In my last few stories I already looked back at some great moments of 2010; I travelled a lot, seen beautiful places, met great people and it was also an exciting year ‘astronomy-wise’. Besides all of this I can say I feel really lucky 2010 was a great year for me personally as well. I have the best job and colleagues in the world, my study – although busy – is very interesting, I’m surrounded by the sweetest friends and I had some great moments with my family.
I’ve always enjoyed life in details, so much that two people recently described me as ‘so full of life’. I strongly dislike spiritual nonsense though and please don’t confuse me with people who quote other people because those quotes sounds nice, while they have no idea how to live by the life-mottos. When a good friend of mine asked me ‘what makes you tick’, I meant it when I said ‘life, life makes me tick’. And I can honestly say I enjoyed every minute of it in 2010.
My wish for everyone reading this is to have a 2011 like that as well. I’m looking forward to it in any case. And I have a feeling there will be lots of cool stuff to write about in the third year of this ‘blogsite’. (If you’re here because you’re interested in my Voorwerp, keep an eye on this place the next two weeks!) Thanks to you all out there for the responses through e-mail, messages and tweets; they’re very much appreciated!
Happy New Year XXX
(Now you can skip the next list; it’s just a personal summarised top 49 -but in random order- of highlights of 2010…)
- Realising the first day of my new job that I really felt at home.
- Students saying they finally understand something. And that I’m not so bad for a teacher.
- Daring to learn how to ski with my colleagues in Austria.
- That exhausting but hilarious bus trip to Austria.
- Drinks on many happenings with those same colleagues.
- Many bike rides and good conversations throughout the year.
- Starting to run.
- The weekends mountain biking in the forest with my friend Erik.
- Taking my guitar to school and singing songs on stage with my students.
- Playing songs with my friend Marcel on my own birthday.
- Enjoying evening walks in the cold park with two of my best friends: Janey and Richard.
- Holding my friend-since-primary-school Angie’s new born daughter Zoë.
- Visiting my friend-since-secondary-school Rianne’s new born twin boys in the hospital.
- Baking bread with their mum and remembering old times.
- Meeting my ‘hero’ Brian (May) properly in London.
- My little cousin Valesca saying ‘I find you sweet too’, while wrapping her arms around my neck.
- Spending a weekend in Luxembourg with my mum.
- Watching ‘The Bucket List’ with another one of my best friends, Anja.
- Listening to the Eagles play ‘Seven Bridges Road’ on their ‘Hell Freezes Over’ DVD with my dad.
- Shopping with my friend Edith and buying that very cosy scarf.
- Witnessing a football game in a stadium and see my friend’s team win in the last minutes.
- The Summer Sun and wearing skirts and flip-flops.
- The photo shoots for National Geographic, Weller and the ones at eXplorion.
- The interview I did for the national TV show ‘Goudmijn’.
- The interview for the national radio show ‘Met het oog op morgen’ (and the taxi ride).
- The several BBC interviews and the one for the New York Times.
- Seeing Queen Beatrix officially open LOFAR.
- ASTRON’s open day.
- Visiting the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in The Hague.
- Photographing the Elephant Parade in London, while attending a World Premiere.
- Finally holding the comic book on the story of my discovery and seeing some Hubble results.
- Doing an online video call with an audience in the US.
- All the nights at the theatre (the Dutch We Will Rock You!).
- Chairing the Citizen Science conference and meeting my good friend Robin.
- Venice, Italy.
- Motovun, Croatia.
- The Berlin Wall.
- Passing my first exams of my biology study.
- Meeting my dear abroad friends on various occasions.
- The time spent on trains, boats and flights and the stops at Starbucks.
- Reading the book ‘One Day’ by David Nicholls.
- Swimming in lakes and seas.
- Rowing.
- Having my shower turned into a bath.
- All the many times I laughed till I cried.
- The two times this year I actually cried.
- Learning.
- Making the world a little more peaceful by bringing two people back in touch again.
- Realising there were so many nice (little) moments that it was hard to summarise for this list.
3 Comments
Aan die lijst te zien weet jij je wel aan je levensmotto te houden
En zijn het zeker geen loze woorden. Je bent een echte “Lover of Life”, verander daar niets aan! 
WOW, all in one year? Girl you are busy!
Heh, keep telling you I am busy eh.
And thanks for the comment Dennis too! 
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[...] that I never published my highlights of ‘11, even though I had planned to. I first did this for ’10 and I was thinking of making it a tradition. For personal sentimental reasons only, really. So [...]