12/03/2017

My experience of freelancing for a year
 
After a year of freelancing I can say that the whole status of course has advantages and disadvantages. If anyone is considering becoming a freelancer, here is my experience.



Things I loved

I loved my work in high season  -for me that was February, March and April. A lot of work, diversity, cool projects, great coworkers. I missed a feeling of belonging to a team and hanging out in an office (yes, I could do coworking, but it didn’t make sense at the time since I wasn’t in the office much). In the summer I worked on a project for 4 months and it felt good since I knew that I will be able to pay the bills. 

Overall freelancing was an okay experience, having “normirani s.p.” (relevant for Slovenia) is extremely easy. You send the bill, no accounting needed, once a month you pay your social taxes and it takes 5 min of your time. It was also great to have a walk on Roznik hill during the day and enjoy the sun in the morning. I loved the flexiblity and feeling of freedom - no need to be somewhere 8 hours per day, every day, in the same place with the same people. I also went to Portugal, where we surfed + worked abroad, so it was really cool to change the office for 10 days and I didn’t have to use my vacation days. I also traveled a lot and attended many educational events - for sure more than 20 days in a year, I think I came closer to 40 days abroad.

Things that sucked

Slovenian freelancing system does not have any security at all. If you get sick, you still need to pay your social taxes and nobody cares about that. In January, I was sick for 3 weeks so you can imagine that I spent more for taxes than I earned. In the summer I went on vacations and obviously, you are not paid in that time. It’s pretty hard to go somewhere for a month - you can lose the clients and you still have to pay taxes (amount with subvention for the first two years in Slovenia is 240 EUR + tax (depends on your income, around 80 eur a month, so all together around 300 - 400 EUR.

I would survive the issue with sick leave and holidays, if my clients would pay the bills on time. They didn’t because in Slovenia we don’t have any security about that as well - the only thing you can do is to go to court and it can take a very long time that you actually get the money or you can hire a company that deals with this and you pay them around 25 % of your bill, which is quite a lot. I worked a lot with ngos, that finance from state sources and I had to wait 2,3 months to get paid and I had to write 10 pages of a report for everything I did - so annoying. I also wrote some articles - horrible experience, I wrote the article in February and got paid in May. And in the end the most bitter experience of all came - when I finished my 4 month project in August, my client didn’t pay my last bill for 2 months. I was so angry and it was draining my energy - with every email reminder about the unpaid bill I felt like crap.

Would I repeat it?

At the moment I am employed for a full time. It’s great because I love the work I do,I have great coworkers and really cool bosses with very modern mentality. They also honestly care about people and make you feel valued, respected and welcome. Of course it’s much less flexible but I’m fine with that for now. And in 10 years? I think I see myself somewhere in between - I want to be a part of the team but at the same time I’d love more freedom and flexibility.
WHY PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS NEWSLETTER

Everyone wants to be happy, right? But it’s far away from easy. I believe being happy is about hard work and lowering your expectations. What is happiness anyway? For me, inner peace, balance and satisfaction with areas of my life I find important. My relationship with Jost, my friends, my family, time for myself, hobbies, sports, health, inner peace, career, personal growth, travelling … That is A LOT of areas I find important and stress in only one area affects all the other areas in your life in a negative way. And luckily, the opposite - a great relationship can also affect your career, relationship with your friends and everything else in a positive sense. I designed Pursuit of happiness newsletter with a few general topics I would like to more or less stick to in every newsletter (let’s hope there will be more than one, haha, I promise nothing) and they will give you an idea about what I’ll be writing. Why a newsletter anyway? Simply because I post way too many things on Facebook and I don’t want my friends mocking me about it anymore. :)



To give you an idea if you want this in your inbox once a month, main newsletter topics:

  • Personal deep shit will be about sth intimate or sth I think about a lot,
  • Fly, birdie, fly will be about personal growth and how can you become a better version of yourself,
  • Wanderlust uber alles will be about travelling tips, ideas, experiences etc,
  • Good deeds, good karma will invite you to do sth good for the society, simply because it’s nice,
  • Oldies goldies will present a reflection on one of my older blog posts,
  • Articles worth reading twice will gather cool articles I find important enough that they make me press share on Facebook
Events worth attending will be a list of interesting events I recommend (and I’m  most likely attending except if I don’t have time), relevant for Slovenia, mostly Ljubljana.

3/07/2017

Pogajanja: se znamo z delodajalcem pogajati za našo plačo?

Ste kdaj razmišljali, kako se pogajate z delodajalci? Kako se pripravite na pogovor, ki je večini precej neprijeten in stresen? Moja zadnja pogajalska izkušnja je bila precej dobra - dober izid pa je predvsem posledica obsežne in dobre priprave. Kako sem se torej pripravila na pogovor, kakšen je bil izid in kateri dejavniki so vplivali na izid pogovora?



Ko sem se pripravljala na podaljšanje pogodbe pri prejšnjem delodajalcu, sem se začela zavedati, kako pomemben bo ta pogovor - ne nazadnje se naš življenjski stil lahko precej razlikuje, če imamo nekaj sto eur večjo ali manjšo plačo, kajne?

Skok v svet pogajanj

S pripravami sem začela približno dva tedna pred sestankom. Podcasti o pogajanjih, video posnetki na Youtubu, blogi, članki ipd. Nekaj prijateljev, ki vodijo podjetja, sem vprašala, kaj oni pričakujejo od zaposlenih in kako izgledajo dobre in slabe prakse pogajanj. Pozanimala sem se o višini plač svojih sodelavcev in ljudi, ki delajo na tem področju (Glassdoor) in se spoznala s statistiko povprečnih plač v Sloveniji - za občutek.

Pogled z druge strani

Nato sem stopila v čevlje svojih šefov. Kaj oni razmišljajo? Kaj želijo slišati in kaj jih ne zanima? Kaj bi jaz hotela slišati, če bi imela podjetje in zaposlene?

Prilagoditev posamezniku

Strategijo moraš seveda prilagoditi posamezniku - vedela sem, da je ključno, da pri svojih šefih jaz prevzamem vajeti pogovora. Če jaz vodim pogovor, jih lahko pripeljem do točke, kjer jim skoraj ne preostane drugega kot to, da se z mano strinjajo. Če ne bom prevzela vajeti pogovora, pa me bodo oni peljali v svojo smer in meni ne bo preostalo drugega, kot da se strinjam z njimi - to je bila moja predpostavka glede na predhodnje interakcije.

Zapis celotnega pogovora

Da sem lahko vodila pogovor, sem morala imeti seveda precej za povedati, saj tak pogovor običajno poteka vsaj pol ure, pri meni je trajal več kot eno uro. Doma sem si zamislila strukturo pogovora, nato pa za vsako točko napisala vsebino.

Kakšno vrednost prinašam podjetju?

Potem pa na neki točki prideš do plače in imaš v glavi neko številko. Od kolega sem dobila dober nasvet - razmisli, kaj je za to številko, kakšno vrednost prinašaš podjetju. In če te podjetje preseneti z njihovim predlogom, jim postavi ogledalo: kako so oni prišli do te številke?

Je res pomembna samo plača?

Ne, nikakor. Vsebina dela, strast, sodelavci, delovno okolje, priložnost za rast, izobraževanja, vse to je najbolj pomembno. Ko ti je okolje približno ok in se odločiš, da boš ostal, pa je pomemben tudi dogovor o plači.

Kako sem se torej spogajala za 30 % višjo plačo?

Eden od dejavnikov uspeha in del dobre priprave na pogajanja je zagotovo to, da vemo, kaj hočemo in imamo v glavi konkretne številke, ki jih znamo argumentirati.

Pri pogajanjih za višino plače je zelo uporabno, če si zamislimo tri ključe številke:
  • Idealna plača (plača, s katero bi bili zelo zadovoljni in ob misli na to dobimo nasmešek na obraz, hkrati pa vemo, da je potencialno dosegljiva in z željami ne pretiravamo)
  • Sprejemljiva plača (plača, s katero smo zadovoljni, nismo pa zelo zadovoljni, ampak nam je dogovor ok)
  • Najnižja sprejemljiva plača (kaj je minimalni znesek, za katerega smo pripravljeni ostati v podjetju/ začeti z delom v podjetju? Pod kaj zares ne gremo?)

Če se sprašujete ...

Kakšna točno je bila vsebina mojega pogovora?
Katere številke so predstavljale mojo idelano, sprejemljivo in najnižjo sprejemljivo plačo?
Kakšen je bil moj mindset na pogovoru?
Kako sem na pogovor prišla samozavestna in sproščena?
Kaj vse sem se o pogajanjih z delodajalcem naučila s pomočjo podcastov, videov, člankov?

 ... ste vabljeni na delavnico Dober deal ob podpisu/podaljšanju pogodbe za delo, na kateri bomo odgovorili na vsa ta vprašanja, naredili kar nekaj vaj za izboljšanje naših pogajalskih sposobnosti in se odlično pripravili na pogajanja v življenju. Se vidimo v sredo, 15. marca med 17. in 21. uro? Mesta na delavnici se hitro polnijo, prijavite se tukaj.




Izid pogajanj in pogovora

Ob pogajanjih seveda skomuniciramo idealno plačo, ali pa še nekoliko višjo številko - podjetju je večinoma v interesu, da prihrani čim več denarja in od šefov lahko pričakujemo, da nam bodo predlagano plačo poskusili znižati.

Moj izid? Nekje med idealno in sprejemljivo plačo. Bila sem zadovoljna, predvsem s svojo odločitvijo, da v pripravo na pogovor vložim veliko časa - hkrati pa nisem mogla verjeti, kako zelo nepripravljena sem prišla na vse pretekle pogovore glede plače.

2/24/2017

Lifestyle changes after burnout: on my way from busy to balanced

Be productive! Be effective! Work hard! Do 1001 things in a day! Create a startup, build a house, have children, volounteer, create an ngo, take care of your family, nurture relationships with your friends, be social, be fun, be loving, be patient, be responsible, be adventorous, be everything.

We live in a fucked up world. We've come to a place where we schedule coffees two weeks in advance and where we can't have a beer with our friends before 7 pm, since it became normal that we work late every day. Party on Friday in unimaginable - we're all way to tired for it. Do you know what I'm talking about? And the worse of all - in the end we don't have the time or energy to have sex. Who has the time to have sex, right? Say whaaat?!?

I'm glad to see that the trend is changing, since I recently noticed some articles that already expose the sick culture of being busy. We're finally getting that being busy isn't a cool thing.
"Tell me you remember you are still a human being, not just a human doing. " is a quote I like from this article. Another one nails it with the title already: Busy is the new stupid.





Since I had a major burnout in November, I've made some serious changes in my lifestyle. Worse things I experienced with burnout:
  • I could not stand up to go on a toilet on my own,  I was lying on the couch and Jošt had to pick me up,
  • I walked slowlier than a 90-year old person would: I needed 90 minutes to reach a destination I'd usually reach in 20 minutes,
  • I had major chest pain everytime I experienced stress - even the smallest stressful situation made my chest felt like it's burning,
  • Once my chest pain was so strong that I felt like I'm having a heart attack (later I learned it was a panic attack).
I never imagined that my body can loose all it's phisical strenght due to very high amouts of stress, long work hours etc. I'm sharing my experience so that you can maybe use this strategies to prevent burnout, before it even happens. And note: the fact that you have trouble sleeping is one of the first signs that sth is not okay.

Two important questions I got that inspired me to change:

1. Describe me your lifestyle, asked me ajurvedic doctor on my antistress therapy in Sri lanka in December. I was like: what kind of question is that? But then I kind of said the only word that came to my mind at the moment: busy.

2. Do you take rest? asked me another doctor, that is leading a group therapy for people that have experienced mobbing. I was looking at her and I said: what do you mean by taking rest? I do sleep, right? She smiled and said: do you take rest during the day? We both knew what my answer was.

So, I decided that I want to come to the point, where I answer the question about my lifestyle with the word balanced. And for that, I obviously need to rest more. For some of you that are already taking it easy some of the things I will write may sound completely crazy. For all busy bees - I'm sure you'll be able to relate.

My small steps towards balanced lifestyle:

1. I have empty spaces in my calendar. For the past few years, I didn't have empty spaces in my calendar, at least not during the week. Every afternoon and evening, I did something: hobbies, sports, educational events, meetings, work groups, hanging out with my friends. Although those things are very enjoyable, they require some energy. And even if I as an complete extrovert gain energy from people, it was exhausting. 

2. I am my priority and I listen to my body. Not my work, my friends, my ngos - it's all about me and my energy. When I'm tired, I rest. When I feel like going out on a walk, I go out and take a walk. When I feel sleepy, I sleep. We often do things even if we're tired. I remember going to a late meeting, even though I felt dizzy from the day I had. I never said no to a beer - I mean, that's fun, right? I had to attend all the events I was interested in - othervise I would miss out, you know ... and of course, I had to finish all my work and I stayed longer, if it was needed - it was my responsibility, right?

3. I'm late with some deadlines. For the past few years, I tried to be as professonal as possible with everything I did. I was (almost) always very efficient, organized, productive, proactive. I followed deadlines and often I did more than I was asked. Now, being professional isn't the most important priority anymore. Since I am the priority, I prefer to miss a deadline, if I feel tired. I still feel very guilty, if I take time for myself instead of finishing some work, but I know it's for the best. And you know what I realized? That in most situations, other people are late with deadlines too and the only person worried and feeling very bad about it is me.

4. I do a lot of sports. I grew up in an extremly sporty family, where sport is basically no. 1 value. As a high school student I wanted to show my parents that I'm not following their path and I didn't do that much sports anymore, also during my studies every meeting, educational event, work I had, coffee with a friend, everything was more important than sports. I still mostly did some sports 2 times a week but I find that a bare minimum, since for my family doing sport every day was sth normal. Now, I do a lot of sports and I'm becoming addicted to get sweaty once a day, so I'm at 5-6 times a week at the moment. And it feels great and so natural - I mean, we have 24 hours a day, how could I not take 1 hour to do some sports? Even a walk to the city centre can work and everyone can move for 30 minutes a day - if we want to and if we make it our priority. 

5. I work for myself. I think it's very hard to have a usual 9-5 job (ok, let's be honest, it's mostly 8-6) and give yourself that much care and love. That's why I hope I can maintain what I have at the moment, since it's working out really great. I work less - on one hand, because I simply can't work for 8 hours yet (my doctor said it will take next 6 months to get back to "normal" again) and on the other hand - I don't want to. Who decided that we have to work 8 hours a day? It's a total nonsense. I think I work 4-6 hours a day. I take breaks, I do walks, sports inbetween. And don't get me wrong - I love working and I only do the things I love doing. Still, I don't find it healthy to sit behind the computer for 10 hours a day. So much sitting! So much typing! I need the sun, the air, the trees ...

6. I expect less from myself. I think that with a combination of a society pressure and our own beliefs, we create a deadly high expectations from ourselves: the list of all the things I should do in 2017. WTF? I believe in setting goals, but now I also believe in downsizing them, at least in terms of our achievements. I don't mean that you have to become a person with no ambitions. I will always stay ambitious - maybe I can just imagine and that I will not start an ngo, startup company, finish my master thesis, create an online movement, read 469 books, attend 16 educational programms - all in one year.

Life isn't going anywhere and it's very hard to be a part of it, when you get sick. So, if I want to take care of others, our society, I first need to take care of myself. It sounds extremely stupid now that I'm writing it and it's so simple - but I guess to had to experience sth really bad to really get it.

There is still a lot of work to be done and I'm working on changing my attitude towards work, managing time etc. But so far, I'm satisfied with the recent changes I've made. And I really hope they are not only temporary - I still need to get over the feeling of guilt for being less productive, feeling of losing time since I haven't launched xy project yet even though it's a great idea etc. But at the moment, I wouldn't describe my lifestyle as busy anymore. I wouldn't describe it as balanced either, but I'm going there or at least I'm going somewhere away from busy.


1/30/2017

Bizarosvet uporništva: kako se kaznuje kritično in kreativno mišljenje v osnovnih in srednjih šolah

V osnovni šoli sem bila bolj ali manj piflarka. Pač, odlična, čeprav vseeno malo problematična v smislu vedenja. Nisem imela vsega 5, največ problemov pa sem imela zaradi predmetov, ocenjevanih z MU, U, ZU. V srednji šoli sem bila za gimnazijo Vič čudovito povprečna prav dobra, z nekaj "vedenjskimi težavami".

Ko gledam za nazaj, sem ponosna na svoja dejanja, zaradi katerih so starši nekajkrat prišli v šolo. Takrat tega nisem razumela, razumela pa me ni niti okolica - starši so hodili v šolo, učiteljem sem se morala večkrat opravičiti. Z vsem, kar sem počela, sem zagovarjala svoje vrednote, izražala mnenje, se borila za svoj prav.

Ne bom se poročila 

V četrtem razredu OŠ smo imeli kolesarski tabor v Cerknici. En večer so si učitelji športne vzgoje zamislili poroke, izbirali so sošolci. Izbral me je sošolec, ki mi res ni bil všeč. Imeli smo dve izbiri: ali se poljubiš ali pa spiješ zvarek. Takoj, ko sva bila na vrsti za poroko, sem spila zvarek (mislim da olje, kis, sol ipd.). Nato pa je on vseeno rekel, da se hoče poljubiti. Kakšen nateg, sem si mislila. Pa res ni mi bil všeč. In potem sem pobegnila iz tistega lesenega jurčka nekam v gozd, nekaj sošolcev pa za mano. Cel žur.

Vislice pri tehniki

Pouk tehnike v osnovni šoli. Kot oseba, ki ji natačnost, preciznost in rutina ne leži, mi je šlo kotiranje seveda na bruhanje, prav tako pa nisem videla nobenega smisla v tem. V 7. razredu smo dobili priložnost, da nekaj izdelamo iz lesa. Večina sošolcev je naredila stojala za CD-je. Jaz sem izrezala dve človeški figurici in vislice. Prva oseba je bil takrat aktualni George Bush, druga pa učiteljica zgodovine. Odziv: panika. Urša je nasilna in se čudno izraža. Mami, oči, hitro v šolo. Ker sem pri tehniki dobila MU in nisem hotela "popraviti" svojega groznega izdelka, sem se mogla učitelju opravičiti. Namreč, če si imel nekaj zaključeno MU, nisi mogel biti odličen. Mislim, da mi je s težkim srcem dal U, za kazen pa sem mogla dodatno kotirati.

Ženska s kosmatimi nogami

Pouk likovne je bil na OŠ Valentina Vodnika res nekaj posebnega. Učenci so risali v stilu, ki je ustrezal učiteljici, med poslušanjem ene in iste skladbe (Vivaldi, 4 letni časi), ZU so dobivale samo učenke, ki so kasneje pristale na ALUO. Enkrat proti koncu OŠ smo delali kipe iz gline. Naredila sem žensko, ki leži na brisači. Da bi stvar dobila pomen oziroma družbeno sporočilo, sem dodala debele kocine, ki sem jih nalepila na noge. Odziv: groza, norčevanje iz umetnosti, nespoštovanje učiteljice, sedi, MU.

Saj bo imela itak 5

Pri pouku zgodovine sta bila v 6. razredu vprašana dva sošolca, ki sta bila po šolskem uspehu pri najmanj in najbolj uspešnem v razredu. Njuno znanje se na presenečenje profesorice ni preveč razlikovalo, oba sta znala nekje za 3. Profesorica je nato dodelila ocene: "problematični" sošolec je bil 3, "piflarka" sošolka je dobila 5. Debelo sem pogledala in se začela pregovarjati s profesorico. Ne spomnim se točno, kaj mi je rekla, večina razreda je že odšla ven. Spomnim pa se, da mi je rekla: "Itak bo imela "piflarka" na koncu oceno 5". V šoku sem rekla, da se mi to ne zdi fer in še jaz zapustila učilnico.


Ojoj, neurejen zvezek

V srednji šoli smo imeli res neverjetno slab pouk angleščine in profesorico, nad katero se je pritožilo več generacij učencev, vendar je ob prihodu komisije profesorica izvedla dobro uro pouka in vse je bilo enako še naprej. Enkrat je začela težiti glede mojega zvezka, ki je bil precej porisan (od dolgčasa), platnice so razpadale ipd. Skratka, nepomembno, še posebej za znanje angleščine. Skregali sva se, moj oči je prišel v šolo, bila sva pri ravnateljici, ki je rekla, da sicer ve, da je profesorica problematična, ampak, da zahteva opravičilo, sicer lahko dobim ukor. Mislim, da sem se opravičila.

To je le nekaj zgodb, ki vse nosijo isto sporočilo: če ne boš priden in poslušen, boš dobil po prstih. Spoštuj avtoriteto, sicer se ti bo slabo godilo. Tudi moj oči je bil izjemno problematičen mulc in njegove zgodbe so me kot otroka vedno zabavale. Enkrat se je odločil, da bo imel vse predmete v OŠ zaključene z zadostno, dve, iz fore. Težavo je imel pri gospodinjstvu, kjer se je učiteljica odločala med 3 in 4. Ko je rekel, da bi imel rad zaključeno 2, je seveda čisto znorela. Na faksu se je zresnil in imel predvsem 10ke.

Dragim profesorjem, učiteljem, izobraževalcem

Na srečo sem v otroštvu prebrala celo knjižnico, med mojimi najljubšimi knjigami pa so bile Mala pošast Mici, Ronja, razbojniška hči, Harry Potter. Vsem je skupno to, da so junaki malce nagajivi, ampak s tem nikoli ne mislijo slabega, zadaj se skriva dobro srce. Dobre knjige sem brala, knjige so kalile mojo domišljijo, predvsem pa so oblikovale tudi moje vrednote: kdo je zate junak? Kaj je uspeh? Kaj je prav, kaj je narobe?


Dragi šolski sistem, verjamem, da se je v teh letih marsikaj spremenilo, 20 let je minilo, odkar sem prvič prestopila vrata OŠ, pred 10 leti sem zaključila gimnacijo. Mislim, da lahko, če malo posplošim, povem to: osebe, ki so se v šoli za kaj borile, ki so izražale mnenja, ki so se postavile zase - tem ljudem gre tudi v odraslem življenju precej dobro. In če kdo naredi politika na vislicah ali žensko s kosmatimi nogami, ga morda lahko karierno usmerite v debatne krožke, družboslovje, politologijo, sociologijo, filozofijo. Ocena MU nosi sama napačna sporočila.

1/29/2017

Perks of travelling the world

(Almost) everyone loves travelling, at least people I know. Exploring new places, eating new food, meeting new people, discovering new cultures, trying out new things. Exciting. Most of us really enjoy the escapism of travelling, go somewhere, forget about our current problems, relax, deal with stress, recharge, sleep, reflect, set some goals, get some ideas, deepen your connections with other people around you.

I often went somewhere, because I saw a preety picture and I said: OMG!! I'm so going there. But then it wasn't about the picture. Now I remember the experiences, people, nature and most of all, I remember the feeling that one place gave me.

I experienced quite some crazy things so far, mostly with Jošt. We were crawling in mines in Bolivia at 4300 m, hardly breating. We road the bike on the most dangerous road on the world, from snovy mountains at 4000 m to th jungle at 700 m. We spent countless hours on shitty indonesian busses, changing tyres, pushing the bus, sitting with chickens etc. We saw orangutans on Sumatra and slept in the jungle on the floor. We discovered a paradise near Sumatra at Tailana island and I cried when we left. We dropped on a wedding on Lombok, Indonesia. We swam with 10 meter long whale shark on Philippines. We were riding a motorbike in Philippines (3 people on one bike), driving 100 kph without helmets. We were scared of dying on the boat ride from Flores to Lombok - the ocean was super rough at night. In Indonesia, we saw mantas while snorkeling and in Malaysia, we saw small sharks and turtles. In Sri lanka, we saw a python crossing a road just in front of our eyes. We tried chewing coca in Peru. I also lived with vietnamese family in Hanoi, saw icebergs in Iceland, talked about sex with girls in Azerbaijan etc. And of course, we met a bunch of really interesting people on the way, ate the best food in our life, connected on a whole other level, talked for 20 hours in a raw and I could go on. It's been 11 years since I first went outside Europe (Cuba, 2006) and my travel list is still very long.

But ... travelling was not about all those experiences.

I see travelling as a school of life. It made me more aware of our planet, nature, beauty and power of earth. We're so small, when we see ourselves and the ocean, mountains, amazon forest. Travelling makes me feel alive and at the same time ashame, since I come from a place where I have everything.

Travelling makes me feel. Travelling makes me feel like a global resident. Travelling makes me appreciate things I already have in my life, since I have so much more than most of the people.
Travelling makes me rethink capitalism. People in southeast Asia are mostly much happier than people in Slovenia or Europe. They work much less and spend more time with their friends, family. Some of them don't know the word stress. I'd say that is preety healthy attitude towards life.

So, the last time I was flying home from Asia, I was wondering: how can I create life, that brings out the best from both western and eastern culture? Can I even live in western world and apply eastern principles? Can I live in eastern world and apply western principles?

In the light of recent events (Trump, Brexit, fear of muslim etc), most importantly, travelling makes me understand other cultures. I have muslim friends. Some of the most friendly people I've met in my life were muslim. They seem way more openminded than most christians I know. Maybe it's not easy to have this kind of attitude, if you haven't met them. So go, if you can. Go, travel. Don't go to Europe, don't go to US or Australia. Go to countries with a truly different culture, different religion. And observe, how much will you change your world views, your empathy, your love towards all people that live on earth.

I'm sure some of you might be thinking - right, Urša, I don't know where you got the money, but it's not so cheap to go to Asia. My answer would be: it's all about priorities. My priority is travelling. I spend everything I have for it (ok, and education). I have a smartphone for 70 eur and it works. My laptop is not Apple and it's great. I don't buy clothes that often. If you own iphone6 and an Apple computer, that probably cost you 2000 eur. The cheapest trip we ever had cost us 1000 eur all together for one month - Sumatra and Bali, Indonesia, including plane ticket. You can travel cheap if you want to.

I can't wait to go on a bus, train, plane again. Currently I really need to escape and travelling can give me exactly what I need - change of environment, recharge, stressless lifestlye, books, conversations, sports, time to think, sleep a lot, eat good food and have fun. So, where are you going next?