Cheers, for a great '15 !

2nd January ... and now the festive season is coming to an end. I know it is late but I have been incredibly busy in the last two weeks. Some family members and friends of mine came over and thus I was all day giving them tours of London and Guildford and also spending the nights out drinking. But now that they all left, it feels a bit weird. I find my self alone in my room, listening to a great piece of unfinished music, Mozart's Requiem, and it feels as if everything went by so fast. Not just the festive season, not the past few months that I have been living here, but the whole of '14.

I had been preparing myself that '14 was going to be a big year, full of changes, writing a dissertation, graduating, moving away from Malta, starting an M.Sc. degree (I did not even know what M.Sc. course I was gonna take last year, let alone imagine myself here in Guildford). But most of it has been for the good and I am happy for it, some stuff could have gone differently, but what the hell, nothing everything goes as planned. 

The last couple of months were great, some of by best friends came by to visit, both in November, and also in the last week, and this gave me a small something to think about. Friendships. Most of us take them for granted. I realize that I did when I lived in Malta, especially because in a country so small one is bound to run into one another at some point. But now that I moved to Guildford and my best friends are either in Malta or in other parts of the UK, I realize that if one takes friendships for granted and doesn't work for them, those same friendships, go back to being acquaintances. And for that I immensely appreciate it when friends take time and spend money to come all the way over here and spend some time. I also grew to appreciate how important it is to have friends, especially when you move away and find yourself in a new country. And for that, I am thankful that I made new friends over here in Guildford. As an important proverb says, "No man is an island".

Amongst all of it's ups and downs, there is no denying that graduation was the climax of '14, because finally the fruit of four years of hard work at the University of Malta finally were reaped, in one amazingly fun weekend back on the island in the beginning of December. And for that I acknowledge that I couldn't have done it on my own, and for which I thank my friends and family, for making those four years more than just academic but more of an experience, and also my family for all the support they gave me. Hopefully, this year would be as successful academically, and getting that M.Sc. would be the result of my time over here.

'14 saw a lot of events happening around the world too, with the major events being all a bit disappointing and not in any way leading to making the world a better place, such the Ukraine crisis, IS crisis in Iraq and Syria, fighting in Libya, several airline tragedies, further economic turmoil and many more.

Hopefully, '15 would be even more successful than '14, and not just for me but for all of my friends, either those who are still about to graduate, or those in search of a [better] job, or even just getting that promotion they worked so hard for. For those who are looking for something else, maybe involving matters of the heart, I wish you all the best of luck. For the rest of the world, I hope agreements would be sorted out, technology advances and accident numbers go down. I hope for economic recovery where it is greatly needed, eradication of poverty, diseases are controlled and cured, more tolerance is shown towards others, and last but definitely not least, to achieve some more steps and open dialogues for world peace while ceasefires and peace treaties would be signed. 

And with reaching the 8th part of Mozart's Requiem, Communio: Lux Aeterna, I will conclude today's post. I know that I am a bit late to wish a Merry Christmas, since now it it's been nearly a week and a half that it passed, but I definitely hope that will be the case for everyone next December. Still, I am in time to wish every single one of you reading this post a very happy and successful year.

Cheers everyone ... for a great '15 !

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Mozart's Requiem is available below.