So, the infamous 2016 has come to an end. It was a very strange 365 days, wasn't it? My faith in humanity was restored and lost so many times, that I just start caring less and less in the end. Looking from the global perspective it was a year of conflicts, misunderstandings, dirty political games and so on... When all you want is a peaceful life for you and everybody else, all these news shake you to the core, but I believe in positive thinking that can form the world around us, so I do wish and hope that 2017 will be the time to fix everything that happened this year.
For me personally, this was quite a successful year. Instead of choosing the most memorable moments of each month, as I did before in my previous blog, I decided to talk about the certain fragments of my life this year. So let's begin!
This year was successful for me both personally and academically. I published two articles based on my research for PhD thesis and I'm really happy about that! I also did an internship in Archives of Latvian Folklore in Riga, which was both interesting and a great pleasure! There were active days, there were moments, days, even weeks when I wanted nothing, because I was too exhausted event to think. But then somebody managed to ignite a little spark that got me going again. I am very grateful to all my family and friends, my coworkers and my pets, for being the reasons that I can move forward.
I also rediscovered drawing and the joy of being absorbed in the world of your own thoughts that you can express on paper (if only writing my PhD thesis could be this easy and appealing!..). I started posting my drawings on Instagram and I feel so happy, that people like it! This motivates me a lot!
But all of this wouldn't have happened if not my friend Eglė (here is her blog), who wrote a book and I got to illustrate it! It was very interesting process and I can't wait to see the final result!
I traveled this year a lot too. Starting with various places in Lithuania that I got to see for the first time (like the famous attraction in Anykščiai - Lajų takas), or revisited again after some time. I am happy to have friends who invite me and my husband to visit some important places in Lithuania or just to jump into a kayak and go explore some rivers!
And there were lots of traveling in abroad too. Starting with neighboring countries like Latvia, Estonia and Poland, where we had our grand tour and ending with Japan. It was an active year, that I can say for sure.
I do hope that 2017 will be as successful as this year was to me, especially regarding my academical life. I want to travel and to explore even more, since it's such an incredible way to get to know the world! I wish you all the best in the 2017 and... see you next year!
Photos © Asta Skujytė-Razmienė, Vincas Razma
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