A Year in Review

WARNING: Ridiculously long post!

The year is drawing to a close and as people make resolutions for the year to come, I’m looking at the year that has just passed.   2009 was an interesting year, it had its ups; it had its downs.  I think I grew a lot this past year, through changes in my personal life, experiences at work and AIESEC, and then just the sheer fact of getting older.  Here are some the highlights (and by highlights I mean ridiculously long essay >.<”) with pictures of the past year:

January

I rang in the new year at National Congress 2009, held in Vancouver.  I had just returned from my semester abroad and it was freezing cold.  Snow was up to my knees and the city had slowed down drastically.  NC was probably one of my favourite conferences ever – the sessions, the people – it was a great re-introduction to AIESEC.  I was suppose to start a co-op term in January, but I couldn’t find anything while I was abroad.  I spent a decent amount of my time in January trying to find anything I could.  I interviewed for a bunch of positions, but nothing turned out.  I just resolved to keep looking, but also work on some personal projects.  The rest of January was spent getting reacquainted with friends in Victoria, while living at home with the parents. 

 AIESEC Victoria delegates @ NC 2009

 Home sweet home – missed the ocean =)

February

February was a rough month.  I was having problems adjusted back to life in Canada and, especially, living under my parent’s roof.  A number of things had changed since I left and it was difficult to get back into the swing of things.  Worst of all, I had things to do in Victoria, but no place to live, but in Vancouver, I had a place to live, but nothing to do.  I had a bunch of personal issues to sort out as well.  Things were pretty grim and I was fairly unhappy for most of the month.  Because I had nothing else to do, I threw myself into lots and lots of AIESEC related things.  First, Coastal Conference – as Victoria was hosting it this year, I helped out with some of the logistics, planned a couple sessions and facilitated during the conference.  The conference came together pretty decently at the last minute, despite a number of things lacking.  All in all, it was a good experience to see what it was like to host and conference and things to expect, seeing as October was coming up fast.  Next came turnover and year planning for the executive board as we prepped for taking over the organization.

  One of our sponsors

 Year planning

March

I moved back to Victoria in March – I didn’t like having to be in Vancouver with nothing to do.  I don’t remember how I managed to convince my parents, but I did it and it was a great choice.  The only problem was that I was going to be sharing my old apartment with my old roommate – our friendship had since changed with me going to Europe.  I passed my time working on AIESEC related things, searching for a job in the summer and just having fun with friends. 

April

April was a good month – such a change from the dark and depressing months I had passed previously.  I finally found a JOB for the summer, the sun was coming out and with a bunch of my friends graduating, I got to attend a number of parties and grad events.  Looking back at my pictures, April was a really good month – I did everything from picnics to days at the beach to eating lots and lots. 

 Heading out on our picnic

May

May started off with a lot of traveling.  Within a span of five days or so, I was in Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver and then Halifax.  Why was I in Halifax?  For National Leadership Development Conference 2009 of course!  Probably the best conference I’ve ever gone to.  Somehow the combination between the location, the people, the sessions and the OC, made it one of my most memorable conferences.  I had a great time meeting people from different LCs and really networking – something that I hadn’t done as much before.  I was also able to spend 2 days wandering around the city of Halifax too, so I got a bit of my need to travel out of my system.  After returning from the conference, I started my new job at the Department of National Defense and, man, did I love it (no not all days were like that – I did actual work too!).  It was a bit overwhelming because all my coworkers were so knowledgeable on the topics we had to cover and there was just so much news and things to know.  My coworkers were great and there were so many other co-op students on the base which was a lot of fun.  One highlight, was being able to go on a day sail on one of the ships.

Halifax + NLDC 2009 (click for larger photos)

  
Day sail on HMCS Regina

June

June was happiness.  I had gotten involved with couch surfing and my new roommate and I were hosting two girls from Ontario and it was really that experience that made me really like this project.  I went camping for the first time in years and enjoyed the wide variety of wild life that walked around the base at work.  AIESEC wise things were starting to pick up – we were meeting with hotels, raising money.  June was a good month.

 Camping

July

July was a great month too.  I spent a lot of time traveling between Vancouver and Victoria, enjoying the best of the two cities.  Summer is really the best time to be in Victoria and this year it was no different.  The city is awaken by the vast number of tourists and the seasonal businesses that revolve around them.  For the conference we finally finalized a hotel, managing to negotiate a really good price for our food and rooms.  We were done our website and were working on our promotional video.  More money was raised.  July was very productive and I was still really enjoying work.  I went to my grad party with the rest of the BCom faculty.  It fun getting all dressed up – reminded me of high school grad (but on a less grand level…) and seeing everyone that I hadn’t seen for awhile.

 Grad party (picture stolen from J.)

August

The summer was winding down, working was ending, and I was getting ready to go back to school.  Man was I excited.  It had been over a year and a half since I last took classes at UVic between my co-op terms and exchange.  I was really excited to get back into the swing of things and back to school shopping!  Stationary galore!     I wrapped up my co-op, finishing a paper on water security in China.  Said goodbye to friends that were moving home or moving elsewhere for work / co-op.  I went up to Cowichan for the first time in an attempt to go tubing, but the day was cold and I didn’t dare enter the water. 

 At Cowichan

September

School was exactly how I remembered it.  Long hours of boring lectures for the most part.  I was taking all my core classes needed for my specialization: International Finance, International Marketing, Cross National Management, Business Law and Strategic Management.  My schedule was horrible, especially my Thursdays were ridiculously long – class started at 10 in the morning and went until 9:30 at night (had breaks between 11:30 – 1 and 2:30 – 4:30 but otherwise in class).   Coupled with my meetings for WRC and on the EB, I was spending ridiculously long days at school.  That said, I had Fridays off so three day weekend =)  Before school started, I spent one glorious week in Vancouver soaking up the sun and catching up with friends. 

Riding the new Canada line! 

October

Two things dominated in October – WRC and midterms!  Both pretty much happened within the same week too which was a big pain.  WRC was October 16 – 18 at the Harbour Towers Hotel in downtown Victoria with 140 delegates. 

The conference + the organizing committee (plus local committee president)

It went amazingly well and I was so happy and proud of what my team and I were able to pull off.  I got so many comments from delegates on their experience and its cool to think that I’ve had an impact on jumpstarting someone’s AIESEC experience.  There were some unforeseen challenges and problems that needed solving, but I think we were able to plan and figure out many of the logistical details before the start. I pretty much slept 8 hours in 3 days, but I had so much adrenaline in my system that I was awake and with it for the most part.   Thankfully I was able to postpone my exam the day right after the conference (finance too!) which really helped out.  I think that Monday after, I slept at least 15 hours if not more.  But after that week, I was done the conference.  I was done my midterms.  I was looking forward to a relaxed week before my birthday.  I didn’t get too crazy for my birthday, just dinner with close friends and good food. 

November

With the conference done and my midterms done, I got incredibly lazy.  I didn’t want to go to class, I didn’t want to go to group meetings, I didn’t want to do anything related to school.  I travelled back and forth between Victoria and Vancouver a lot.  I went to go see the So You Think You Can Dance Canada tour which was pretty cool.  I didn’t follow the season too much so I didn’t know the dancers that well.  I also went to see Lights in concert.

December

I think of December and I think of sick, pain, and confusion.  That is how I spent the first 2 weeks of December – in bed.  I got better just in time to write the last exams of my undergrad degree and then I was FREE!  Now all that is left in the year is to celebrate the holidays.  The family didn’t too too much in terms of the holidays – for the first time ever we didn’t have a tree.  Instead I went crazy with baking hoping to make up for the lack of holiday cheer and to get me in the spirit. 

Phew! You still here with me? Congrats! I’ll give you… a cookie hehe.  There are still 2 more days in 2009.  I can’t wait to ring in the new year =)  I’m ready to say goodbye to this year.  So many ups and downs – its been interesting for sure.  Can’t wait for a new year, a new decade! A clean slate, a new beginning, hopefully full of new opportunities and crazy adventures.