『personal』 Highlights of 2018

The year is almost over and I thought I put out a few of my personal highlights of this year. 2018 was neither very good nor very bad to me. It was just there and I was just living along the lines. Nevertheless I had some very precious times I wouldn't like to miss.

These are (more or less) in chronological order.

My first Blogger Event

I am not a big blogger and everyone knows that. But still, I was able to attend my first blogger event this year at the Leipzig Book Fair in March. It was so surreal going to such an event with a lot of others. I'm a quiet and shy person and I am so bad at socialising, but somehow I managed to get through this without a heart attack and I am so very proud of this.

Meeting the Author

This was a thing last year and I continued on with it this year.

Funny thing is I met the same author twice this year. I first went to her signing at the Leipzig Book Fair and later this year I went to the premier reading of her newly released book in 2018. 

I met Stefanie Hasse and she is such a nice and lovely person. It was so much fun attending the reading of Heliopolis and getting to hear about the idea behind the story. Also it felt so special to be one of the first persons to get a sneak peak into the story. The book store the reading was held in, also held a small release party with a special cake and champagne and orange juice. 

Another author I got to meet this year was CiXin Liu, the author of the Trisolaris Trilogy. It took place in a church, which felt so weird, especially with the books in mind. Also it was just so different from what I knew about signings and readings, because I mostly attended such by Western authors and in the young adult field. Suddenly sitting in a church full of people attending a reading by a Chinese author of the science fiction genre felt so weird. Though, I am accustomed with the East Asian culture it wasn't so surprising how things where handled, but I got to experience the clash of cultures there, through all the other Western people who seemingly didn't knew how to handle the situation. Also a few people surrounding me wondered that so many Asian people attended a reading & signing by a world bestselling CHINESE author. 

I am 30

One could wonder why this would be a highlight of the year. For me it is not because of the number, but for the way it got celebrated. Since I didn't feel like throwing a huge party or like celebrating at all my family was a bit disappointed. Which was a good thing, because my mum decided to do something special for the day of the days.

On my actual birthday I had no uni classes to attend and was off work. I spend the earlier part of the day with my mum and we had cake together and a nice walk through the sun. In the evening for dinner we met up with my dad and I got surprised by my sister and her husband. Who we planed on meeting on the weekend for a birthday dinner. This was the first surprise...

A few days later, on said weekend, the actual surprise happened. My family and best friends plotted against me and organised a photo shooting. Which was actually really fun. We also had crepes, ice cream and dinner that day and also went for cocktails at the end. It was a really fun and lovely surprise day. Even more, since I never got a surprise party before.

Regarding the age I reached, I doesn't feel old and I don't care if people say 30 is old. I actually think it's not old and that one can still achieve a lot of things in the "old" age.

Travelling

This year held a few special trips for me and a two week holiday outside the country.

First trip of the year was to Leipzig to attend the book fair. In the summer we made a trip to the Baltic Sea in Poland over the weekend. I had a lovely two weeks in Italy with my parents and got to visit one of my most favourite cities again. Verona. Also got to go to Venice a second time and we discovered a few lovely new places surrounding the place we stayed at. I travelled to Dresden to attend a concert of my long time favourite band The Rasmus.

But then in October I made the trip I waited for ever since the tour announcement of DIR EN GREY. Not only did I travel to see my absolute favourite band, I also travelled to one of my all time favourite  places. Helsinki. After ten long years I was finally able to see the beauty of a city again. I just love this place so much and with all my heart. 

After that I made another super short trip to Warsaw to attend another DIR EN GREY concert.

Concerts

I was able to attend another seven concerts this year and I am so glad about it.

Fun Fact: All of them happened in a span of three months. Starting at the end of September and going on until the mid-end of November. I still can't believe that all of this just happened in such a short time span and that it contained an amount of travelling.

The Concerts of 2018

♥︎ 26.09.2018 The Rasmus
♥︎ 10.10.2018 DIR EN GREY
♥︎ 12.10.2018 DIR EN GREY
♥︎ 25.10.2018 Disco Ensemble
♥︎ 05.11.2018 Nightwish
♥︎ 17.11.2018 Stahlzeit
♥︎ 21.11.2018 BAND-MAID

I became an Aunt

Yes, I am an aunt now and it means the world to me.
I love my little cutie pie with all my heart. The amount of money I already spend for the little princess is actually a bit scary. But there are just so many cute things I need to get for her. Also I'm already starting her personal library.
She was born on 6th September 2018 and is now a healthy little girl who is growing way too fast for my liking.

Never read that much before

And to finish this list, let's include something bookish. Well yes, it's the end of December and I surpassed my goodreads challenge goal by 15 books and hope to finish one other book before the end of the day. So far it means I read 70 books. Which is a lot to me. Usually I set my goal to 50 books or less. This year I set it to 55 and still surpassed it. I am glad I read this much, because my tbr is growing so fast. I hope I can do even better in the coming year. 

Goodbye 2018

Hope everyone spend a lovely year and is going to have another fantastic or even better year. Let's all celebrate the end of 2018 and welcome 2019 with an open mind. Be open to change and keep in mind that everyone is special and unique in their own way.

If you had any special highlights this year, please tell me about them.

Lot's of Love. ♥︎