2025 takeaways in no particular order

some things i learned:

• categories
• supervising a thesis
• blogposting!
• lean4, bv_decide and fiddling with it
• packing a reasonable artifact
• managing open source contributions in a research agenda
• writing papers
• leading a paper toward submission
• moving places
• PR-ing and reviewing PRs

highlights

• A lot of sewing, much more than last year! I feel like I can now confidently sew everyday clothes like trousers and shirts, and they turn out wearable, which makes me very very happy. I hope to find more people that want to get rid of fabric 😈
• Traveling: this year was a very lucky one - between work and leisure I got to visit a bunch of places I’d never been to (and never thought I would visit, like Taipei!). I’m very grateful for that. Our (short) trip to Sumatra was definitely one of the best things ever happened to me so far.
• This year was challenging work-wise: I did not meet the expectations I had for myself in a lot of things I did (supervising, having a clear PhD agenda, understanding math, becoming a reliable theory person). It was frustrating and I was very nervous about work for a lot of the time. I hope that being consistent in my effort will at some point pay off.
• Working towards my balance in Cambridge! I love living in such a small and green city, and I am trying to pick back up the little traditions I had growing up back in Italy, such as making Elderflower syrup. Also, my 93-year-old grandmother hopped on a flight and came visiting me - it was definitely one of the highlights of the year 🥰
• There’s something about the connections we make living abroad: we’re all far from home and suddenly find ourselves sharing the same context, (often) missing the same things, facing the same challenges (from a PhD to dealing with NHS and Ryanair), and somehow understanding each other deeply. I am grateful for the friends I am making. It reminds me of the connections I made during my first year of university, when (for many of us) it was time living on our own and in very little time we would find ourselves facing the same challenges and overcoming them together - whether it was cooking or passing an exam.
• I finally managed to be consistent at painting and travelled with my small watercolour set, with which I am trying to pause and capture the beauty surrounding me. I am grateful for the memories in that little notebook!
• I joined some jam sessions in Cambridge and had a lot of fun - unfortunately I only managed to do that for a few months (before life got busy!) but I hope to do that again soon.

places i visited

• Isle of Skye
• Istanbul
• Taiwan
• Singapore
• Indonesia

it was a very very lucky year!

love wins!