2011 in retrospect

Another year has past and like every year it seemed so short but still so many things happened. My 2011 was packed with experiences, new and old friends and a lot of very happy moments. When I think all the way back, the year didn't start that glorious. Me and Mathis had to work at New Years until two o'clock and couldn't drink because we had to drive until the end. It got better very soon though, I finished my community service, organized my trip and moved back home for a few weeks before taking off into the wild wide world. I really enjoyed those weeks before I left because I spent a lot of time with my family and my very good friends in Germany who I knew I would miss a lot while I was gone. I was also very exited to reunite with Rebekka who I hadn't seen in nine months and to go back to Australia and my family and friends on the other side of the world. Australia offered me an awesome time and reinforced my love for that country and its people once again.
Then Indonesia and Malaysia. What a difference to what I knew before on every level. It was the first time for me on the Asian continent and the first time in a third world country and it was an intense but very beautiful and rewarding experience that formed and strengthened me a lot as a person and taught me many valuable lessons. And it is such a beautiful place with its seemingly infinitive possibilities and breathtaking landscapes. The travel experience we made there was very different to Australia and we didn't meet as many locals but we found a few very good friends in other travelers.  I will have to go back there some time to continue what we have started and see what we missed.
Fiji was only a short stopover and when we left it was as if we had visited Eden and were sent back to earth after ten days. I have never seen water that clear, sand that white and people that friendly and simply happy. I regret a bit that I didn't go for a surf while I was there but that I didn't go only gives me a reason to go back again.
And California, bitter sweet California. I've been here for two months and my time here was amazing. The people I've met, the things I've seen, the lessons I've learned and the waves I've surfed were all incredible and each individually a journey and a reward by themselves and I feel so lucky that I could experience it the way I did but there is still something to the place that keeps me from loving it unconditionally. I cant quite figure out what it is but I know that the positive experiences I made are a lot stronger and will last a lot longer and the friends I made here are real friends and of the kind that you have to look for very carefully.

All in all 2011 was a great year for me and the pure life smiled at me with so many different faces, work, leisure, wealth, poverty, friendship, love, new life and death being only a few of them.
If this is how my life is going to be for the next year, I can't wait; I am ready for it.