25

Today is my 25th birthday.

I woke up this morning and went for a 2.5 mile run to begin the celebration. During my run, I listened to Young the Giant and it was making me nostalgic for my study abroad junior year of college. I spent a lot of time listening to them while I was in Italy and saw them at an intimate venue in Milan. Whenever I hear their music I can perfectly remember singing along in my room on Via Tonale or listening to them on a Trenitalia during a weekend trip.

It’s hard to believe that 4 years ago I was living in Parma. I started off my 21st by running a 10k race near the university, followed up with sharing beers in the city center and a delicious Emilia cake at a friend’s place.

My study abroad year in Europe was one of the top 3 pivotal experiences of my life. It completely changed me and my hopes and dreams. In the almost 4 years since I’ve been back, I’ve had the opportunity to do a fair bit more international travel – Dominican Republic, India, The Maldives, Thailand, Hungary, United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia. While all these trips have been magical, I still have this undying desire to live abroad again for an extended time and really integrate myself into the culture. I’ve explored things like Remote Year, which sound amazing and I’d like to do. But there’s still something to be said for packing up a backpack and a carry-on and just heading out somewhere on my own. I hope to make this happen soon.

My time in Italy also got me into running. My roommates at the time were really into fitness and helped motivate and inspire me to start getting back into shape. I ran an 8k and 10k in Italy and since then have a handful of 5ks, 3 half-marathons, and 1 marathon under my belt. I’ve also done a couple of Spartan Races with more lined up for this year. Last year’s goal was running my first marathon (check). This year my new goal is to do a pull up for the first time in my life.

As for career goals, well. I’m still working on figure out what it is I want to do. I had my first company change this past year (TCS > Deltek). While the clients and product are different, my basic jobs functions are the same. I’m an IT implementation consultant. And while there are many things I love about consulting, I’d love to work on actually building something instead of just delivering and training on something that’s already been made. I’ve been working on data science and coding courses via LinkedIn Learning and MIT OpenCourseWare since I think I’d like to try a data science or data engineering role somewhere. I already have the Masters in Applied Statistics, but I need to sharpen my coding skills since I don’t really use them at all at work. Ideally the new job would be a remote role with the flexibility to travel and live where I want, but I’ve been becoming more open to the idea of going into an office. Remote work can be lonely and I’m a die-hard extrovert. We shall see. I’m only 3 years into my career and still trying to figure out what the hell it is I want to do with my life. In the meantime, there’s no harm in trying different things.

24 has been fantastic – moving to a new city to move-in with the person I love, starting a new job, and going on some amazing trips. I can’t wait for all that’s to come at 25.