January 2025 Highlights
Longest month ever
WOW, what a start to the year! I am sure you feel like this month stretched into infinity, too—good, taxing, and memorable. I had an exciting January, so I will proceed with my recap.
Best professional event
Our company had an onsite in New York during the coldest week of the month, which was, I am sure, memorable for our warm-weather colleagues. I won’t share much about our company strategy and milestones here, but it will undoubtedly be a very eventful year, so more will come! One of our favorite social activities was a New York Public Library tour; if you haven’t done this, I highly recommend it. Did you know there’s 129 miles of shelf space under Bryant Park, where the books are organized by height, not the Dewey Decimal System like every other library? This is not to waste the vertical space that happens when books next to each other are not the same height. The main NYPL is more like a museum than a library, so I will return to check out the exhibits.
Best outdoor activity: Hiking Mount Liamuiga in Saint Kitts
We signed up to hike Mount Liamuiga at the last minute without researching its difficulty. I am glad I had been endurance training before I went because… according to my tracker, the 5.4-mile route involved about 156 flights of stairs! When I wasn’t staring at the path to figure out where to place my feet (it was very muddy and rocky, with parts of it requiring hands-on climbing), the trees were beautiful, and the vista at the top of the volcanic mountain into the crater was worth the sweat.
Best start to the year
I started 2025 in Puerto Rico, then traveled to several Caribbean islands: Aruba, St. Kitts, Fort-de-France, and Curacao. Snorkeling and swimming with turtles felt like a guilty pleasure when everyone else in NYC worked on their resolutions. One of my favorite aspects of traveling somewhere warm is the local hospitality and not needing to layer up before heading out, something I sorely miss as I return to record-freezing NYC temperatures.
Fun cold weather activities
Alas, I was excited to be back in the cold—after all, I am a winter baby. I skied (which I love!) and enjoyed a couple of cozy, snowy weekends outside the city, which was fun despite how miserable I looked in the picture.
Favorite food moment
Have you seen a pink pineapple? This was my first time seeing one, too, and it was delicious! The flavor crosses guava and pineapple—creamy and delicate but with a pineapple profile. If you find one near you, I recommend giving it a shot.
Whew, another packed month has passed. Honorable mentions of the month include an alumni event, a lecture on brain aging, and Lunar New Year celebrations! I hope you had a great start to 2025, and I look forward to seeing you soon!
