Bring on 2012!

New Years! A time for resolutions! Although most people see a resolution as a plan for the first 2 weeks of the year, I plan on keeping mine. For once I actually have several resolutions that I put a lot of thought into.

I decided to send off 2011 with a bang. Laura and Derek were already in London and I made the journey there. How many Americans can say they spent New Years Eve in London watching fireworks on the banks of the Thames? This girl can! Laura and I spent the day people watching and just having a great time catching up since we hadn't seen each other in about 3 weeks. We met up with our friend Brittany for dinner and found an interesting place with god awful service. The English are definitely not renowned for their impeccable food service skills. They don't work for tips so I guess that plays a bigger part than I thought. We had a gourmet meal of microwaved cornish pastries and the driest cookie I have ever tasted in my life. Eat chocolate flavored chalk and you will have tasted the equivalent of my cookie.

Moving on. It's tradition for Laura and I to spend New Years Eve together and in the past 14 years we have only missed one year. We always watch the ball drop in Times Square. It always amazed me just how many people were crammed into Times Square and I always wondered what that would be like. I now know what it feels like to be a sardine in a can.

We attempted to move closer to the bank of the Thames, but moving 50 feet took 30 minutes so we decided that was a lost cause and went back to our spot on the bridge. Being as vertically challenged as I was I managed to not be able to find a spot to see over half of the London Eye, which was lit up and changed colors.

After 4 hours of playing word games, watching drunk people, buying over priced drinks and consequently giving up on drinking the countdown began!!  The countdown started at 30 seconds to midnight and the entire crowd yelled at the top of their lungs. Right at midnight the fireworks went off. London knows how to do a fireworks show. Fireworks were exploding everywhere and even coming out of the London Eye itself. It was one of the best shows I have ever seen in my entire life.

It was a pretty odd feeling to know that I was celebrating 2012 while everyone I knew back home was probably eating dinner.

That was just a small taste of the fireworks. The real thing was so much better!

My New Years resolutions include the normal idealistic things, but also some goals I want to achieve:

1. Keep in touch with friends and family back home more than I have

2. Get closer with my family

3. Audition for plays in England

4. Graduate from the MA program

5. Run in the total warrior marathon

6. Travel to 3 countries

7. Start making the documentary I have planned

8. Make more new friends

9. Eat a more healthy diet

10. Be a better person.

As cheesy or odd as some of those may sound, I AM going to achieve them all. This year is going to be amazing. I'm living abroad and getting an opportunity most people only dream of. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for me :)