Granola and Jammies

It’s safe to say that 2013 has been one of the most exciting years of my life so far. I rang in the New Year on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, the culmination of a once-in-a-lifetime trip with one of my best friends. And although I spent New Year’s Eve 2013 in the decidedly-less exotic Northern Virginia suburbs, the 364 days in between took me to no fewer than three US states, four European countries, and eight airports. If you’re thinking that I sound like a super cool adventurous jet setter, please keep in mind that it hasn’t ALL been that exciting. (Case in point: I spent last night eating granola and watching PBS in my jammies.)

The truth is that I have had a pretty great year! Among the crazy cool highlights? Getting an A in a crazy-hard government class. Crying real tears at my first-ever Taylor Swift concert. Watching my little sister graduate from high school. Spending a perfect summer day on a road trip to Sonic with my best friend. Swimming under a two-thousand-year-old Roman aqueduct during orientation of my semester abroad. Taking over 600 photos in the less than three days that I spent in Paris. Visiting Strasbourg’s world-famous Christmas markets. Coming home to my family just in time for Christmas. It’s all been amazing.

But despite a great spring semester and an absolutely incredible four months in Montpellier, France, it wasn’t all fun and games. In slightly bittersweet news, 2013 marked the halfway point of my career at W&M. I began the year a carefree sophomore and ended it a junior with an inbox full of emails asking me to file for graduation. It’s weird to think that I’ll be finishing up my major this spring or, horrifyingly, that more than half of the students on campus are now younger than me. Talk about a midlife crisis!

However, the best part of 2013 is that despite how exciting and rewarding it’s been, it’s given me even more to look forward to in the year to come. From the opportunity to return to France to do research this summer, to the chance to work in the Admission Office as an intern, to the amazingly exciting fact that I’m going to be an aunt in a few short weeks, I can already tell that, as great as 2013 may have been, 2014 is going to be even better!

– Elisabeth Bloxam