2012 year in (brief) review

This year was very busy with lots of travel, lots of work, and best of all lots of visits with friends. I attended three courses with my program colleagues in Wageningen (NL) in March, Tirrenia (IT) in June, and Barcelona (ES) in November, and a course in Copenhagen (DK) in September and October on visual research methods, as well as a course on documentary filmmaking on Galiano Island (CA) in August. I finished my research proposal and had it approved, I started data collection, wrote two papers one of which is in process for publication, presented at two conferences, and organized our winter school program along with three others.

In between all this I had the *best summer ever*: a friend visited me in Riga; I got to spend a little time back in Rome and visited old friends, favourite haunts, and generally had a fantastic time; then I attended an amazing conference in NYC and got to see some friends old and new; from there I spent two weeks in Toronto, again visiting old friends and re-visiting old and new favourite places, one friend even made sure to time her baby shower and baby birth during my visit :) ; and then it was off to Calgary for some Stampeding and laughs old friends, along with visiting family; then I headed to Vancouver Island for a couple of weeks back home and for my film making course; flying back to Riga I squeezed in a quick stop in London for a couple of days of visits and fabulous food with a friend from my program and an old friend from my roman days, and another stop in Tallinn to present at another conference.

In the autumn I went on a short trip to Norway and was absolutely blown away by the amazing scenery. I was amazed (again) by the weird and the wonderful in Barcelona and made sure to thoroughly enjoy my two weeks there. And I ended the year back at home in Victoria after a short stop in Wiesbaden (DL) visiting a friend for a couple of days of German Christmas markets :)

The highlight for me this year definitely was all the time I was able to spend with family and friends both new and old.

Looking forward to see what 2013 will bring...