new year, new start

Happy New Year, everyone!

Well, it seems I need to start blogging again...I have to say that I've been unfaithful to the blog and have taken up writing in an old-school hand-written journal again (it's very pretty, orange patterned cover, unlined pages, etc.). It still feels more authentically emotional to me than a blog, but I guess that was never the point of a blog anyway!

I am writing from home, home being Princeton, NJ where I've been for the past almost-two weeks with my family enjoying the holidays, which have been so relaxing and wonderful. Boy, did I need it! It was a tough Fall semester for me and I'm so glad to see it over and done with and I am more than ready to kick off a new year, with new year's resolutions, new starts, and all. 2009 was definitely a year of self-discovery, emotional growth, and the necessary pain that must occur for all of those processes to occur, and I feel like I'm now ready to take that and move into the rest of my life with perhaps a shaky step but a mind confident that things can only get better from here on out :)

I am spending Wintersession (January 2010) at home with my family...but not just bumming around (although that will certainly take up some portion of it, of course!) I'm skipping from Spanish 101 to 202 next semester and so I've a whole bunch of Spanish studying and self-teaching to do, which is both exciting and rather daunting. On top of that, I have decided to delay graduate studies or applying to graduate school for a year or two and am therefore looking to gain some more experience in the fields of economic social policy analysis and am hoping to land a fellowship, job, or internship in a policy think tank or research institute. So, I'm working on job applications, as well! And then, I've decided to teach myself how to use some computer stuff such as HTML webpage design, and remind myself how to use STATA. And, of course, lots of reading for leisure :)

All in all, a productive but very enlightening winter break for me, something that makes me more than happy, especially if I can do it from the comforts of home with my loving family. Here's to a New Year!