Upstate New York

We hiked, drove and even flew in an air balloon above upstate New York during the last couple of weeks. New York state has so much more to offer than just its city, which, by the way, we will be visiting later this year instead of now.

I found New York state incredibly green, full of lakes, forests and peace. While you are upstate, you cannot even imagine that this state has such a busy life somewhere in its south. The towns that we passed looked just like the ones in the northwest, except maybe a little bit fancier and some of them have a strong industrial history, such as Rochester.

While soaking in the end of the summer, I have started noticing misty chilly mornings and the same question kept reappearing again and again in all the conversations: WHAT'S NEXT? Every time I face this question, multiple different emotions flush over me.

Let's begin with the concept of planning. We have given up detailed planing when we started traveling, which felt useless after most of the things we had planned did not work out well. Most people should have experienced something similar when the pandemic hit.

Second comes the belief that what I am doing now is somehow not enough to live life fully. In a way, I feel like the graduation is coming and in need to have a plan after the graduation. It bothers me that living life a little bit off the beaten path means that the way of life should end and you have to act normal again.

Finally, the question is asking me to predict the future, which is nearly impossible. I think the right question should be: what would you LIKE to do next? In that case, I have foggy cloud over my head with all the things I wish, but have no idea how they are going to work out. For Lukas personally, life probably will not change that much. The time we now spend traveling, he will use for other hobbies instead that have been sacrificed, such as the guitar and the gym.

For me life will change completely again. The main change will be a new job, which will be influenced by the decision where we live. Also, I do not know what will be a substitute for the feeling of constant movement. Maybe work? It excites me to live when I do not know.