Previously: 2023 in Review

I want to be better at reflecting and want to remember these wonderful years. So here I am, at the end of January, writing my 2024 in review. I was inspired by Steve and Shreyans’ blog posts and actually finishing the YearCompass first.

This year I lived in Amsterdam 🇳🇱, Oviedo (Spain) 🇪🇸, Thailand (just 3 weeks) 🇹🇭, and Bogota 🇨🇴.

🎓 I completed my MSc in Urban Studies (4CITIES). I learned a lot and now have well informed opinions on a few things now. The few months of focused writing on the thesis were hell but I’m pretty happy with the result: The Uneasy Emergence of the Edible Insect Industry in the Netherlands. Still figuring out how to bridge urbanism and tech for a career.

FOSDEM in Brussels was fun, volunteering at MozFest Amsterdam was a blast, interning with the Lab of Thought was a bit lonely but I made some great connections, I loved the “Dance to Share” class I took at CREA, making dumplings with a big group for Chinese New Year was chaotic bliss, visiting the Internet Archive in SF turned so many little faces from Zoom into real people, attending the 50 years of Ciclovia celebration got me fired up for making change, and Novenas and Christmas in Bogota gave me a great appreciation for how family makes the holidays special.

I had five intentions last year.

Open Source Contributions: Made lots of contributions, shared it in blogs, and I’m generally happy about it. Open Library has been a great community to be part of.
Cooking: Improved significantly, mastered dishes like creamy chicken pasta, and cooked (more) frequently, especially towards the end of the year.
Spanish Language Learning: Spent a solid part of the year working on it every day (loved Dreaming Spanish videos) and was able to hold my own during the holidays in Bogota. Still not where I’d like to be though.
Social Life: Maintained an active social life, especially in Amsterdam, with regular dinners and quality time with friends. After Amsterdam, not so much thanks to the thesis.
Reading & Writing: I wrote 11 blog posts, pretty good, but fell short on reading often (outside of thesis). I’ll do better this year.

Overall, I feel I did alright on the intentions, which were deeply disrupted by the thesis months. I think I’ll carry a few of them forward.

Finally, I’ll say it has been a pretty great year. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Amsterdam and deeply appreciate the friends I made there. My year was also made oh so much better by the friends who visited including Alex, Sam, Sam & Cliff, Zoe, Kevin, and more. All that being said, I can’t imagine how this year would have been if I didn’t have my wonderful partner Maria Paula by my side through it all.

Lets make 2025 even better!

Selected Photos

Here are some photos, the bring cozy memories to me. Notably, excluding photos with people because there are too many good ones (and something about AI).