Happy New Year! (better late than never! ;))

As the title of this post suggests, I am here to say 'Happy New Year!' and officially open the blogging gates for 2012! Yaaay! ^__^
In Edinburgh, the festival of Hogmanay (a Scottish tradition) is celebrated from Dec 30th to January 1st. It is opened with a torchlight procession on the night of the 30th (which this year I partook in with my boyfriend), continues with music concerts from then till midnight of the 31st when there's a fireworks display, and then ends with New Year games on the 1st of January. Most of the bands playing at this year's Hogmanay were all rock bands and since that kind of music holds no particular appeal for me, Glasgow became my destination for December 31st. (For more explanation on what Hogmanay is about, and particularly the 2011/2012 Hogmanay celebrations, check out this website: http://www.edinburghshogmanay.com/ )

The torchlight procession (ignore the strange man,lol)

New Year's was spent with my brother and my boyfriend (who came all the way from Ghana just for me!! Love!!) in Glasgow. It was quite simple, we went out to eat with a friend of my brother's and then got back to his flat just in time to watch the fireworks going on in Edinburgh at midnight (ironic in a way,considering I live in Edinburgh but only that night ended up in Glasgow,lol). It was quite different from previous New Year's I had spent in Ghana; up until 2011, I had welcomed in the New Year for the past 10 years at church with my family at the Watch night service.
After calling family back home in Ghana to share the usual 'Afe nhyia pa' greetings (roughly meaning 'Happy New Year' in Twi), we all went off to bed. Again, quite different from how we would have spent the early hours of New Year's day if we'd been in Ghana.
Most people like to make New Year's resolutions and ask others about what theirs are, this year however, I'm not making any lists. My plan is to finish my course successfully and hopefully, achieve some other personal goals which have gathered dust over the years and even more relevant to this post, be more committed and regular in posting here on my blog. Hopefully, this will help me hone my writing skills.
January is almost gone but it's still not too late to make some New Year's resolutions if you want to. May 2012 be a year of greater achievements, filled with more joy, good health, peace and love for us all!

Fireworks at Calton Hill (after the procession)