JANUARY 2002: I'm lying on the sofa in the living room. My mum is cooking dinner. Suddenly I know which high school I want to go to and what major I want to choose. Aha – this is what it feels like to make decisions for yourself.

JANUARY 2002: I celebrate my fiftieth birthday with a large party for family and friends at the Unity Freemason's Lodge.

FEBRUARY 2002: I walk along the streets of Lucerne again by myself for the first time. It is an indescribable feeling to be able to walk under your own steam. I think: why is nobody applauding me?

MAY 2002: I have sex for the first time with Charlie. It is terrible. I have no idea what to do and become really scared that she is pregnant. I'm also scared that her brother and my friend Daniel will find out.

JUNE 2002: We're in Turkey with my sisters, my mum and her friend Allison. I have a massive crush on Morgan, the eldest of her four children. All nine of us eat together and spend most of the evenings together. One evening, Morgan and I find an excuse to leave everyone and find a quiet spot where we talk and then begin to kiss. We spend most of the night talking and kissing under the stars before her mum angrily finds us, having had no idea where she had been.

JUNE 2002: I buy a pregnancy test and check the time. It is midday. Manuel must be arriving in Bangalore now.

JULY 2002: I am admitted to a Bachelor program in a school I consider to be the best in the country. I move to Barcelona.

AUGUST 2002: I hear the squeal of brakes and an alarm signal. My car is turning. I see a pavement full of people, a concrete pillar and think: "That’s the last thing you’re ever going to see." My car comes to a stop. The tram that hit my car dented the passenger door in so far, that the metal frame was about to drill into my elbow. One small scratch, that’s all. The car is a heap of scrap metal.

SEPTEMBER 2002: I arrive at the Western station: a year in Vienna awaits, I am thrilled with anticipation. The time of my life is beginning.

OCTOBER 2002: Benni takes away my pointy hat and fills it with Autumn leaves. I am angry and tell him off for so long that he empties the cap and hands it back, irritated. I feel strong. I won't let anyone tease me.

DECEMBER 2002: I go away for New Year with my future husband. Everything is still awkward and new. We have no idea that it will become serious.