I can’t believe this is the last day of 2015. My 2015 has been full of so many events and changes. I can remember starting 2015 with me getting ready for my last semester in college. Continuing my studies in the bitter cold of Toledo. That semester was the most stressful of my college years. I had so much projects to complete in a short amount of time. lol I apologize to my former classmates if I seemed like a monster. You see we had projects that involved us being evaluated by our performance as a group. Being almost a perfectionist, I wanted everyone to put in their best effort. We ended up doing alright on the project. I just couldn’t wait for graduation time to come by. When it finally did everything became surreal. It was a moment filled with joyful tears. My friends and family (even my grandparents!) came together to be with me on this special day. The speaker during our the commencement gave an inspirational speech. My classmates and I were finally done, it was now up to us to make something with our degree.

After graduation I worked a grueling 3 months to save for my move. I had my good and bad days at work but it built me up for the better. During that same time I was working, I had to take care of selling and giving out 4 years stuff. It was the first time I had to sell a car. I had no clue on where to begin with that. But Alhamdullilah I was able to solve that, thanks to my friends and professor. I didn’t get the best value but it was learning point.

During the month of July I left Toledo. Before my move out of Toledo, I tried to meet up with as much friends as I could before finally leaving. I broke down in tears when I was saying good bye to my Hyderabad friends. They were basically like sisters to me during my college years. We went to the Masjid together, took turns to make dishes for ifthar (food for breaking fast), broke our fast together, went on trips to Dearborn and Detroit. It was very hard saying goodbye to them. It was also hard saying goodbye to my other friends who had been like my family in Toledo. My very good friend dropped me at the airport, we hugged each other for a quite a while. “This is not a goodbye” She said.

I was so excited to be with my family again. I cherished every moment with them. Two of my friends from Toledo came to visit me and my family. We all celebrated Eid together and then explored New Orleans.

A couple of weeks after my friends visit, my sister and I went to Houston to take care of business. We used that opportunity to stay with my friend who lived there. It was a great moment as I hadn’t seen her for 2 or 3 years. We stayed in Houston for a week and then returned home.

A month later I embarked on my huge move to Madrid and you know the rest!

This year was a year! I had opportunities to travel to many locations than I had ever done in a year. I had good and bad experience which have made me learn and improve as a person. Alhamdullilah for my family, friends and experiences. I hope 2016 would be filled with peace around the world for everyone and that the good experiences outweigh the bad ones this upcoming year. Finally, I pray that everyone regardless of who you have a better year (2016) than you did last year (2015)

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