This year passed by with the speed of Flash, yet it was packed with adventure and fun. I tried multiple activities out of my comfort zone. I travelled a lot and tried new adventures like Speed Boating, diving into swimming pool, paragliding, scuba diving.

I am in my late 20s, and this year brought the required maturity, clarity and self-confidence. Though the year posed numerous challenges and confusions, I worked diligently and systematically to solve those, and I am proud of the efforts.



Travel


I visited Budapest, Norway, Belgium, Croatia, Turkey, and Germany this year, and each destination offered its own unforgettable experiences. Croatia, however, stood out the most. The speed boat tour took us to five remote islands and various blue lagoons. Driving in high speed for hours in the ocean was a memorable experience. At one point, our driver followed a massive cruise ship, steering our boat through its rolling waves—a true adrenaline rush. The Turkey trip was my first international trip with my college friends and my first big road trip in Europe. It was like reliving the good old college days. The last but not the least, the Germany trip was filled with scenic views of sparkling snowy mountains, parrot green fields and beautiful frozen lakes.



Art


I learned the basics of keyboard this year by completing Alfred’s Basic Adult All-in-One Course. It is like the college days, where reading the books lays the foundation, but the actual practical applications are very different, difficult and needs guidance. The keyboard learning was not going anywhere, so I left it in between. I completed a four-week Bhangra course. Bhangra is easier and more fun for me compared to other dance forms. I also attended a Satinder Sartaaj concert, and hearing him perform live was a soothing experience.



Family and Friends


As always, my parents are the most important people in my life. I spent good 3 months in India this time, spending time with my family and helping with the interior designing. The new house is a huge step and big dream for me. I am looking forward to spending time there. This year’s birthday was a special one. I spent this birthday in Belgium. Also, later on for the birthday party, we rented a boat and roamed around in Amsterdam’s canals. I also spent a good time with my friends, there were numerous board games nights, video calls with friends and trips.



Tech Learning


I have a burning desire to learn new technologies, new skills or new approaches. This year, I really wanted to go with the trend, so I dove into learning Machine Learning. I am being guided by Mathijs De Jong, who is a senior Machine learning scientist at Booking. He is providing me knowledge and insights about real world ML problems. I have completed the book and reading material on Machine Learning and will move to Deep Learning next year. I also released an engineering blog this year and presented our work at a Graph Conference.



Health and Fitness


The focus on health took a back seat this year. I started running this summer and bought a pair of good running shoes. I started with 3k runs and was able to complete 7k runs too. I wasn’t very disciplined this year, and would like to improve it in the next year. I also joined a swimming course in Indore and learnt the basics. The mental health was okay, but there were challenges related to uncertainties, expectations settings and boundaries. Overall I did fairly okay with respect to health and fitness.