POST 2012

As I've just entered a new year, here's a little post about what happened and didn't happen in 2012!

Good Things
It's always nice to list what I actually achieved in a year. It can sometimes feel like time just came and went!

• Started university again! Of course it would have been amazing if I had been accepted to the writing school, but that needle eye is, well... a needle eye. I love learning again and I love that, while I'm still hopelessly awkward and bad at getting comfortable socially in a place like school where so many personalities are mashed together, I actually really like some of the people and want to get to know them even better next year.
• Took part in establishing what still needs a lot of time and energy to really kick off: The bomb shelter. While it's bad that I still need to get a key and get started actually using the space I love what opportunities it represents. I (together with a group of cool and creative people) have my own work space that I can use for everything I want. I don't regret that!
• Wow. I was so close to posting without adding in this one: I started making RADIO for the university radio! Morgenpunk. Yay! I love, love, love doing radio. This year I also want to contribute to the radio show Tekstur which is a show about litterature. In the litterature course I'm participating in next week I'm hoping to get an interview with Karl Ove Knausgaard! Keeping my fingers crossed!
• Celebrated 3 years "anniversary" with my amazing boyfriend. Of course we don't have a perfect relationship  but I almost can't imagine being as close with another guy as I've gotten with this one. He knows me so so well and we're so good for each other.
• As the list beneath shows I once again traveled some amazing places. My trip to China with Charlotte was very unique since I never traveled for that long with any other person than my boyfriend. It was really cool to work through issues of living - and making so many decisions with a friend for once - in the city you have a tendency to just slide off every problem you may have with your friends simply because you can. This can sometimes prevent friendships from moving to the next level. 
• I stayed in touch with some of the people from Testrup that I really wanted to keep in my life. I can be bad at these things so this was a real personal challenge (hence: the university blurb).
• I started running. Baby steps, but none the less enough to get a taste of how it feels when you you can run without losing your breathe etc. It definitely helped teaming up with Nikolaj. I want to get much more fit in 2013, but the whole idea of getting up earlier several times a week (some weeks at least!) to go running and having a good breakfast before school deserves some kind of applause. Not to mention how much I appreciate doing something else than drink or stuff my face when I hang out with my friends for a change! 
• While I never reached my reading goal in 2012 I read so much more than I did compared to years prior. It's like I've finally kicked myself out of a bad habit of not reading, in part thanks to discovering the joys of listening to sound books while I work. 
• For more than 3 months I didn't purchase any clothing (besides socks and underwear). It seems silly, but I actually buy much more clothes than I think is okay for somebody with as much stuff as me. While it's in no way a money issue, it was really cool to not just stop, but to also try to replace buying with finding - the recycling centers and secondhand containers carry so many wonderful things that I'm really going to spend my time and money more strategically in 2013 - and maybe even take another cold turkey for a while.
• Sonja moved in to my apartment. I love having her around again although our friendship is only slowly getting used to being closer again after years almost completely apart.

This picture is from the day we found out that my mother's cancer spread. I don't usually like to put a picture like this online, but I just really like how accurately it describes what I felt that day.

Bad Things
While a lot of great things happened, the year was also very tough and shit just got real-ish. Being at Testrup in 2011 was almost like a spiritual holiday since nothing was settled and every possibility was open after I returned to Copenhagen: I was going to go home to take control of my "real life" - this put a lot of pressure on myself which would have been better left out. 

• My mother's cancer returned. We found out just before I left for China and in the end of the year she started chemo treatments. It's heart wrenching and we've actually been told that she'll never be declared cured. This means me and my family have to learn living with the fear of losing her. This is so, so hard. But however bad the situation is, I must add that all of us has coped with it so well. We're all speaking our minds, trying to have a laugh and look positively at the future. 
• I almost stopped writing - next year I have to be more disciplined with it and actually add in hours where I write as I do with school and work - I can't wait for that spark of creativity with such a busy everyday life.
• While I did start running I also find that I've been living a much more unhealthy lifestyle after starting school. At some point during my trip to China I remember feeling really confident about my body - all the physical challenges, delicious food and a somewhat positive circadian rhythm made me feel so good inside. Next year I want to treat myself to more sleep, less unhealthy food and also get really fit again. Not necessarily to get super skinny, but to get more energy and strength. 
• I feel like I spent too many hours looking at internet junk - in 2013 I want to disconnect a little in favour of doing something else with my time even if it means missing out on all the silly things I've given my attention in 2012. 
• I made the mistake of putting people I practically didn't know at all under my roof. I really like Sofie and Julie as friends, but living with them was a huge mistake. I was so unhappy in my own home during the first months of returning from Testrup. Everything was dirty, loud and messy and the communication and chemistry between us just didn't mesh. 

Tunxi, China

Places Traveled 
Since I value travel so much, I always love to look back on the places a year brought me.

• Oslo, Noway (With Simon - taking The Oslo Boat)
• Edinburgh, Scotland (With Maher & Jo to visit Sara)
• Amsterdan, Netherlands (To visit Jonas on the way home from Edinburgh) 
• Zadar, Croatia (With Simon + parents)
• Barcelona, Spain (With Jeppe for Primavera Festival)
• China (3 week holiday with Charlotte)
• Århus, Denmark (It's almost exotic! Writing course at Testrup)
• Kandestederne, Denmark (visited my parents in our summer house - with Simon, Nana & Mathias)
• Bergen, Norway (with Maher & Freja to visit Jo)
• + Two trips to Jutland to visit people from Testrup in the first six months of the year - once in Aalborg at Mathias' place and once in Nana's parents' summerhouse near Ribe

Thanks for looking!