Traveling: Into The Wild

There are different types of travelers, among them:


1) The We-rather-stay-at-a-resort-than-getting-to-know-the-local-people-ones. They go on vacation, simply to eat, drink and sleep all day. Mostly, these people do not even leave the hotel area and I actually don't understand why they drive or fly far away just to relax at the pool or the beach because there are a lot of beautiful lakes in Austria where you can sleep all day.

2) The crazy sightseeing city-tourers. These people love museums, art galleries, old towns, walls, cathedrals and so on. At least they are interested in the history and culture of the country they visit.

3) The travelers. They go by bike, they hitchhike or rent a car to explore the whole country. They travel alone or with a partner and try to absorb the culture and the landscape. My prefered way of traveling.

4) The survivor. Who needs friends? Who needs family or any other social bonds? This type of traveler seeks for adventure that never ends. I have to say that it sometimes is an attracting thought to just live in the nature and distance from everyday life and routine, to show that you can survive without a smartphone, a laptop, money, a roof above one's head and other luxury. On the one hand, this way of traveling is incredibly interesting, on the other, simply stupid.





I recently watched a movie based on a true story, the story of Christopher McCandless, a true survivor. The film is called Into The Wild. Christopher was an intelligent young man who decided to leave everything behind him after his graduation. He went away and eventually ended up in the Alaskan wilderness, seeking to survive.
I don't want to tell you much about the plot, the inspiring people he met or the deep sadness of his family when he went away without saying a word. I want you and myself to understand his decision to donate his money, take his gear and set out into the wild. He had everything, from a caring family to great friends, even good grades and therefore opportunities for a reasonable future profession. The reason for his adventure was that he was sick of people, of rules, of capitalism and everything that comes with communities and social relationships. Going to extremes, he decided to live where he was sure to find the complete opposite situation than the one at home. In the Alaskan wilderness he had no one but himself and was content at first. That is what he always wanted: Living on his own, proving himself that he can survive, no one to argue with, no one to love and hurt him.
After months Christopher discovered that there is no one to laugh with either, no one to help, no one to talk with, no one who can see him surviving and be proud of him. He made the decision to go back home but the river he crossed in fall, is now way too big and raging to swim through it. He was stuck.

Although life in a community based on capitalism is harsh, everyone, without an exception, needs contact with another person at some point in their life. What is a joke worth when you are the only one who laughs? Why should you even laugh when there is no one to see and hear that you are happy? And eventually: Can you be happy when you are alone?
I don't think so.

Funny songs that cheer me up - or just stupid sense of humor?

Nobody is happy and motivated all the time. There are days on which you lay on your bed, thinking about all the stuff you need to get going with. The huge amount of homework, all the projects, the BLOG POSTS you have to write, studying for the upcoming exams.
A reasonable solution for these worries may be to actually do something but sometimes I prefer to do the exact opposite. That means listening to ridiculous, stupid but definitely funny songs. If you also want to escape daily life for a few minutes and have a good laugh (provided that we share the same sense of humor), go on and check out this post! :)

Let's start with a very dramatic song, sung by Ylvis who are two Norwegian comedians, already known for their song "What does the fox say?". I don't want to say much, you have to create your own opinion on it, but is Stonehenge now "a giant granite birthday cake or a prison far too easy to escape"? We'll never know...

The next one is made by Tobuscus, a quite successful youtube star. I simply love this song because I always have to smile at some point, no matter how often I already listened to it. "Did you know that cashews come from a fruit?"? Frankly, I didn't.

It's legitimate to be confused and irritated by the next video. Four 50-year-old men standing on stage wearing leggings, bandanas, wigs (except the singer) and make-up, singing about "The Burden of Being Wonderful". You will definitely change your opinion about Steel Panther, though, when you see them live on stage. Besides being a real good live act, all of the songs written by them are full of self-mockery and jokes about everything and everyone. They don't take themselves seriously and that's what makes them likeable.

Here they are. I guess everyone of you has heard of them: Tenacious D. Jack Black and Kyle Gass are two chubby, middle-aged men who still rock every stage mainly with their songs but a great part of their show is their enthusiasm and humor. The following video is an excerpt of their second of three albums "The Pick of Destiny" that was even made a film of. A fun fact about their albums is that there are short humorous skits in-between the songs.

"Die Ärzte", in English "The Doctors" are a German band playing an undefined genre.Their band history is quite long, so they crossed almost every existing genre by now. Nobody can say for sure what they actually play, but there is one sure thing: They have a lot of funny songs. "Elke" is one of them, you'll have the pleasure to listen to it. In this song Die Ärzte make fun of an overweight girl who stalked the band over months. According to reliable sources, Elke was positively surprised when she found out that a song was written "for" her by her gods.
Other songtitles such as "Meine explodierte Freundin" (My exploded girlfriend), "Geschwisterliebe" (Sibling love), "Ich bin reich" (I am rich) and "Männer sind Schweine" (Men are pigs) speak for themselves. Die Ärzte even wrote a whole album about hair - yes, about hair. It is called "Le Frisur".

I hope you enjoyed this little journey through the world I enter when I am bored and do not want to study. I am still looking for similar Russian songs, but my Russian is not that good yet, so it takes time to understand the lyrics.
By the way, listening to these songs and reading my text you spend about quarter an hour without doing anything productive, so you'd better start studying. ;) No seriously, you probably have to find something else to do now. To all the students out there, I wish you good luck for the exam season.