2017 was a special year for a lot of people. I know that there are lot of reasons to have mixed feelings. I do have to admit that for me it has been a year filled with incredible stuff. I want to summarize my year in a couple of tweets, but the best news I received wasn’t tweeted.

This is the second best thing that happened to me this year:

Yes, I became a Dr. June 9th, but the months before my PhD-defense my grandmother who in part raised me, was diagnosed with cancer – again –  and it was very uncertain if my grandmother could be present at my defense – or even worse. But my grandparents were able to attend and a few months ago the best news of 2017 came: the chemo had worked even better than the doctors had expected and my grandmother survived the cancer.

After these numbers 1 and 2, the next tweets tell 2 stories that shook my little world:

But there was much, much more. I’ve got the chance to meet great people in the UK, Sweden, the USA, Scandinavia,… I learned so much and still was able to spent a lot of time with my family.

2018 sounds promising… In January I’m starting with a new research project at the University of Leiden. I’ll also be visiting among other places: Haninge, Wellington, Pretoria, Toronto, DC and my solo debut will be published in English in March. Oh, and there will also be a new album by my band – I know, this sounds the least important thing on the list, but trust me: it isn’t.

I want to wish you all happy holidays and looking forward to meet you all on the road in 2018!