As this year comes to an end, it is time to look back and reflect on all the good – and even the bad – times that made 2016 a year to remember.

Okay, so let’s take a look at the bad news first (sort of a glass half-empty approach). No one can deny that 2016 was a year filled with poorly behaved politicians, which peaked with the presidential election and, unfortunately, terrorist attacks. One such moment was a bombing that took place in Belgium. On March 22nd, thirty-two civilians were killed by an Islamic terrorist group when a bomb went off in the Maalbeek Metro Station in central Brussels. The same terrorist group that planned and carried out the Paris attack in 2015 took credit for the attack. Let’s hope 2017 is a quiet year for this type of terror.
In politics this year, there was significant turmoil around the world. On June 24th, Britain left the European Union (EU) in what came to be known as Brexit. This decision by the British people led to an uproar around the world. Brexit means that there will no longer be free trade between the United Kingdom and other countries in the EU as well as some other key consequences such as the pound decreasing in value.

Of course, the U.S. was no stranger to political turmoil in 2016 as the nation, on November 8th, elected Donald Trump as the 45th President. Trump’s election brought considerable controversy to a nation that is looking more and more divided by the day as a number of Americans are worried about their safety under his administration.

As is the case every year, the world lost many legendary people including David Bowie, who died on January 10th; Alan Rickman, who died on January 14th; Prince, who died on April 26th; and Muhammad Ali, who died on June 3rd, On a brighter note, 2016 has been a great year for pop culture. Some highlights included the first-ever Oscar win for renowned actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who won for his powerful work in The Revenant.

On July 6th, Pokémon Go was released and took the world by storm. A whopping 100 million people downloaded the game by August, and 500 million people downloaded the game by September. Everywhere you go, you can find people walking around, trying to find Pokémon.
Also this year, Rio De Janeiro hosted the 29th Olympic Games from August 5th to August 21th. The U.S. won 121 medals, 46 of them gold. The Olympics is always an exciting time for everyone to come together for healthy competition – I know that I was glued to my TV during those two-and-a-half weeks. Overall, 2016 was a very interesting year. Let’s hope that 2017 will bring some high notes and better times.