Best of 2019
A Year in Review
It is officially the first full week of 2020 and it already seems like 2019 was a distant moment in time. Although the year is young, so much has happened from social movements to political situations but aside from that, 2019 was a year of growth and self-discovery.
I want to list my top moments of 2019 and their impact on me as a person. These are in no particular order but they will be loosely chronological, being that the first on the list happened earlier in the year.
One of my first memorable moments of the year was turning 21. In the United States, this is the legal drinking age. Being in college it seems like a certain right of passage, you upgrade from house parties to going to the bars.
This by far was one of my favorite birthdays, not because there was drinking involved (it definitely created an interesting atmosphere) but because of all the people that were involved in my celebration. I celebrated my actual day of birth at college with all of my friends and it was one of the best times.
My close friends surprised me with cake and decorations and all of my other friends joined later that day for the evening festivities. Although this was an amazing time, being 21 forced me to check myself and my consumption of alcohol.
I know everyone has a different relationship to alcohol and mine was primarily formed throughout the last year. Growing up my only exposure to alcohol was my one uncle who drank beer at parties and my aunt who always has a bottle of wine in her house.
Without a foundation or background with drinking it was really an explorative and informative time for me. Now I can confidently say I don't like beer or vodka but I'm down for a nice sweet wine.
Another memorable moment from last year was my podcast. It came to fruition pretty quickly, I was connected with the editor-in-chief of the 2018-19 school year and was able to produce episodes in the Spring.
The name of my podcast is The Brown Girl Chronicles, I took the name from a mini-series of posts that I did on this blog. I wanted a name that encompasses me and what I'm about and I'm a brown girl and I have a lot of things to say so it was perfect.
I mentioned my podcast in my last post but I want to talk more in-depth about it. So most of the topics that I discuss are around the POC experience in the United States. One of my passions as a person going into the news/journalism industry is is social advocacy.
Through my podcast, I have been able to cover lots of important topics like being Latinx, representation in the entertainment industry, mental health and much more.
This was also a big mental health year. In addition, to my regularly scheduled therapy sessions, I decided to start group therapy. This was partly encouraged by my therapist and partly because I wanted to explore all the options I had available to me.
I see an on-campus counselor which is convenient because it is a free service that the school provides. I have seen that therapy has had a positive effect on my daily life but the downside to seeing a counselor on campus is that a regularly scheduled appointment is every two weeks, sometimes more.
Consistency is usually found in groups, like the one I joined earlier in the year and again in the fall. I didn't think I'd enjoy group therapy. the initial suggestion was daunting to me considering the other people in the group would be my fellow peers and potential classmates. But it was a surprisingly enjoyable and productive experience.
The summer was different than any other in my life, I was away from home. For the first time in 21 years, I spent a summer away from my family and stayed in my college town. If you're rolling your eyes reading this, it may not have been a big deal to you but for me, I had already been away most of the year at school and extended my stay into the summer months.
Coming from a very close-knit family I thought I would feel homesick but it was quite a freeing summer. Being in your college town during the summer gives you the independence of being at school without the school part.
I was able to get a job on campus that paid well and an off-campus job internship at a local radio station. The nature scene in my college town is filled with gorges and waterfalls and is near a HUGE lake. And a bonus was that most of my close friends from the year were also staying, so the summer was one big party (besides going to work).
2019 was also the year where I mastered the art of salsa dancing. In my college town, there is a local restaurant that turns into a salsa club once every week and I've attended these nights for the last year and a half.
Throughout the summer I attended religiously, it was one of the more lively things to do in the small town. But this past Fall I made an effort to attend despite having school work and other commitments. I even managed to turn it into a class project so I could attend and get class credit!
Being Latina and not knowing how to dance cultural dances like this one, really made me feel not enough at times. I know, that I am still Latina despite that but I felt that it would help connect me to my culture if I knew how to dance salsa.
Sure enough, I was able to master it with the help of my friend, Liam, salsa dancer extraordinaire and the other local salsa patrons. It is truly a subculture and I somehow made my way into it and it is one of the most fulfilling things that I did this year.
Like any year, it goes without saying that it wasn't perfect and there were ups and downs but I enjoyed it all. I appreciate all the things that I experienced whether good or bad because it helped me to grow as a person.
