Hello Ramadhan

Hi everyone!
Just started my first week of semester 6 and everything went well ( so far ). Despite having a lab until 10 pm every Thursday and most probably I need to 'berbuka' in the lab this year and having 3 exams right after Raya soon, I'm still thankful. May Allah bless me! My memories in Seoul is still lingering inside my brain and I just cannot help to talk about Seoul to almost everyone in my college! I just love the trip. 
(P/S: Current fav drama - Lucky Romance! Thanks to RJY ahjusshi!)
So back to my main topic!

Every year, I see Ramadan as a month of new beginnings. It's the month of forgiveness, hence making it the perfect time to start over - being a better person, being a better daughter, sister, friend, everything. It's the month to forgive, and be forgiven. Ramadan is the month of change, changing to be better. What sometimes we fail to remember, is that whatever Allah SWT asks us to do, it is only for our benefit. Allah has given us guidelines to follow, and if we follow it, we get rewarded immensely ; and Jannah is the best reward ever. And if we don't follow the guidelines, we lose ourselves in this dunya and get something else in the hereafter (Jahannam, of course). The point I'm trying to get at is, it's never too late to follow these guidelines. If you only pray once or twice a day, now's the time to kick it up a notch and pray 3 or 4, and slowly but eventually, 5. Changing yourself for the better, doesn't have to be drastic. Allah loves those who are consistently trying to better themselves. Take baby steps and it's these little things that we change in our habits that will help us gain closeness to Allah SWT. The only thing now is that you have to want it whole-heartedly. Not for the sake of you want to show off or what! Ikhlas is important! You have to want to change, you have to have the intention, and Allah will make it easy for you. Allah will not guide those who don't want to be guided. 
Ramadan is a huge blessing to us all, whether we realise it or not. Every night Allah has people who he redeems from the fire. The first 10 days of Ramadan are days of Mercy, Allah will shower his mercy upon us. Sins will be decreased, and prayers will get answered. Allah will look at us competing in good deeds these first 10 days and will boast about us to His angels. The second 10 days are days of Forgiveness from Allah SWT, and the last third is when Allah SWT frees the believers from Jahannam. Allah is surely Ar-Rahman! So why don't you spare your love for Him too?
In this month, we are shielded from hell-fire, protected from the shayateen (satins), and cleansed from our sins. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever fasts during Ramadan out of sincere faith, hoping to attain Allah’s rewards, then all of his past sins will be forgiven.” (Bukhari).  In another hadith he ﷺ said: “When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained.” [Bukhari]
I'm determined to make this Ramadan better than all the other Ramadan's I've had. Because, reality check : I don't know if I'm still gonna be here for the next Ramadan. So really, I wanna treat this one like it's my last. I've made a list of things I want to do, and also a list of things that I want to refrain from doing. I hope everything will go well as I planned! 
Salam Ramadhan Al Mubarak!  :)
xx