the last decade

And so we have entered a new decade. I can't say I'm finding it to be such a big deal. I mean, 10 years ago we entered a new millennium. Now THAT was a big deal if you ask me!

However, it has been quite some eventful years, and I thought I'd try and sum up important steppingstones over the last 10 years.

2000
Was one of my best years so far. Me and my then boyfriend were living in a beautiful cottage in Jersey together with our rabbit. I studied nursing whilst working, we had lots of friends who got married that year, and it seemed like life was one big, happy party. However, I got ill and were in and out of hospital alot. It took it's toll on me, not to mention the relationship.

2001
Was the year I travelled to South America and Easter Island for a few months. I travelled with the then-boyfriend, and at times it was fab and at others it wasn't . We split up during our trip, went our separate ways and reunited on Easter Island. Back in the UK I decided to head over to Sweden to visit my dad before going back to Jersey and work/studies. I found myself in Sweden COMPLETELY broke, and had to take a job as a window cleaner for a month before I could afford a ticket back to Jersey!

2002
I split up from the same boyfriend again, packed up my life in Jersey and moved to Australia. I had managed to get into uni, doing nursing. And how I regretted it! I only got to the airport in London where I phoned my best friend Lizzie, sobbed and said I wanted to come back home. Not the best of starts. The fact that I didn't like the uni where I started studying didn't help. Everything was wrong. I decided to move back to Sweden. Because I was determined to get that damn degree of mine, and I couldn't afford studying in the UK.

2003
Back in Sweden (after over 10 years abroad) I found it hard to fit in. I started studying archaeology as I didn't qualify for the nursing degree due to Swedish bureaucracy. I did my first archaeological dig. Whilst on excavation my grandfather died, which was heartbreaking. I adored him. I spent three months back in Jersey during the summer and thought I'd move back as soon as I'd finished my Bachelor's degree.

2004
I hated Sweden. I hated where I lived but I LOVED studying. I took 2 full time courses at once to keep myself busy from hating everything so much. And I did really well and loved the fact that I rocked at the academic stuff! I spent the whole summer in Jersey, back at my old job yet another summer and kept thinking I would move back there soon.

2005
The summer was spent in Jersey again. This time I noticed that friends had moved on, and that I in fact didn't have "my old life" left in Jersey. But at the same time I didn't have a "new life" in Sweden. I kept taking two fulltime courses at the same time to make life bearable in Sweden. They still weren't. However, in November, I got the honour of attending the Nobel Prize Gala. Unfortunally, I was too bitter to fully apreciate it all.

2006
Was the year when I finished my Master's degree in theoretical Archaeology, got a lovely little flat and started to feel alive again. I loved it. I got a few small freelance jobs as an archaeologist, but supported myself by working as a care worker. I also carried on studying a couple of evening uni courses in Rethorics and Cultural Environment Pedagogics.

2007
I landed a job as a Project Coordinator, which I thought would be perfect for my future career within archaeology. But I hated the job, and lots of bad things happened to me there. I ended up being signed off work for 3 months at the end of the year. Still, I enjoyed studying and took evening classes at the university all year. I only spent a couple of weeks in Jersey this year.

2008
Still signed off sick, my Jersey friend Lynda and I decided within a day or two that we were going to Morrocco. We met up in London first and had the best holiday. When I got back I was offered a job as a project manager at the Social Services, which I hadn't even applied for. I took it and loved it. I also bought two Cornish Rex cats, moved into a huge flat and realized that I probaly were getting a little settled in Sweden after all.

2009
I plodded along at work quite happily, and spent most of my spare time renovating my new flat. I spent a month travelling around China, and then a couple of weeks at my dad's place in the summer arranging my brother's wedding. I enrolled yet another university course (this time through work and getting paid whilst doing it!) studying Leadership and Psychiological Management. I loved it.

And now it is the beginning of 2010. Let's see what it has in store. I'm hoping something fantastic, of course!