Realistic Resolutions for 2012

2011 was an awesome year.

…and it has flown by in what feels like two seconds. In 12 months I made a life for myself in Singapore, traveled to 17 cities in six countries, worked on a reality television show, fell in love, and participated in not just one but two international sporting events, getting me ever closer to my dream career.

2012 is shaping up to be no different.

With the unexpected surprise of a job offer and approved work visa for France, I’ll be moving to Europe the first week of January. Outside of Ireland, I’ve never visited Europe, and living in France will be my first experience with true culture shock.

So I’m setting some goals for 2012 (most of which are a direct result of my move to France). These aren’t lofty ones I know I can’t keep, like “be more organized” or “pack less when traveling.” I’m a messy over-packer, and in 22 years I’ve come to terms with that.

No, these are more…predictions for the coming year, goals that should all be definitely realized unless I were to majorly screw up somewhere – and so this list is to keep me on track in the coming months and remind me what I hope to get out of 2012.

But, since I’m being realistic, I’ve also added where difficulties lie along the way:

1. Become fluent in French: After twelve months in Paris, with intensive language courses and complete immersion, I aim to be fluent in French. More than just conversational, I mean proficient enough to be hired and work in French.

Possible difficulties: I’ve never been an expat in a country and not made all English-speaking friends. I’ll need to ignore my first instinct to find the other Anglophones, and make French friends instead.

2. Participate in London 2012: If my dream is to work in international sports media, then the London Olympics is the big fish. All the work I’ve put in and connections I’ve made in the last year and a half have all been part of the bigger goal of being involved in London 2012.

Possible difficulties: That dreadful work visa – London is being incredibly strict on whom they allow in. If you don’t have a UK or EU passport, or you’re not an ‘expert’, you may as well put money on Rick Perry becoming the next president, because you’d have a better chance of winning that bet than getting a UK work visa. Still…I’m hopeful.

3. Visit at least three new countries in Europe: Living in France, I’ll be surrounded by travel opportunities. It’s relatively cheap and simple to take a weekend trip, and if I could pick any three countries to visit this year, I’ve always wanted to visit Italy, Croatia, and Greece.

Possible difficulties: My work schedule doesn’t give me weekends off, but rather Sundays and Tuesdays. This means no Friday – Monday excursions away. To be honest, this is probably a good thing, as staying in the country means I can save some money and focus on improving my French.

4. Rock at long-distance: Mike and I recently celebrated our one-year anniversary, but we lived together in Singapore that whole time. For most of 2012, we’ll be living 6,674 miles apart.

Possible difficulties: Distance is hard. Period. This year we’ll just have to settle for quarterly reunions and lots of Skype dates inbetween.

5. Make something of this blog: I travel often, and I’m about to embark on a grand adventure of moving to Europe. I love sharing experiences with people – I’ve always kicked myself for not blogging more when I lived in Dalian, when I worked in Shanghai, when I moved to Singapore, when I traveled around Southeast Asia. Well no more kicking. 2012 is it.

Possible difficulties: Obviously, motivation is not my strongest suit (ironically, I blogged quite frequently when I was an angsty teenager, with nothing meaningful to say). If almost four years of travel and thinking, “I should have blogged more” hasn’t worked, my track record says moving to France isn’t going to be a big enough catalyst either. But now I’m 22, I feel dedicated, and if the world really does end in 2012, I don’t want to go out saying, “I should have blogged more.”