OMG - Another year has almost passed, incredible!! How fast does time fly ha??

I remember, last year at this time I just came back to Europe, "back home" from my world travels, ready to settle down in Paris... afraid of the cold, the European mentality, back to the serious part of the world and life after enjoying the Mexican Caribbean for 3 years and traveling around Latin America for another 8 month.

(there are no better words for the feeling I had coming back than this video haha)

..and now I'm still here.. well in Munich and everything turned out way differently as I thought it would.

So let's start to look back at this year and look at the Achievements and Failures even though for me there is no failure without achievement, because every failure makes you grow as a person. I really took some time this week to think about my year since I saw @anomadsoul s contest on Thursday and I think the easiest way to write this post is to structure it in different topics - here are the results:

I came back to Europe and lived in Paris for 8 month

I know for many of you that is nothing special, but for me it was a really big step to come back living in Europe after living in the Caribbean for 3 years. Not only the cold, or the people, but also the whole system is just different here. It is a really big difference coming from a little chilly beach town in Mexico to this big french capital Paris, where everybody is focused on their careers, money, fashion etc. and the values and priorities of the people are different.

Plus I didn't speak a word french, when I went there, which didn't make it easier to start a life haha.I just went there totally naive, thinking I could do some volunteering at a hostel to stay for free in exchange, just as I did on my travels, or working at the bar etc... but I got turned down pretty quick.

The work clima is different in France, I was surprised that when I asked for a job like this they wanted to see a french CV and do a job interview in french, even though they knew I wanted this job to learn it and that I speak English, German and Spanish fluently already, I worked at hostels and bars before and studied tourism.. well.. let's just say that wasn't enough.

Of course there was a reason why I went to Paris and still stayed, after knowing all this. My original plan had been traveling through Asia, but I canceled it because of love. I fell in love with Cécile in Colombia and wanted to see where it was going by coming to Paris. I mean I always wanted to learn french, so I said to myself why not try...

The city is actually pretty nice. I loved to walk around (avoiding the metro haha), to see street art, enjoy the architecture, taste the food and feel the vibe. I mean, this was the view from my window ;) - I really can't complain.

I started to take french classes, did sports again, started running and doing work outs and explored the city a lot. I managed to get a deal with a french family where I spoke German to the youngest kid for 15 hrs a week and in exchange I could stay and eat there, so things went well.

And of course I was in the city when France won the world cup this year, which was pretty special too!! We had a great party on the streets :)

So the achievement is that now I speak French level B2, got to know the city, managed to make some friends around there and got kind of a job at least to cover some costs, while I was going to school and posting on steemit.

The failure is, that even without paying rent, I spent a lot of money living in Paris. And I didn't go to Asia in the end.

I got fit again and lost 10 kilos

Oh yes, 10 kilos.. sounds like if I was fat before haha, well looking at the pics back then .. yeah.. maybe a little. As you know I am a yoga teacher, so normally I am fit. I was pretty good in shape before I left to Mexico.. but then I didn't do much.

The laziness of the Caribbean I guess haha. No, also the 90 percent humidity, the 3 jobs I was working, and the partying while working as a bartender didn't help a lot. So yes, when I was back in Paris, with time, I finally started to get back on track ;)

I cooked really healthy and went running at the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont twice a week with a friend of mine, that loved to chase me around :D

I used my free time to participate at several yoga weeks in the Austrian Alps, Italy and Greece doing 5 hours of Yoga a day and eating healthy (and delicious) food.

And of course I enjoyed the winter time, going home for snowboarding weekends to have something good out of the cold :)

After a few month I even joined the Color Run along the river Seine with some friends, which was a lot of fun.

And now, almost 1 year after, almost all my cloth are too big, I lost in total about 8 kilos (got 2 back because of muscles), and I am fit again. It just feels good to be able to do a totally controlled handstand again wherever I want to or go for a run without giving up after 5 minutes ;)

Travels: I jumped out a plane, climbed a volcano, did my PADI diving license and learned how to do kite surfing

Of course I wasn't gonna stay a whole year in Europe without escaping haha so around May I decided to leave for one month to visit friends in Mexico, travel to Guatemala and enjoy some sun and beach in Belize.

I posted about most of that journey already so you know that in Mexico I did skydiving, went on an ultra light plane and tried wake boarding for the first time.

After that I met Cécile in Guatemala and we traveled around for a bit. Of course we had to climb the volcano Acatenango. One of the biggest challenges in my short life so far!!

But it was totally worth it and an unforgettable experience!

Later in Belize I finally dared to do my first dive!! I know incredible.. I was living in the Caribbean for so long and never did my diving license or even tried to go in. Yes, well, I am a chicken sometimes haha and I have great respect of the ocean and also I am a bit afraid of fish and sharks :D - So that's maybe why.

But when we went to Belize and we went to the blue hole, Cecile was diving and I just went snorkeling, I got a bit jealous, so she pushed me and I tried it the next day.

I am not gonna lie... I had real trouble to do all the exercises below the water. Breathing, changing the west etc. was ok, but taking of the mask and put it on again with water getting into my eyes and nose and I didn't see anything, its just all dark around you .. ayayay.. took me like half an hour to do that one without panicking haha.

But in the end I did it!! - And I am glad I did, even though we had some really scary dives with a lot of sharks around us etc... but more about that soon in the travel series haha I don't want to spoil too much! - but we had a real good time and I am glad I did it. Definitely want to go diving on my next trip in Thailand!!

and also this summer I finally found the time to do some kite surfing!! Yes, I went to the south of France and tried it in Hyeres, a little town just at the beach. I learned how to wake board, switching sides, jumping etc., learned how to manage the kite and then slowly learned how to do both at the same time: kite surfing!! It is exhausting!!! But soooo much fun!! definitely doing that again!! I am even thinking of getting my own kite soon!

So I decided to come back to Europe but somehow still made it possible to travel around a lot and have some adventure time, trying out new things! - Big Achievement :)

I finally managed to attend Steemfest

The year before I already was sooo close to just fly to Lisboa and attend the steemfest, but decided last minute not to go, and to attend a friends reunion in Argentina instead, which was also fun, but I felt like I missed out big time. So this time I was glad to be here in Europe anyways and it was easy for me to go to Krakow - there was no way I would miss it!!

Just as at any Steemit Meetup I've been so far it is incredible how reachable and open everybody is and how nice and fun ;) @roelandp just made a great job putting this event together with all its different activities and conferences. I had so much fun, met so many people, I feel like I didn't sleep at all this week and it was still so worth it!!

Also being 5th at the Poker tournament as only girl and after being chip leader at the final table was a little achievement for me ;)

Once again thanks to all my new friends and all those great personalities for spending time with me at Steemfest and have such a blast together :) - I am already looking forward to see some of you guys in Thailand and others hopefully next year at steemfest 4 :)

Just to name a few of them: @abh12345 @cervantes @tincho @gargon @nanzo-scoop @gtg / @gandalf @martibis @luzcypher @neopch @llfarms @gillianpearce @alexvan @twinner @therealwolf @guyfawkes4-20 @gexi @louis88 @rivalzzz @bitrocker2020 @brickster @vieanna @daveonarrival @ura-soul @surfyogi @surfermarly @felander @toocurious @lichtcatchtoby @nissla @lukestokes @el-cr @travelfeed @detlev @mammasitta @teamsteem @manncpt @jeffjagoe @coruscate @tarazkp @suesa @fabianklauder @arcange @gmuxx @for91days @knozaki2015 @anahilarski @hilarski @jaki01 @theaustrianguy @blocktrades @nomadicsoul @aggroed @sndbox @karinxxl @greencross @bugavi @handmade @celestal @tasteem @roxane @tarazkp @joythewanderer @prc @blewitt @soyrosa @goodwithtravels @guchtere @liliana.duarte @rmach @rhondak @michelios @schererf @revisesociology @artbunny @world-travel-pro @honeydue @mynewlife @roelandp @cleanplanet @ytrphoto @cryptoctopus @firepower @leotrap @kevinwong @coruscate @nomadicsoul and @travellit

Well looking back at all of this you could think I had just a great year! No failures at all except that I spent a lot of money traveling and living in Paris without a real job and not going to do my Asia trip... but as life reminds us over and over again:

Nothing is for certain!!.. that is maybe also one of the big truths and my big failure I had to realize this year..

The relationship with Cécile didn't work out.. c'est la vie, how they say in french... And yes my heart is a little bit broken.. but life goes on right? I didn't want to give up, I fought and I lost.

Also my parents got separated a few month ago and my home will be sold, which is kind of tough too.. if a place where you made so many memories will be gone, and the family you grew up in doesn't exist like that anymore. It kind of pulls the rug out from under my feet but also gives me a lot of opportunities.

So after the break up I came back to Germany to work a bit and safe some money, but also to be there for my family until things get a bit more smooth and everybody calms down..

So now everything is open again for 2019!!

I just know I will be in Thailand for new years meeting @daveonarrival @martibis maybe @teamsteem @nomadicsoul @travellit @bitrocker2020 @cervantes @connecteconomy and even @redpalestino, which I heard is also not that far away from Phuket ;)

And after that the cards will be shuffled all new and I'll see where life takes me! Some maybe think that is scary, but for me it is really exciting! And I am looking forward to it :) So again failure turns into achievement haha!!

Thanks @anomadsoul for pulling of this contest again this year! It keeps us motivated to post and also brings the community together. Thanks @blocktrades for sponsoring this contest.