2016 Resolutions Update - December 31

Today wraps up 2016. Although I didn't make as much progress over the year as I had hoped, I am still pleased with all that happened in 2016.

Here's my December update - the last monthly update for my 2016 resolutions.

1. Start learning Italian - (300 day streak on DuoLingo)
After a rocky start, I finished the year strong. Once I finished my exams on the 21st of December, I had no commitments. Well, other than Christmas, New Year's Eve, and 5 other visits we had planned with friends and family. I continued with my daily activity on DuoLingo, and was able to complete my 302nd straight day today, on December 31. In terms of sticking to my goal, I met my 300 day streak which was what I was aiming for. I don't feel that my ability level in Italian is anywhere close to where I was in German at this time last year, but that's something I will need to figure out the root cause for.

2. Keep at least a 10.5 GPA across all courses
I got my marks back a few days before Christmas. While things definitely could have gone better, it was by no means a bad Christmas present. Overall, my average for this semester is a 10.4/12, which is just slightly below the 10.5 I need to keep my scholarship. This means I will need a 10.6 during my next school term in order to maintain the 10.5 average needed for my scholarship - this will most likely be difficult but I think it is still within reach.

3. Write an ebook
Goal was officially abandoned at the end of September.

4. Spend semesters 2 & 3 at university getting more involved with everything Laurier offers
December was a slower month for this goal, mainly due to exams. The two main activities that I've been spending the most of my time on are the Emergency Response Team and volunteering as an exam-aid instructor for economics with Students Offering Support. ERT was operating on reduced hours during the month of December due to an overall lack of availability because of exams and also due to the campus closing once exams finished. Something I started to work on this semester and I'm hoping to finish in the new year is a program that will help to automate the building of the schedules for ERT which happens every other week. Currently this is done manually and I hope to be able to automate this process. As an exam-aid instructor for SOS, I was also responsible for teaching two 3-hour long review sessions for the first-year EC120 course. Although this did require me to take some long breaks in the middle of studying for my own exams, both of these sessions were quite well attended and, judging by the feedback that I received after the session, the students who attended found it to be quite valuable.

That just about wraps up 2016. Thank you for reading, and I will be back in the new year with a new set of resolutions to work towards!