Boating on Caribbean-blue water in Wisconsin. Spending the night at Mt. Everest Base Camp. Observing the crowds at a Bosnian pilgrimage site. A tribute to the exciting happenings and the wonderful people that made 2014 so incredible.

The New Year. A phrase that’s viewed by our elders as insignificant, our peers as flows of champagne, and our media as the time to flood the internet will all things categorized as “The Best of 2014.” Some people choose to brag about their year, others choose to bash theirs, and some choose to simply forget it. For me, I choose to look back, to reflect, and most of all, to be thankful.

This year was an abundance of travel. From Mexico to rural Illinois, Switzerland to Croatia, from Thailand to Tibet and a copious amount of China. There’s no doubt that I was fortunate enough to see some amazing sights this year, covering a vast and diverse array of beautiful terrain. Swimming in seas, petting tigers and elephants, hiking through too many mountains to count…it was all wonderful. But, as I sit at my laptop on the last day of this surreal year, I’m realizing that these things are far from what’s really on my mind.

To me, this year was about the people. The charming waiter named Gregory that stuffed my family’s bellies with seafood in Cancun, Mexico. A semester at my university in the states with some of the most passionate people I’ve ever met. The wonderful friends I camped with in the canyons of central Illinois. The glorious summer days spent on a boat with my mom and grandma in the eternal sunshine of central Wisconsin. The yachting with more great friends on the beautiful waters of Lake Michigan. My Swedish backpacking partner and the incredible Australians, Canadians, Americans, and Italians who shared all kinds of shenanigans with us in Greece, Montenegro, Italy, Bosnia, and elsewhere in Europe.

And even more of the wonderful people I’ve encountered have been from far into the depths of Asia. The Chinese women who’ve fed me, scolded me to put on a sweater, and washed pieces of fruit for me on trains. The street vendor who flashes a huge smile when I buy water from him on my way home from school. The security guard in my apartment who flashes an even bigger everyday smile and lets me pet his cat. The countless Chinese friends at my university who have welcomed me with open arms from my classes, swim team, and basketball team alike. My Chinese buddy Charlie, who helped me with my stolen bike, lost wallet, broken phone, and all the other daily struggles of being a foreigner in China. The other friends I’ve made while traveling, from the old couple who invited me to watch the sunrise at Huangshan to the college student in Harbin who invited me to her family’s home. And, above all else, my family of a mish-mosh of nationalities here in Beijing, from America to Indonesia and everywhere in between.

A wonderful view will only last so long in your mind, but these memories will stay with me forever. If anything, this year has taught me what it’s really like to feel alive–to breathe in the air (clean or polluted) and exhale with a newfound zest. It’s taught me that traveling may be when you feel most alive, but I’ve learned how to seek this same feeling in daily life. As far as resolutions go, I suppose mine is to actively pursue the feeling of alive-ness, and to encourage other wonderful, like-minded people to do the same.

On this day two years ago, I was alongside one of my closest friends on a rooftop terrace in the Abu Dhabi desert. Last year, I was huddled with great people in a basement in American suburbia. This year, I’m headed out to a Korean feast with some wonderful people and then off to the Beijing Olympic Stadium to watch the fireworks. As for next year…who knows?

2014, here’s to you.