Highlights of 2018

Dear Readers,

somehow I made it a thing to dedicate a whole article to my achievements of the past year. It started out with articles around my birthday, looking back on what I had done. Last year it shifted to a New Years article, looking back on 2017. I was too busy working on a documentary around my birthday to sit down and look back on what I had achieved in my 25th life year. This year was no difference with how busy I was. So, I decided to continue and take a Sunday afternoon to reflect on my year. I would love to take you with me on this journey of ups and downs. Going to be honest though, I’m mostly going to talk about the ups because I want to lift my own spirit and inspire others. On another honest note; I’m a bit scared because I’m very ambitious and I turned 26 this year. So, there are definitely feelings as “I haven’t achieved enough for my age”. But who knows, maybe I change my mind while writing this article.

I’m, kind of, going to continue where I left off last year. My documentary; We wrapped up the documentary and delivered it to our client The City of Rotterdam. They were so happy with how everything turned out and like any real production it even got it’s own premiere. The documentary caused a lot of heat in the audience because everyone had something to say about it, it showed a lot of the issues that are currently happening in the taxi industry.

I’m still so proud and happy with what we achieved. It was a lot of work in a very short period of time.

I also worked on another film project while working on the documentary. Thanks to some connections we got the opportunity to make this project premiere in an actual cinema, Euroscope Schiedam. The premiere date was very close to the premiere date of the documentary, which gave 2018 an amazing kick off!

In February I enrolled in the TV & AV semester at my university. I love filming and editing, so I wanted more. This semester we also had a client, someone for whom we made our productions. You might have guessed it but yes I was once again pair up with the City of Rotterdam. This time we got to make a reportage, a documentary and an actual, semi live, studio talk show. For this talk show we had to make everything ourselves. Which was a lot of fun to do.

I’m going to be completely honest, I didn’t like this semester. The professors where barely there and when they showed up they basically told us everything was wrong but didn’t feel the need to actually teach us something. However, I did love creation, filming and editing stuff. I loved getting this opportunity.

I especially loved the rolls I had during the live talk show. For one show I was the director, directing everyone on the floor from the directors room. For the other shows I was the cameraman, I love standing behind the camera!

Two other major changes where happening during this semester.

In November of 2017 I got diagnosed with an inflamed stomach wall. I had been struggling with gut and stomach issues since May of 2017. In February I got diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome because my issues didn’t go away with medication. This meant that I had to see a dietitian. She suggested two diets. The first one I followed for six weeks. I was allowed to eat everything but I had to eat 30 grams of fiber a day and I had to eat every two hours. This diet didn’t give the results I was suppose to have so I moved on to the second diet. The second diet was really hard, it was the FODMaP diet. You’re not allowed to eat so many things that are in everything. On top of this diet I also had to eat every two hours. I was suppose to follow this diet for 13 weeks but I quit after eight because I didn’t have any results and my symptoms got worse. Which meant back to the hospital and running more test. I wish I could say that 2018 gave me the answers I was looking for, when it comes to my gut and stomach issues, but it didn’t. My next appointments and test are scheduled in the upcoming year and I’m not looking forward to them.

On top of this I also lost 10kg in six months time. It’s unclear if this is related to my medical issues.

The second major change during this semester was my decisions to step away from make-up and creating make-up looks on Instagram and instead tapping into my creative streak. I decided I wanted to do more with photography and Photoshop. My new mission became learning how to use Photoshop. It’s one of the skills I developed this year and I’m very proud of the fast progress I made.

During the summer break I mostly spend my time finishing up things for university and looking for an internship. I had several offers from different companies in the television branch. I ended up going for Viacom International Media Networks at the Creative department. I was really excited to start but also super nervous because I never had a full time, 40 hours a week, job before.

Last minute my dad and I decided to celebrate me getting an internship by going to Scotland. I had never been before but it was definitely on my bucket list, especially Loch Ness. I had a blast the few days we were in Scotland. The weather was cold but the country is so gorgeous!

After my holiday to Scotland it was time to get back in the saddle and start with my internship. I was very nervous but quickly found my place in the company. I never feel at home at most places but I do at Viacom. Everyone is so friendly and my job is A-MA-ZING. I work for Comedy central and Spike. To dumb down my job: I watch TV for a living. I get to watch episodes of TV series I would normally watch at home, some episodes haven’t even aired when I get to see them. I edit those episodes in either ON AIR breakbumpers or Social media short forms. I also got to make one promo for ON AIR that airs during the December month. Which is the month most people watch TV! So, they get to see my 30 seconds of my work. It’s just surreal.

My internship will end in January, which makes me really sad because I don’t want to leave and go back to university to follow boring lectures. But, at the same time it also makes me really happy because they offered me a freelance job for two days a week. Which to me feels like a foot in the door at the most amazing company ever. I remember being little and watching Nickelodeon, also a Viacom brand, a LOT. I wanted to work for that company so badly. I never realized me not becoming a physicist brought me closer to something little Julia had always dreamed about.

Talking about amazing opportunities I also traveled two London twice this year because I got invited to the Makeup Revolution parties, again! I once visited in March when they held their yearly birthday celebration party. I also got invited to the most amazing Halloween party ever! Which was in October. I love visiting London some much, it feels like home away from home. I took this opportunity to also create some amazing art, which you can find over on my Instagram.

My best friends and I decided this year to go on a trip for my 26th birthday. Which was the best idea we ever had. We ended up going to Venice. I even made us some ‘ironic’ t-shirts for the trips. We ended up having a blast and eating so much delicious (sea)food! We also laughed till we cried and spotted a lot of nice butts. I highly recommend going to Venice if you love food and butts. I also took so many gorgeous scenery photos.

I ended up using the photo’s I took in Venice as Christmas presents for my family. I got them printed as posters and everyone loved it!

For my 26th birthday I had so many many many plans but I had to cancel them all because I got really sick after the trip to Venice. I ended laying in bed for over a week, sometimes not even being able to sit up right. I also couldn’t sleep for 72 hours because my stomach and gut pains got so much worse. This is not how I envisioned turning 26 would be. I ended up getting myself together and slowly forcing myself to go back to my internship. Which I did just in time because on the 20th they had their yearly Christmas party. I had heard so many stories since September about how insanely awesome it would be. I didn’t want to miss it for the world.

I was so happy that I ended up going, even though I was still to sick to stick it out till the end. It started with the main hall being directed into a garden with even bird sounds. There were a lot of rows with tables and plants everywhere. We started with a six course dinner around one in the afternoon. Around four we got to go to the studio which was transformed into a carousel. That’s when a famous DJ, I didn’t know, kicked the party off. I went home after two hours of partying because I was really tired. I later heard that there were two after parties after that party and some people even stayed till seven in the morning!

I can definitely say that it was better than what I expected and my exceptions where pretty high.

And last but not least this year I also bought THREE new camera lenses! In January I bought the Canon 50mm 1.8 lens. In July I bought the Canon 35 mm 2.8 lens and the Sigma 35mm 1.4 lens. The last one is my all time favorite and go to lens. I love adding new lenses to my collection!

Looking back on 2018 made me realize how amazing this year has truly been and how much I achieved. I’m very happy I could share this with you all. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I wish you a happy 2019!

See you next year,

Julia