Everyone seems to be wondering what the hell it is I’ve been up to all year without school, so here’s a life update in chronological order. Kind of.

My friends have little to no understanding of what I do for my day job, but the basic gist is that I manage editorial content for an education non-profit. I got this job in October when I returned to Boston and went from part-time to full-time last winter. When not working the 9-to-5, I’ve kept up the freelance work and have also started writing about food, through self-published recipes and reviews as well as pieces for websites like Citysearch’s 3 Buck Bites.

I was only supposed to live with Patrick for a month before finding my own place. I actually did pay one month’s rent for a Porter Square apartment I never moved into, before Patrick and I decided that his Beacon Hill one-bedroom could fit another tenant. I went to Germany over the holidays and made my first-ever trip to Austria, where I learned how to ski (a minor miracle). For Chinese New Year, I appeased my mother by bringing home ze German (who spoke Mandarin to my bedazzled relatives) and against all odds, she did not make him sleep in a separate room. This spring, I visited Kennedy in Seattle for her birthday, went to Seattle two weeks after that for a speaking gig, took my little sister on a grand college tour of Northeast art schools, entertained various visiting friends in Boston, and have managed to wind up in the dress section of Beacon’s Closet in Brooklyn nearly every month. In late May, I finally got health insurance. In June, my friends graduated and promptly dispersed across the globe.

Right now, I’m transitioning out of my full-time position and working overtime so I can take late July and August off to read and travel, get ready for my return to Harvard, and prepare for the first big move of my life (but don’t worry, I’ll still be in Boston). I’m psyched for the new apartment (which will actually accommodate my wardrobe now), excited to start school again, and still have zero idea of what I’m doing after I graduate. But I’ve got time to figure it out.