11 Things Learned for 2011

Happy New Year! The entire world says it's 2011, but somehow it still just doesn't feel real. Probably because I have absolutely no idea what 2011 will bring. I've never "not known." And that is terrifying.

Yet while I have no clue what will happen in 2011 (beyond that U.S.-bound flight on January 25), there are a few things I can cling to in the new year. They happened in 2010, but I suppose they were learned for 2011, so here they are.

11 Things Learned for 2011

1. Time is about the fastest thing out there. Before coming here I thought a year was such a long time. It was scary long. Now, I have to laugh remembering how intimidated I was by those words: an entire year. The year I thought was going to be the longest of my life turned out to be the fastest of my life. So, I don't think I'll be underestimating time's speed again any time soon. 

2. Although it was painful at times, I, Carrie Daut, can survive 13 months without most of my favorite foods. If that's not a serious revelation, then I don't know what is.

3. I love this job -- writing and blogging and talking and promoting and communicating. It's the kind of work I want to keep doing. I am sure of that.

4. But I don't want to do this job for a fashion magazine. I want to do it for a nonprofit or an arts center or a university or something. I want a communications job that exists because there is a need for it. 

5. AND I hate being ordered to take photos. That will hopefully not be part of future jobs.

Hmm, what else...

6. No matter how good you think you are, you cannot spend a year at NPHG without getting piojos. I learned the hard way with only three weeks left to go. I guess Guatemala was not going to let me get away scot-free.

7. I am not a travel wussy. This year, I have climbed through mudslides, taken boats through tropical storms, spent 36 hours just to reach a destination, and been stranded in foreign towns -- and lived to tell you about just how much darn fun it was.

8. I used to think that after college, you would never find friends who just fit so perfectly into your life. I was wrong.

9. I am a 13 year-old girl at heart, just like my section, and I am not ashamed of that!

10. The things you are most scared/embarrassed/nervous to try are the ones that will never go away if you just avoid them. Better to stop thinking and just do. When it's over, you'll wonder why you ever thought it was such a big deal in the first place.  That's been a daily-life-at-NPH-Guatemala lesson, but we all know it's a real-life one too. 

11. And finally...13 months ago, I thought that after so much bouncing around post-graduation, I'd be ready to calm down after Guatemala, that I'd be ready to kind of stop the adventure. Well folks, I don't think I am...