20.09

2009.

So before the year ends, I’m writing this blog to summarize the year that is (becoming a “was” in a few hours).

My 2009 was about relationships. And no, I don’t only mean romantic relationships. Relationships in general. Relationships that I’ve made. Relationships that I’ve failed to keep. Relationships that surfaced and that sunk. That was what this year was all about.

2009 was a year of new friendships. For the earlier part of my year, I started my stint with the Competitive Intelligence department, where I made one of the closest bonds with the most unlikely of people.

You see, Belle is this sweet and innocent girl, very active, very smart, responsible.  Very unlike me (well, hindi naman VERY unlike me. Just a bit). And though we have different personalities, we clicked. We didn’t just live through the 3 month internship: we made the best of it. We shared laughter and tears, stories about our lives, our own dramas, our hopes, our fears. Heck, we even shared a near-death experience. (remember the stabbing incident, Belle?)

Yes. Ang aking Pards. And just because we couldn’t get enough of each other, we decided to spend summer together. And, sadly, this ain’t some kind of summer lovin’. Instead of having a summer, Pards and I decided to enroll in Unilever’s Summer Internship program (link to the other blogpost), where we met a whole array of great new people!

And meeting of new people didn’t stop there. It was a whole new school year coming back to school, which meant a whole new set of people: new faces in campus, new org mates. A new school year, indeed. And though I knew after the first term back in school, I would once again rejoin my course mates in the corporate world with our final stint, I was glad that in such a short span of time, I was able to make good friends with these new people. Whether we were talking about student council work, asking about the next Writers’ Guild activity, or just merely goofing off, there was definitely something that sparked out of that. The great thing about these people is that it isn’t just about the work to them. The org is one thing, but the bond made with one another transcends the boundaries of the organization. New term, new relationships. Some are still ones that I highly value. Others have, sadly, died out.

2009 was also a year of rekindling friendships. I was able to hang out with some of my blockmates and college friends this 2009; people whom I found hard to meet with due to the tight schedule of academics. And no, I’m not just talking about drinking sessions and lunch outs. I mean, really talked.

And of course, to cap off my year, I had the most amazing time with the newest set of friends that I’ve met over the course of my last stint. This was perhaps the only stint where I was truly able to meet a range of people, from coursemates that I’ve occasionally spoken to (but not really talked with) to people from other universities, to high level managers and supervisors. I’m sure most, if not all, the Nestle interns will agree that we’ve shared a close bond with one another. Whether it all started with simple emails to one another or through a social networking site, it didn’t matter. The people were just easy to get along with. Kahit na kanya-kanya kayo ng gusto,game lang. Walang basagan ng trip. It was here where I learned more about others and about myself that I never really thought I would or could have learned at all.

2009 was about losing. Losing the friendships that I’ve had, especially ones that I thought could never break. Slowly drifting away from others because of losing something in common. Beginning to ask yourself how you became friends with these kind of people in the first place. Being together with people you once treated like your own blood, only to feel lost in their midst. It was about watching friendships of others break into pieces, and knowing that there was nothing you can do to help fix it. It was about waiting for your turn in the game, and hoping that the next roll of the dice can turn the tables around.

2009 was about my relationship with myself. Realizing that there is so much in the world that I feel I want, but nothing I can truly say that I want. It’s like feeling something is missing, something you really want to get, but not knowing exactly what it is. It’s just there. Understanding that you cannot live a life keeping everything to yourself. Understanding that living a life where you’re too afraid to trust others isn’t much of a life at all. Finally taking that extra leap of faith to get that thing that you’ve always hoped for.

With just a few hours left of 2009, I feel that there is nothing more I could ever want in a year. A year full of everything one could imagine, and more. 2009 will surely be missed. After all, if it weren’t for this year, who’s to say I would be who I would be in 2010?

Good bye, 2009. It was great hanging out with you.

2010, here I come.