So, 2015 may have been overshadowed by some grim world events, but for me it was a year full of blessings, change and life lessons.

Let me start with some of the blessings.

Last week, I got my wisdom teeth out and recovery went well. This week, my mom went to her brain surgeon for her yearly check-up and we found out she is still five years aneurysm-free. This year, I received four competitive grants to spend a total of 13 weeks abroad, six in China and seven in the Dominican Republic. I attended conferences in North Carolina and New York, meeting peers and making new friends from around the country. I spent my February break in Birmingham, Alabama, and my Reading Days in Richmond, Virginia, for service trips, and I led a new pre-orientation service trip for freshmen to Baltimore, Maryland. I was honored to meet former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (at West Point) and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (at the Forbidden Palace in Beijing). I felt almost equally honored when I introduced myself to someone at the W&L Entrepreneurship Summit who told me, "Yeah, I know who you are, everyone around here does."

And 2015 brought many changes, too.

I rented my first apartment, incurring my first monthly bill. I got my first passport as an adult, and I renewed my driver's permit because I never had time to schedule the road test needed to get a license. I had my hair braided in cornrows for the first time, and I (temporarily) dyed it the brightest red I ever have. Just as I made a lot of new friends, I lost some too. I went on dates with a number of guys, some I still talk to and some I have long since forgotten (or tried to forget). I never wore sweatpants to class. I shattered two phones. I bought my first DSLR camera. I grew up a little bit more and realized I have one year less to get my adult life together.

Life lessons came in many forms.

Some lessons came into my life as people and some as experiences. I learned how to live out of a suitcase, and that most material things I enjoy in the United States I don't really need. Trusting your initial gut feeling is a must, especially in foreign countries, because your intuition usually isn't wrong. Having friends wherever you are is important, but having people you can trust is even more so. Never exchange money at an airport. Don't believe everything people tell you. Sometimes, smiling and nodding will work out better for you than trying to argue. Success doesn't always have to mean having a lot of money and expensive things -- it can include just being happy, too.

Making way for 2016.

At the end of the day, when everything is falling apart in your life or everything is wrong in the world, you only have your home to come back to -- your family, your friends and yourself. Loving and showing you care about them is probably the most important thing to do (yourself included), but usually, this gets lost in our ever-busy schedules. As 2015 ends and I start 2016, that is my resolution: to better prioritize the ones who matter most.