Gotta Hype This Life Up

Life too bland? Add some spices

Hi, Chynnerio here!

Have you ever had this feeling, when you move to a new place. You find everything so new, you spend days just wandering around. You find things that your old place don't have: That old gothic buildings, trains pass by every minute or so, the new shops that sell glorious things you have never thought of...

It was me, when I have just come to Germany.

Everything is new, from the street I walk on, the supermarkets that I wander day by day, pick up every products there because I have never seen them before, the buildings, the trees, the pigeons (Seriously before coming to Germany I don't have any ideas how pigeons look like), the trains, the trams, the people...

I spent almost everyday walking around the streets.

But weeks went by, then months, and I got used to the life here, I stopped noticing things.

The street from Uni back home, I can walk without even looking. The supermarkets I used to get fascinated by, now I just only wanted to buy things as quickly as possible to go home and study and work again. The trams, the trains, the subways that I was willing to sit for hours, imagining myself in movies I used to watch, because I thought sitting in subways are cool (or romantic, depends on which movies you watch), now I just hop on, close my eyes, listen to music, hoping time pass as quickly as possible.

Life stops fascinating me, I stop noticing things. Days passed by without me noticing at all.

The summer is nearly gone, and I haven't had a proper "summer holidays" for myself. I scared of going out, to travel, the one thing that I used to love when I first came to Germany. I feared I don't know what to do, where to sleep, whether the trip will be good, whether I will spend so much money, whether there will be rain, whether I will go back safely... I invents worse scenarios in my head, out of uncertainty.

So I postponed everything.

Until now, when I just realised there are only 2 weeks away before my semester starts, and everyone around me are talking about how their trip to Italy was, how they went back to Vietnam and enjoy the whole summer there, how they went hiking and camping on the Alpes...

That's the time, I decided to go, but go where, I don't know. I just know that I wanted to go out of Hamburg, and have a proper holidays before I was sucked into another routine of University.

And... after searching around for flight tickets, and accomodations, and what I want to do, I decided to go hiking in Bavaria, and had booked a 6-day accomodation in Salzburg, Austria.

What I want to do there? Hike

Where? In Bavaria and area near Salzburg.

Do you have any specific plans? No.

What if it rains? No idea!

What if you don't enjoy it? No idea!

What if... Stop! The answer for every question will be... I have no idea what I'm going to do there. I just know I want to hike, and will be in Salzburg. I will figure it out.

It sounds like I'm a horrible person for organising a trip, but... Well yes, kind of, but it's the point.

The point is,

**I don't know what to do next**

I have been so used to knowing what to do, I wake up, if I have work that day, I will go to work, then come back, eat, draw, read, watch some videos, then sleep...

Now, I don't know what next, and, once again, it fascinates me.

In 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think, Briana West has written "The one true sign that you're moving ahead with your life is that you don't know where you're going. If you know, you will be circling the same path again". For me right now, it's scary, and I'm half excited for the trip, half scared of what is going to happen, because I have never hiked alone before. But... Well, I have booked the accomodation/ There's no postpone anymore, because if I postpone, I will lose money (**Matter determines consciousness**), so I must go, and it forces me to step out of my comfort zone. With that, I hope after the trip, either it's a good or bad trip, I will learn something new, and look things with fresh eyes.

Your brain gets too comfortable in your everyday surroundings. You need to make it uncomfortable. You need to spend some time in another land, among people that do things differently than you. Travel makes the world look new, and when the world looks new, our brains work harder

— Austin Kleon Steal Like an Artist

But it doesn't need to be travelling

It can also be such things as watching a movie you've been hesitating to watch, reading a book that has sit on the shelf for so long, eating out in a restaurant that you have passed by day by day but haven't tried. If you prefer to have some outside activities, a day trip to a district in your city that you have never been to or just passed by would be fun... Anything, anything that got your interest at some point, but you haven't had time to do it, or had doubt whether you will like it or not. You may discover your new favourite things on the way, or pick up even a new routine. For me, I have saved a bunch of classic movies I want to watch, but have been hesitated whether I will like it. Until yesterday, I decided to pick random one and went with it, and it turned out, I like it a lot, I mean, SO MUCH!!! It's Run Lola Run by the way.

On my desk, there is a paper sticked on the wall with a large title "So now WHAT", listing everything I want to do one day. Then I will try to cross at least one thing weekly. A promise for myself to hype up my life.

Here is a weekly 5 Things To Share This Week!

1. This week I tried 2 new things! I made pesto by myself and Kimchi. Thanks to Timmy, I decided to try making things from scratch, and found out that it's not as hard as I thought, and so much more delicious! I think Kimchi, especially Kimchi, will be my weekly things to make! It's so easy, and so delicious aaaa!

2. A recommended hostel for youth in Salzburg is Yoho hostel, and I have booked it for my trip to there. I still have no ideas where to go, so, according to my friend, I should look on Tiktok, entering "Hike in Bavaria" and pick out places I want to go. I find it a supreme tips, as those videos on Tiktok are really well-made, they include how to get there, what to do, what to visit... It really makes me excited for my trip!

3. In Austin Kleon's this week's newsletter, I stumbled on this article How memorizing poetry can expand your life. Well, instead of memorising poem, I'm learning a new song every week. There is something magical about learning a poem, or a song. The message of the author starts woven into your thinking, in your way of making sense of the world.

4. Just a poster I made during a designing class at the university.

Will you vote for Capybara? 1. Yes 2. Hell yeahhhhhhh

5. Oktoberfest, all the stereotype of German wearing leather shorts and beers and everything when you think of a German, is here, until October. I didn't know it until when I wanted to book a hostel in München, the prices are all tripled, even quadrupled! Here is a video for a short information about this festival