It was one of those days. We all have them. They come around once a week, whether you like it or not. Like many of you, I suffered through a Monday. Now, to be fair, from time to time Monday’s are great (though this usually occurs on a three day weekend, essentially shifting the blame to Tuesday). For me Monday took its toll by subconsciously convincing me to write “2001” on all my documents. And sure I am getting older, but 10 years is still a lot of time for me to believe never happened. This has subsequently led me to consider, what has changed in 10 years and more interestingly, what hasn’t? (And yes, this all involves research because this was before we were all on facebook).

In October 2001 I was a sophomore in high school, living in Iowa, dreamed of being a doctor, spent most of my time talking to Johanna, Matthew and Catrina, got my first boyfriend, favorite class was physics, least favorite was World History, I couldn’t legally drive (other than to school and back), practiced basketball every day, loved A Knight’s Tale with Heath Ledger and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and boys were wild for The Fast and the Furious, yes, we were still listening to ‘N Sync, but also grooving to Destiny’s Child, with a little bit of Nelly Furtado mixed in, Perry Como and Dale Earnhardt were among those who passed away, and our biggest concern was when we would start getting snow days to save us from the homework we didn’t do or the tests we didn’t study for.

Now 10 years later I no longer measure my age by what grade I’m in, nor find it so strange to have friends 20+ years older than me, I’ve lived in 1 more state and 3 more countries, giving a 50 minute speech is now considered too little time as opposed to the “how am I going to fill up 5 minutes?!” I felt in high school speech classes, I still can’t legally drive (as I’m car-less in a foreign country) but no longer choose my boyfriend by whether or not he has a car, as boring as I am I no longer have time to watch many movies or tv and my music tastes are no longer determined by what my friends are listening to, I now read scholarly articles for fun but can no longer wish for snow days here in Peru (otherwise I would), I’ve learned that friends may leave your life but they will never leave your heart (or facebook), and that true friendship needs no translation.

So although I loved 2001 for many reasons and my life has changed drastically in some ways over the last 10 years, I wouldn’t go back. It was fun to live once and I’m grateful for the memories and life lessons it taught me (as well as the friendships it gave me) but I’ll move forward and keep living 2011 while it still lasts.