New Year’s Resolutions

It’s been a while, but I thought I’d leave it long enough to report how my resolutions are going (that’s the story I’m going with). My one exam is long gone, the first essay of the term handed in and I have even started my dissertation (400/10,000 words down). So how are my new year’s resolutions faring against all of this activity?

1. get a 2:1 degree – I’m working on it (I promise). My grades have been mixed so far, but I’m hoping my dissertation will making up for that. And given that it’s worth double credits, I doubley hope so.
2. learn German to at least a basic conversation level – wie geht’s? is about all I can say. And ask for a glass of wine (which I assume is all I’ll need, but you never know).
3. read more – this went well until I realised reading Eat, Pray, Love was not helping me with revising anti-communism in the US. It’s taken a backseat to books about Native American women, but I hope I’ll get back into it when I have more time (i.e. after goal number 1).
4. give blood – something I used to do semi-regularly, until my iron levels were too low. I don’t want to get kicked off the register so I’m making sure my iron levels are high enough for the next time… mmmm, steak.
5. make moving to Germany a (realistic) possibility – goal number 2 will help with this, I have airmiles set to go and just need to search/ask around about the best way to make this happen. I’m thinking an appointment with the university careers service is due!
6. Try herbal tea instead of normal – this is one I’ve actually done! Not difficult for most, but I drink about 5 cups of tea a day and miss it dearly when I don’t. I bought some Pukka tea which has an odd aniseed taste to it, but in kind of a nice way (I’m not entirely sold, I’ve had one cup so far and ignored their existence ever since).
7. Get out of my overdraft – SUCCESS! This is one that I’ve been trying for around two years. An overdraft is a great idea… until you use it. “I’m only going to dip into it, nothing big”… a thousand pounds later and I’m wondering how it feels to have a bank balance without that annoying ‘-‘ next to it.
8. SAVE – still working on this, having had two fairly chunky bills leave my account this month, but now I’m in the positive I’ve technically already saved! Apart from the money I spent on my graduation dress… I’m determined goal 1 is going to happen.
9. Take a Europe trip – feeds into the Germany plans, as I have enough airmiles for 2 return trips to Europe (another reason why my year abroad was great). So far I want one trip to Germany to sort out practical things (living, job etc) and one trip to somewhere sunny… because sun.

I’d love for this to be a nice round 10 point list, but I think I have more than enough to keep me occupied. Get a graduate job is somewhere in my future, and applications will be going out this September, but for now I’m happy being in my student bubble. Apart from the looming dissertation –  that bubble can pop now.