. In the meantime I will still be posting weekly ramblings about what’s been on my mind for that week, so stay tuned for that!