things I learned this year.

[shadesapart]

I was feeling unproductive, so I made a list of things I learned this year. Here it goes:

1. Never buy fruit in pre-made packages at the grocery store. What you make up for in per-kilo price, you lose in bruised fruit.
2. Living on your own isn’t so lonely after all.
3. You might be tired, you might not feel like it, but talk anyways.
4. Never underestimate the power of fondant au chocolat.
5. A good risotto doesn’t need to take forever and can last for days.
6. Fresh bread is always better.
7. The work will get done eventually.
8. The Swiss are all crazy in one way or another, if they’re not, you don’t know them well enough.
9. Trains make me sleepy.
10. I’m addicted to bad TV shows, good chocolate, long walks on the lake and baking cookies.
11. Swiss trams wait for no one.
12. One cannot survive in Europe without at least one pair of good black boots.
13. Prayer is much more real than I thought.
14. Never go up against an Ambassadorial Secretary.
15. Never trust an Ambassadorial Secretary. They lie.
16. The United Nations is a forum of communication; it could never and will never govern anyone. And its better that way.
17. It is not your first day snowboarding that hurts. It’s the day after. And the day after that.
18. The Diplomats are never saying what you think they are.
19. Interns make the world go round.
20. Little brothers will grow up. No matter how much you don't want them to.
21. A good pain au chocolat can be used as leverage for about anything.
22. It always helps to have a dancing Japanese roommate who likes to bake.
23. Brazilians are never on time, but they always show up.
24. Sometimes just falling asleep on the phone can be worth the long-distance bill.
25. Never trust the Swiss to correct French grammar.
26. The “European Diet” is a load of crap. It was never about the types of food that are here, its about self-control-something that I never have and never will have, at least not with a good patisserie around every corner.
27. Everything does sound sexier in French.
28. We are the hands that God has chosen to use to heal the world.
29. Planning a wedding is much easier when you just leave it up to your fiancé.
30. Make sure your cell phone is securely zipped in your pocket when snowboarding.
31. Bureaucracy is only there to hide the loopholes. Use them.
32. You must fight for the love that you have.