Last week was Internet Week in New York, celebrating pretty much what you guessed: the impact of technology on business and culture in this city. As a connoisseur (read: slave) of the Internets, I attended the Webutante Ball aka “nerd prom” for kicks, which resulted in the above photograph circulating in Business Insider.

As internet week concluded, it just felt appropriate at this time of year…as if something finally clicked. Today marks the day I arrived back stateside a year ago on a one-way ticket, with just one suitcase and laptop bag, hoping to make my summer at CommerceWorks count. I would say that despite growing pains, we HAVE made progress and relocating the business to New York was overall a good decision. The truly wild thing about this life is the uncertainty involved, not just what the future holds for the business as we collect feedback and iterating to make a better product, but even more so for our personal lives. It hasn’t been easy leaving an entire community with whom I had built my adult life, mentors and friends who became my expat family scattered thousands of miles away. Being back has allowed me to re-connect with old friends and be closer to my actual family which has been a saving grace; I even managed to join The Chelsea Symphony for a few concerts to get back to playing the cello, a meaningful release for me.

Having said all of that, I would be remiss not to mention all the new friends and contacts I have made along this journey. Changing contexts - from finance to internet, from institution to startup, and from Asia to New York - make it all the more challenging to adjust, but good people are universal and I am thankful to have come across a handful of them. Here’s to another life-changing year in New York…or wherever we end up.