Why Saying Yes in College Changes Everything // The Happiness Blueprint e015

Nikita and Sofia from BC CAB share how they find their way out of tough moments, why they pursue a happier campus, and what makes them happy outside of school!

0:00 Nikita and Sofia from BC CAB
2:14 Creating Niche Events on Campus
6:51 Getting Out of a Rut
13:16 Motivating Campus to be Happier
18:00 Advice for Past Self
22:35 What Makes Nikita Happy
25:27 What Makes Sofia Happy

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Happiness Blueprint, the podcast where we uncover how people build happier lives. Awesome. My name is Peter. I'm here with a happiness blueprint with Nokita and Sophia. Am I saying both of those correct? Yes. Yes. Beautiful friends. Thank you for joining us from Boston College, I believe. Yes. I'd like to first understand what are your roles on campus here. So I'll start with you. Yes. What is your role on campus? What are you involved in?

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Okay. My role, well, first of all, I'm a sophomore. So I'm also a transfer, so I just got there. So I don't have too much experience. Cool. But I in terms of cab, I am, I first started off as like a marketing overall marketing department. So I didn't really have somewhere like to call home, really, because there's a bunch of different departments at BC. Um but I didn't really have one. So I would like do like the social media. I would do like a couple of flyers here and there. But recently this semester, I wanted to join a department. So I joined TNE, which is trips and excursions. Okay. So right now we like divide ourselves into trips that we want to oversee and coordinate and market or advertise. Um so currently doing like a clay room. So this next week that's coming up, I'm gonna shop around Clayroom. Uh, make a flyer for it. And I think that's it for what I've been doing. We've got a lot going on. Beautiful, awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

What's your role in cab? Are you also in cab as well?

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Yes, the campus activities board at BC. Um, I'm an assistant director of marketing um for the campus engagement department. The campus engagement department focuses on doing um a lot of frequent and like smaller kind of events to just generally brighten people's day on campus. Um, yeah, and I've been the assistant director for two years for the marketing team. So I oversee like seven coordinators that support a little team. That's so fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

That's awesome. I think we like to look at the big events on campus, the stokes of it, which are great, but I think it's important to have these like small events that are more niche. And it sounds like that's more your expertise there, is working on the little niche ones. Uh, is there one that stands out in recent memory as like something that's a deep cut of like a super niche theme that somehow happened to work for you? What kind of events are you even working on?

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Oh, okay. This is such a good question.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

We're gonna pause one second while this announcement happens. Sorry. JK, it seems like they did not do an announcement after all. I apologize. All right. So anyway, yes, what niche events are you even working on?

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Um, so just a couple of days ago, we had a Palantine's event.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Um Tell me uh yes, I don't know what this means. I'm so intrigued.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

But like Palantine's, you know. Um and it was to celebrate um all of the love in your life and all of like the like love and friendships rather than just focusing on romantic love on Valentine's Day. Um and so it was where everyone got little classes and they came with their friends um and they got to paint them and make some Valentine's Day cards for each other. And it was like in our cafe, and it was super successful, and it was just really nice to watch people take the time of like actually sit down with their friends during an event and spend like, you know, not just grabbing and walking by and grabbing something free, but actually like chatting with their friends and doing something together. Um, and so that was really sweet and rewarding.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

I think seeing the activity is a really beautiful way to know that people are engaged, that they're creating something. You can see visually they're engaged, not just kind of there for because they're stuck there, like they're actively engaged and enjoying it. We involved in Palentine's as well.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

No, that's that's her department. Should have been. Yeah, should have been.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

We all should have been at Sounds like it's a great event, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Um, but for Valentine's Day, we did do a salsa like dancing uh lesson that they went to because like our things it's trips and experience, so it's outside of campus, whereas hers is on campus. So we teach them on like different types of trips. Um, but it was like five dollars like a person, and I think like 25, we had like a turnout of 25 people, and they got to like learn some salsa, and you could take like your couple or like a friend or and yeah, uh everyone told me that it was like really fun. So honestly, I wish I I went, but I was here, which is also fine.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Also a great place to be. Yeah, it's great to build such inclusive campuses. I think it's the borderline of these events where it sounds like yeah, the salsa is kind of team building thing, and you're getting out of your comfort zone where I assume some people went because they knew salsa, and some people just said I'm gonna try this. I I personally cannot dance. I think I have two left feet, maybe even only one left foot. Like, I don't even know if both my feet work like that. But it's an incredible thing to be able to give students, and I think Palantine's a similar thing here, but an incredible way to like get students engaged. Like, it must be very fulfilling for y'all both to see these events come to life and kind of take a chance on Palantine's on a salsa dance class, and to see people come must be rewarding and fulfilling. Has that kind of been your experience as these events materialize?

SPEAKER_02 4:25

I guess you were waiting for salsa, yes. I apologize. Uh no, the first event I'm going to actually go to and like see like the turnout for is Clayroom. So I'm excited for that. This is coming. And I think we're gonna try to do also something music related or orchestra related like later on. Uh so really excited for those. But I it seems like we always get a really big turnout for like the sports events. Uh, I think last semester we took them to a Boston Bruins hockey game.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Incredible, yep.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

A lot of people went to that. Um, and then hopefully we can do more of that this semester, maybe hockey or maybe like the Celtics, Celtics. So we'll see. But uh a lot of people are gonna go to that for sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

That's incredible, yes. And what was your reaction to watching Palentine's come together?

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Um, I was definitely fulfilling. Um, I was like my first time fully leading the whole planning side and programming side of the event. So I was like a little bit worried of going into it, but like all of my roommates came as like attendees, and so it was like really nice to have their support. Um, and just like generally students coming up to you and being like, oh, like thank you so much. Like, I had fun. Just kind of like makes all of the hard planning is stressful, part of it like worth it.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

I think that's the tough part is that like putting on events is unfortunately hard. And I think college as a whole can be a very stressful place. Like there's so many new opportunities, and it's a great, rich place to explore those opportunities, but we're also away from home. We're also away from our friends that we've grown up with. We're in a new place oftentimes, a new weather. If we're up in Boston, like I know some of the students who are coming from the south or from the west coast. I don't know if that's either of y'all coming from a warmer climate. Um, but it can be tricky to have go through all these and like to give them a warm, inclusive space like this is so valuable. Uh, do you think it like helps make campus feel more like home? Like does this better BC's campus?

SPEAKER_02 5:59

I think so. No, definitely. It brings a lot of people together, uh, especially when we like collab. Uh, we have do a lot of collabs with cultural clubs um coming up. I think this Tuesday we're collabing with a I think that's CSA, the Chinese Student Association, um, for the new year. So like I feel like that like creates a sense of community and a sense of belonging, which I know we just learned about in the keynote uh speech. And it's like really nice. And I think we should have way more of those, honestly. Because I don't know, there's there's a lot of like isolation and like sometimes campus, like whether it's VC or like any other college, it could be clicky sometimes. And so having those events that like bring everyone together is just so special.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

That isolation, I think, is a really prominent problem, and I think it's something we all feel with. Like, I assume you all at some moment have felt that. Like, how do you get yourself out of that rut when you're feeling stuck in your dorm and you're feeling stuck in the social circle of five friends, and it's like I love y'all, but I need a new flavor of friendship once in a while. How do you find yourself crawling out of that rut where it's like I want to just sit in my dorm, but I know that that's not the best way? How do you find yourself, uh, how do you motivate yourself to get out of that rut?

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Um, as someone new on campus, it's like way harder to like find your people, especially because sometimes like there comes a certain point where people are really friendly and then like after they kind of close themselves up a bit because like they think they believe that they have like found everyone they need to find, even though we're on this like big campus and there's just so many people that you haven't met. And I think for me, like getting involved and like just saying yes to everything and like trying to uh apply an interview for literally anything is really helpful. And I'm really glad like I did that at the beginning of the year with CAB because I had no idea of the community it was. I have no idea, like there was like 150 people in it, like just a lot of people in it. And there's still so many people I don't know. So every time we do a bonding or like we just have everyone together in one room, like I meet someone new every time because you would never meet them either like in your class or just in the dining hall, you would always like pass by them, but being in that kind of like confined space together kind of forces you to interact, which is really nice because I think you meet like some of the best people that way.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

I think it's a very brave attitude to be able to go out and be vulnerable and apply to cab and apply it all these things. And like, I don't know if I personally always have that courage. Like, I think it's an incredible thing. Like, Sophia, if you had a similar challenge here with like trying to break out of your shell, like how do you get out of the rut when you're just like, I want to be in my dorm, I want to be alone, but I know that's not the best way to find happiness on campus.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Yeah, I think, well, like firstly, I'm a very social person. Uh so I don't know if I find myself in that rut often, but I think that on a personal level, um, just telling myself that like doing one small thing, even if it's for like a short period of time, is better than just staying in my room or staying in my bed. Um, so just kind of making like the actions more like digestible and approachable to be like, okay, like I can go to the gym and I don't need to run five miles, I can run one. You know, one mile is better than no miles. Um, so just kind of starting, I find to be the hardest part. Because then once you're once I'm running, I'm like, wait, like I'm feeling great, that dopamine hits. Um, so just doing something tiny that feels like I can actually do it and not overwhelming to get started. Um, it's a technique I use.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

So very wise, yes. One of my favorite books is called Atomic Habits, and it's about how to build new habits. And that's one of the uh big takeaways from the book is like, don't try to work out, try to do one push-up. Make yourself through one single push-up today. Like there is no excuse. There's an excuse not to go run five miles. We can all find a reason not to go run five miles. You can't find a reason not to be one push-up. There is zero, zero reason. And you're right, once you do that first push-up, the second one, it's all of a sudden manageable. And next thing you know, you've done a good 30-minute workout and gotten the benefit and all the boost from that. Uh, and that's such a positive thing. Uh, what would you recommend for other students who are just going through this, right? So the freshman or transfers who are just coming to campus and are facing the same problem. How would you uh well how would you advise them to try and find uh happiness on campus?

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Uh applying a cab. A plan of cab. Part of the cab events equals. Yeah, I think also at BC, like there is so many uh events going around, and there's so many like people who like love to socialize and like want to chat with you. So just like kind of putting yourself out there and being a little bit vulnerable because you will receive the vulnerability back. So just kind of like taking that courage and stepping out.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Yeah, and there we are so there's so many like organizations and clubs on campus. Like there's like somewhere for everyone, definitely. And I say like say yes to everything and everyone. And like, obviously, like that may not seem like your vibe, or you may like not want to be out with this person or like at this event, but like as long as you do it, you can like say, like, okay, like I tried it and like I either I like it or I don't, and like you can like kind of check that off from your list, and it could go badly, but like at least like you know, like you try it, and like you won't regret it. Because I find myself like if I say no to an event or like someone, like I'll be like, oh like no, maybe maybe it was fun or something, or like I do have FOMO sometimes, so like I have to go to everything. So uh honestly just put yourself out there, even that's so sometimes like sometimes it does like feel embarrassing, but yeah, it's only embarrassing if you think it's embarrassing.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

So yeah, and I think even if you don't love the event, it still uh gets you in that habit of saying yes and taking chances, and that's the way to find the thing you do love, right? Uh and if you don't take that chance and you just say no to everything, which I certainly can be guilty of at times, then you don't ever find the chance to find the things that you do love, you just get stuck and it's like, well, I have this little circle that I'm comfortable in, that's a beautiful place to be. And TikTok's great, and Instagram's great, but there's not a long-term fulfillment that's gonna come from spending time in those places. This episode of the Happiness Blueprint Podcast is brought to you by Vibarx. Goals, budgets, and KPIs can tell you what happened, but they don't tell you how people felt while doing the work. Happiness is the most important metric of all, and it needs a system. Vibarx is that system for prioritizing your mental health and tracking emotional metrics for individuals, teams, and even projects. Users submit a weekly two-minute check-in, online or in the app, for metrics like happiness, stress, and utilization. Then, Vibarx processes that data into quantified metrics that help spot patterns, celebrate wins, and encourage support where needed. Personally, I loved using Vibarx with my team at GBM6. It's like such a great way to check in with myself and make sure I'm hitting both my professional and my personal goals. I especially love that asks me for three things that I'm happy about every week. During busy season, I find that things can feel a little chaotic and stressful, so this has felt like a really great tool to reframe my focus and make sure I'm aware of how many great things are happening around me, even in the most stressful moments. Vibearx is free forever for individuals, .edu teams, and .org teams. All other organizations can start with a 60-day free trial and then pay just $5 per user per month to build a healthier, happier, and more engaged workplace. Check out the link in our description to get started on your own journey towards a happier, personal, and professional life. Thank you to Vibox for sponsoring today's episode. Alright, back to the show. Yeah. How do you find students? How do you motivate students to come to your events uh as you were battling TikTok and social media age? Like, it sounds like you feel felt how happy these things can make you, but knowing what it makes you and convincing someone else to feel these things are two very different challenges here. What are you doing to get students into your events so they do feel as happy as they can?

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Um, I think honestly, kind of just connecting with them. I know, like being uh uh a part of the marketing uh team, we did a lot of videos just like generally on the cab or on our cab Instagram where it was like TikTok trends or anything. So they'd be like, oh my god, my cab is so relatable and funny, ha. And then they would like come and go to our events. Um but yeah, I think kind of just like staying in touch with them.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Yeah. Yeah. I think also a challenge that I feel like our marketing team faces, which I'm assuming a lot of other colleges do, is just there's such an oversaturation of flyers on like every staircase. There's so many events going on. Students are busy, they have work, they have classes, so like it can be hard to kind of grab their attention. Um, so meeting students where they are at um has been like a new technique that my team has been exploring. And for example, we just started doing like promotion stickers on the back of coffee cups. So, like at our cafes, when you get a cup on the back of the sleeve will be like a Mr. BC pageant, February 27th, join us. So just kind of like grabbing them quickly and just getting their intrigue first to like then look up the cabin scram or look up the website to see what the event is works, and also getting the students to interact with us is a big thing. Like we did our, we walked around and we did little interviews on campus. Like, what do you think Mr. BC would be like? It's stuff like that. Yeah, so just building general like buzz and hype and trying to cut through that saturation.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

That coffee cup idea or the coffee sleeve idea is just a brilliant wealth. Like that's a really clever way to meet people, and you're right. The the the boards are always stuffed, which is a great problem to have. It's great to have such an abundance of wealth. But you're right, it does create a lot of noise. I think Instagram and social media posts are the other obvious kid uh way to campaign, and that's great, but it is. Yeah, you're competing against everyone's favorite social influencer person, that's a hard battle to win. It is. So you're right that the coffee cup is a great way to make it direct and relatable. And I think it also is like you get your coffee, you go chat with your friend, and y'all go, Hey, have y'all seen this? What is this thing? What is Mr. BC? Uh is that Mr. BC an event y'all are putting on?

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Yes. Please, okay. So excited. Okay. Mr. BC is a male pageant. Okay. Um, and we have about five to six uh various in class like freshmen seniors participate, and they do like QA, they show us a talent, maybe a lip sync battle, they do like a strut or one-way in their suit. Um, and then we have all of the audience like vote on who they think the winner is and their crown Mr. BC. And then they win a custom tailored suit.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

That's a great prize. Yeah, I did her job for some do a LinkedIn headshots and everything. That's an incredible thing to have, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah, it's awesome. I'm MCing it this year, so I'm super excited.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

So it's a long-running tradition on campus.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Um this is only our second year.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Awesome, okay. Did you all pioneer this event last year?

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Are you yes, we pioneered it? Um, I actually ran this event at my high school.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Awesome. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

So um it was a little bit different because the winner got to pick the fundraiser where like the money went to, but like kind of male page of oops. No words at all. Um energy. So then as a team, we kind of figured out how can we make this, how can we raise it the scale to do at that college campus?

SPEAKER_00 16:27

That's incredible that you've been doing this for a long time, like trying to incorporate people and build community. Uh Nikita, your previous school or in high school, were you involved in other events and trying to make people happy through them?

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Um, honestly, no. My old school uh fear as it is, I I don't think they have a a cap. I was never really I I mean I was only the first semester, and then my second semester I I went abroad, so I didn't really do much there or in London. But my old high school, nothing as well. I was always like I wasn't like doing random things and like marketing here and there. So like I did post on social media um for while I was abroad and stuff, and like uh promotion for like our study abroad program, but never putting on events, which is when I saw Cal I was like, wait, there's no way that that's really cool. Cause I saw a lot of other schools have like concerts on campus, and I had no idea, like I did I didn't have that. So uh having that opportunity to do that here and kind of part of that uh was really cool.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

So CAB certainly does great contents, yes. You do a lot of great things your content was certainly up there on the list.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

And I had no idea there were so many people, like schools that did cab or like were had a cab like program or anything like that. So like coming here to NACA and just meeting a lot of different people and like even like the more like niche schools that I even I've never heard of, and they have a cav is really cool.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Awesome. Uh we have two last questions we would love to wrap up with here. Uh so one of them is like it seems like you've done both done a great job kind of coming out of your shelves and taking on new events and new challenges and bringing traditions from the past to your new plays, which is awesome, and starting traditions and being brave and finding traditions here is awesome. Uh, what advice would you give to your past self? So as you're looking back on on the journey that we've been through, like there is so much we can learn. And as I look back my camera journey, it's like, man, if I knew 10 years ago that I know now I could have saved a year of headaches and challenges and spending money on things that I probably shouldn't have spent money on. Like, what advice would you give to your past self that would yeah, help uh speed up your growth towards where you are now?

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Um, I think honestly, I would say I a lot of the times I think to myself, like, if this happens, it's meant to happen. And I remember applying to a lot of colleges, because I'm a first-gen student, so like I didn't really have I didn't have any idea. I didn't really have any idea about the college process and like how it worked. And so when I did it, I was kind of very confused and where I ended up like wasn't my talk choice, I guess I would say, uh, which I didn't realize until much later, but I was glad that I was a part of it because I met so many like great people at my old school and I got to go abroad, which is great because a lot of freshmen don't have that opportunity. And so honestly, I in the moment, like I was kind of sad about it, but at looking back, I'm so glad like that's the way it panned out. And it was honestly originally my plan to transfer, and so I'm glad that I was able to kind of execute that. And there's been a lot of like times too where like I apply and like I interview for things or like I get rejected or whatever, and it's like it does like it is a bruise of the ego judges, truly, but then like you think about it, and then like the time passes, you're like, okay, well, I realized why it had to happen that way. Yeah, and I think if I would have like talk to my past self, I'd just be like, just like be okay with what's happening right now and just take it day by day because it's all happening for a reason, and you'll realize that later.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

It sounds like you did a great job accepting that you can like course correct where I think the transferring here is almost a blessing in disguise of like realizing like I made this choice. It was didn't turn out to be the right choice for me, but I have the power now to find a choice that is the right choice for me. Feels like a great life lesson. It feels like a yeah, it would have stunk as you got halfway through the time and went, this isn't quite my home. And whatever those motivations were, certainly, yeah, you didn't leave because you're having a great time and everything is perfect. Like it would stink to stare those in the face, but it's also a powerful thing to go, I have the power to make this better for myself. And I think that's a a lesson we can all certainly internalize and learn. So that's a something you should be very proud of, I think.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

Yeah, and I want a lot of experiences too. So like I'm glad like I know people there and now I know people at BC and like just like connections everywhere, which is really nice.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

That's it. Yes. What advice would you have for your best self?

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Um, yeah, there's kind of piggybacking off of it, but um, I would just tell myself that everything, like you're going to figure everything out. Um, I feel like there's a difference between telling yourself that everything's gonna be okay, um, and not like everything's going to work out, you're gonna get through it, because you always do. Like life is always gonna go on, you're always gonna find some way to muddle through the the waters. Um and just like m everything might not turn out the way you want it to, but like you're gonna you're gonna figure it out. Um, and also I would also tell myself not to rush my growth. Um, because there's I mean that like perfection is an impossible end goal. So I think growth like is the goal to continue to grow is what you're striving for. So don't rush yourself. Um like you'll get places that you want to be, and you're just the constant strive is what is really important. So those are two things I would tell myself.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

That resonates with me as well, where I think I have the perfection uh instinct and I've learned to frame it as optimization. So I'm never gonna get perfect at this thing, but if every day I can optimize it one better, one percent better, get a little more efficient at it or a little more creative with it, or just find one little thing, then that is a much more digestible and you're like sustainable goal. Where I think to go full circle here back to the gym analogy, it's like you can't run a hundred miles today. There is a real chance that if you run a mile every day and keep escalating that, like maybe a hundred is a little bit free, so like even a marathon, or whatever the big goal there is that yeah, it's not gonna happen overnight, but there is a consistency. To be proud of there, and that I think consistency is worth being proud of because so many people, yeah, try things and they quit after one time when they couldn't do the mile that they wanted to run. It's like, well, yeah, but if you stick with it, you can run that mile and you can run too.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Yeah, I think doing it matters more than doing it perfectly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Yep. Uh I got some advice earlier that was like, be someone who shows up. And that to me always resonated like, I can't be on my best day every day. It's not realistic. Yeah. But I can be here every day. I can do my best to sit down and try, and that's all gets you a whole lot further. Um, so awesome. I appreciate y'all taking the time to chat with me. Uh, my last question here that I almost forgot about here uh is we are a happiness-based company. I like to know one thing that makes you happy outside of all this. We talked a lot about cabs, we've talked a lot about events. Uh, this could be a favorite hobby, a favorite food, a favorite friend, a family member that just glows your world when you get to see them. Uh, what's something that makes you happy outside of this?

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Um, I love, blah, blah, blah, travel. Love. Um, I grew up doing or going on a lot of road trips, so I got to see like a lot of the Northeast. I had yet to kind of conquer the West Coast or the Midwest. Um, but yeah, but I studied abroad again in London and I went a lot throughout Europe. I'm going to study abroad in South Korea soon.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Incredible.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

Yeah, yeah. Um to follow in Sophia's footsteps. We um study abroad in Japan, so I'm excited to also go to Japan. Um but yeah, and I also love like traveling um within South America because my family were all Hispanic and just I love that's also something that makes me really happy, just connecting back to my culture and like being in a lot of diverse groups, and it doesn't even have to only be like Hispanic culture, like I just love being around people that just wear their culture proudly.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

Um, there's a lot of dance teams uh at BC, and so I'm excited for Showdown because a lot of them are also like cultural. So it just sits really exciting. And even if like I don't fully understand it, it's just so like beautiful to see and kind of admire how connected they are because of this one thing that kind of unifies them.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

The showdown is a beautiful display of culture. Uh, I'm curious about your travel here. Uh, it sounds like you've seen a whole lot of the world here, and we know that the the major, I don't know, the Eiffel Towers of the world are brilliant. What's like a deep though? What's a hole in the wall? Kind of a small part of a city that you loved, or is there a was off the beaten path that you would recommend everyone would go see if I had the luxury to go to this place tomorrow?

SPEAKER_02 24:22

Um I went to this little town in Poland called Poznan. Okay. Or I don't know if I'm venturing that, but yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

Um Polish mister out there is really cruppy, but the rest of us think it was awesome, yes.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

Um but it was really cute because I I was trying to like travel on a budget because London is as expensive enough as it is. So I took a lot of Ryanair flights. Uh very cheap, yeah. Very cheap. And it took us to uh Poznan, and honestly, it was like this really cute little um kind of folk tale uh city. The architecture was really pretty. It was like pastelli. Um they had like two goats. The little thing was like there was every time like I think the clock struck 12 or something, I might be wrong. Okay, but the some goats came out and they like kind of bumped heads.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

That's adorable.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

And I got like a cooking class over there, uh, learned how to make, I think, like bread or something. They really liked pierogies over there too. Um, so that was and also I went to some great like places out there. Honestly, that was really unexpected. Interesting, yeah, yeah. Really loved wasn't North Poland, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

Beautiful. Okay, yes, I will check it out. I hope I get to check it out some more. Yes. So be all something that makes you happy outside of the academic event space that we've been chatting about.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Um I was originally thinking travel, but um also music. I love listening to music. Um, I am not talented in that area, really.

SPEAKER_00 25:43

Um, but that's that's how I got into camera work with loving music and going, well, the music part isn't gonna work.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Yeah, I tried the clarinet. My parents were like, it's time to put it down. Please save our eardrums. Um, but I just love like waking up with music, doing like 30-second dance party breaks, breathing anime inspired. Um, but yeah, and I think it also just really brings people together on connecting back to showdown. Um, and yeah, so I just really like music, listening to it, singing, dancing.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Is there a concert you've been to in recent times or in the past that stands out as like a high watermark of them all?

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Um, I went to a Swedish rock concert by Kaleo.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

Oh my god. It was so fun. He had a uh harmonicus as part of his band.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

Awesome, okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Like just epic and like the vibes, it was like kind of a smaller venue where everyone's standing, so I kind of like that vibe better. Um and it was really fun, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

There's someone who said about smaller shows where just when there's 50 people in the room and you really can feel every single person. Yeah, it's a lot of people. Powered by GBS. Making people beautiful. Well, thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. Um awesome, this has been the happiness blueprint. We did, right?