2023

Every year, I reflect on the past events with a brief summary of what happened.


Table of Contents

  1. What went well
    1. Movies, books and all the things that make us human
    2. On the side dishes
    3. In academia
  2. What did not go so well


Here are some stats from 2023!

What went well

While 2022 was an outer journey (I travelled a lot that year), 2023 was mostly on the inward part.

Movies, books and all the things that make us human

  • In 2023, 22 (out of 21) books read, 4604 pages turned 📚
  • Started logging movies! I watched 9 movies in the last 3 months 🍿
  • While it is great to watch content online nowadays, I still enjoy going to the movies. In 2023, I went to movies twice. One of them was part of a film festival to see About Dry Grasses and the other was for Oppenheimer at TU Film Garching. While it is not as comfortable as a movie theater, I really enjoyed watching this one at a lecture hall. It really gives another dimension to the movie!
  • Went to 2 music festivals 🎶 These were small ones held in Munich. Still, I always enjoy going to Stustaculum which is the largest music festival organized solely by students in Germany.
  • Visited 6 museums and art exhibitions in total!

On the side dishes

  • Published 1 simple yet successful side project: ChatGPTify
  • Survived a hackathon right after a paper submission 😮 This one was a bit of a crazy idea, but I attended for the second time to HackaTUM and I really enjoyed the event!
  • Only moved houses once?? 🏡
  • Finished German B1 level! 🇩🇪
  • Improved my chess ♟️- Even though we do not align since he thinks women do not even belong to kitchen, a bit bittersweet thanks to Bobby Fischer.

In academia

  • Attended a PhD mentorship program as a mentee.
  • Increased TOEFL score by 10 points 🙃
  • Applied 5 grad school programs 🍸
  • Submitted one master’s thesis 📄
  • Graduated from a master’s degree! 👩‍🎓🎓

What did not go so well

  • I spent around 2 months with an ankle brace after a serious injury, so this year cycling was unfortunately a big no 🥲
  • Written 3 blog posts ✍️ This is better than last year but still needs improvement.
  • No new countries or cities. I did not have the chance to travel much this year 🗺️



Thank you 2023 for all the fish! 🐟

I know that 2024 will be amazing, it’s an even number, ends with a 4 and is a leap year.

Best combo ever!

– Coding Woman