What Made 2018 Awesome?

Oh dear, thank God that's over. My years seem to take turns: one year life is amazing, the next one, not so much! 2018 was a bit of a downer. Lots of unfortunate events that would manifest in my writing as "learning experiences". Except for the World Cup, that stuff was just baaad. I really don't mind bad years so much; I definitely learned more in 2018 than I did in 2017, the year of Awesome! The silver lining is easy: 2019 is going to be fantastic. For many reasons: 1. It can almost only get better, and 2. I got that feeling! It's nice to have the experiences of this year in the bag to make a bigger impact next year.

And of course, I love a look back. The year was full of stories, people, and impressions. Despite what I just said, I had some of the best moments of my life this year. Since this is highly personal, I thought I'd make my own look back of the best moments of 2018.

#1
All of the women 

I would like to think the world is changing... 

Last year, as my colleague Philipp and I were walking to the Munich Christmas Market, he told me that "2018 is going to be the year of the woman". Of course, I'd read it a hundred times. To hear that from the mouth of a man made me feel something all the other stuff that had already happened, namely #MeToo, failed to make me feel: hopeful it might actually be true. I personally don't need a year to be the year of the woman. I don't need things to be amazing for women. What I did need, and what I got, was women starting to believe in themselves and men supporting them. I'm talking Serena Williams who got a pretty great coverage when calling out the referee at the US Open. Although pointless in the truest sense of the word by sheer fact that she is now a member of a pointless family, Meghan Markle was celebrated for being strong, working for a greater good and, well, anything other than just being super f***ing good-looking (which she also is). Would Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have won in 2017? We will never know, but it was a big story that made me feel empowered to reach high.

#2
The World Cup

When I took this video, I was still a World Champion!

I know, if a tournament that you had tickets for is featured in a year, it must be a highlight. As many know, I had tickets for the final of the World Cup which, given the circumstances, was unfortunate. I never saw my boys in the final, never mind in any of the final rounds, and altogether this World Cup was a shitshow from a Germans perspective. Sure, I still had England, the country I lived in but I failed to get excited with every performance because, frankly, why were they there? It seems unfair that a team like England went on to semis while Spain had to go home. But, I went to Russia for the last week of the tournament, and what I experienced there, I will never forget. To have positive moments in July 2018 when the job I loved was coming to an end was not an easy feat. Thanks to some international friends I made there, it was achieved though. Seeing people from everywhere in one place (not on the internet, but with your own eyes) was tremendous. And, as the previous point, a true source of hope for a better world.

#3
Seattle

View from "Day 1" in Seattle

Visiting the Amazon Headquarters in April was a great experience. Looking back, I really don't think I had that great of a time. There were some weird moments, professionally and personally, I cannot really talk about. It wasn't a big fest of people finally meeting and creating great stuff together. But it was at the "mothership". Being part of any mothership is a wonderful feeling, and knowing that my mothership was changing the future made me feel very proud. I also enjoyed experiencing actual human exchange with people I worked with and realized it is quite hard for me to not want to befriend colleagues because we obviously have a lot in common (at least 8 hours of our daily schedules, that's quite a bit!). My time at Amazon is now over but it makes me feel good that I am able to claim I made an impact at something as massive as the eight-block office complex in Seattle, WA.

#4
No Rain for four months

A little gathering at ours for just the closest friends... :/

This year, my hobbies took a beating. I have many, many interests (although most of them are available to explore in books or on the internet, and almost none of them in Cambridge, UK) but the four months of no rain in this country were spent almost entirely on the patio. When you live with seven people, seven of whom are your best friends and you love them, there is no better place than home. Throughout all the struggles of 2018, I always had a patio to sit on with at least one of them. We also worked out, setting up the computer and a YouTube workout in the garden, kept chickens and sat in circles with guitars, like a f***ing cult. In fact, I never felt, throughout all my achievements in life, big or small, like people had more reason to envy me that in those days.

#5
London

I have no intention of ever being too "London" to love WW!

I moved to London, finally. A lifelong goal became reality and I was not disappointed. I moved in with my friend Katie which ended up being pretty special and I had a lot of time to explore my new home. After a couple of months, I already understand how some of my friends could sometimes tell me which Tube line to take without checking the map; I can do that now. I already figured out that I am not a Hackney person and that I enjoy hanging out at Blues Kitchen (mainly because it is possibly the only place that plays music I actually know). I spent four nights in two weeks at the Winter Wonderland, each visit better than the last, and if I wasn't leaving for the holidays, I'd consider a visit on Christmas Day (of course, as a fan I know WW is closed then). I know this doesn't make me a Londoner; it actually makes me the opposite. But I love it here, and it's my favorite move since the last one...