Coast to Coast USA - Day 4

hellooo! It's time for another part of my coast to coast posts! (That totally rhymed, wow).

First a typical picture of an american hotel breakfast, bagels (yummy), scrambled eggs, a donut (because USA duuuh) and some fruit to make the breakfast a little healthier. // Then we rode the bus back into NYC

First off we visited the 9/11 memorial which was really beautiful and touching. // A picture from a cemetery near the 9/11 memorial, don't know the name of it, but if you do please let me know.

Then we went on the ferry tour of The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Since I had already visited the Statue of Liberty it wasn't a big deal for me but Ellis Island had the best museum ever!!! For a history nerd like me it was heaven.

After that we got some dinner at Schnipper's, which is where I ate the best burger I've ever had!! Then a few of us quickly got some frozen yoghurt from across the street.

 

To top the evening off I got to see a real broadway musical! The seats were so high up I was physically afraid to fall down and there was this big russian dude in front of me so I couldn't see all that well but it was stil such an amazing experience to see Aladdin in the New Amsterdam Theatre.

This was a great day!

Love, Filippa

Mondays, migraines, self-reflection

the Atlantic Ocean // Gulf of Bothnia // First time in the Pacific Ocean

Last night I couldn't find sleep at all. Nights like those are the ones where I have my bursts of
inspiration and think of great ideas for videos, blog posts, life etc. But of course I eventually fall asleep and forget all about my ideas.

No sleep + stress = migraine. At least for me, that's when my body says I need to take a chill pill and relax. But what you really want to do is power through, especially when there's only four weeks left until summer vacation. But it was definitely necessary for me to stay home today, I would've only gotten worse if I would have gone to school and stressed even more. I still have a throbbing in the head, but I think I'll get lots of assignments done today so being home is actually great for my stress, since I'll have loads off my back.

When I couldn't sleep last night there wasn't only ideas sweeping through my brain but also a lot of self-reflection. Since I overthink everything in my life, I self-reflect automatically quite a lot. And here are a few things I need to work on:

• Be more social. I came to think about that time last summer when I actually started a conversation. On a bus. With a complete stranger. In Finland (!!!!!??). Only people who want to seem crazy/drunk do that. But since I was neither, we actually had a pleasant conversation and I have had no further contact with this person but I still don't regret it in the slightest. I need to do more of this, you never know who you might meet and end up friends with. 

• Write better blogposts. I was reading this Swedish blog yesterday and I was amazed. The texts were funny, sooo well-written and I wanted to read more and more, even though there weren't any pictures and usually I hate blogs that don't have pictures accompanying the text. But I came to the realisation that my blog will probably never be as well written as her blog was. Since she was a 30-year-old journalist that wrote in her mother tongue. It is actually harder to write in English than you would think, not that I can't get what I want to be said, said but I just can't make the blogposts flow together and look as nice as I can when I write in Swedish.

• Put more effort into the things I want to succeed with. I want to write a great blog and I want to make amazing youtube videos, I want to have enough time to eat healthy and exercise, I want to get good grades in school and learn a lot, I want to have a fun social life and not loose any friends, I want to be a great pianist and I want to be able to relax and not put too much pressure on myself. But juggling all these factors is really difficult. I just can't succeed at everything and I'll need to prioritise what I deem more important.

Props to anyone who actually read this whole monstrosity. I challenge all of you to self-reflect on what you should put more time and effort into and how you can better yourself and your life. You definitely don't need to write this for the internet to see (unless you want to) there are some things that are better left private.

Love, Filippa

Another year has passed and what have I learned?

A couple of photos from last week.

I was looking through my old pictures from last year's april-may and I felt so weird. Thinking back on my life a year ago, is neither pleasant nor difficult. It just is. A year ago my life was nothing like it is today, nothing is the same. But at the same time nothing has changed. 

Hindsight is 20/20. A saying that describes what's going on in my mind perfectly. I often imagine going back in time (in my own life) and changing everything. But I guess it's so easy to say that now  when I know what the right decision is, but I made the decision to the best of my ability at the time and that has to be enough.

But if I did go back and change my life nothing would be the same, not anybody around me, I wouldn't be the same person, even the world wouldn't look the same. And there are loads of things that I would never ever want to change. 

Life is what you make it. 

Hope you are well.

Love, Filippa