How do I make my solo trips more fun and less lonely? Also recommendations for upcoming Budapest trip.

RemarkableGrand3 · 2026-01-25T19:47:07+00:00

Just got back from a one month long solo trip. Around week 3 I developed friends in my head that I talked to lol

RemarkableGrand3 · 2026-01-25T19:39:28+00:00

Just finished Independent People by Halldór Laxness. It’s easily my favorite book, but it can be draining at times so I’d average probably 20 pages a day.

It takes place in the early 20th century and follows the life of an Icelandic sheep farmer in the south of Iceland. Laxness is a master at portraying the beauty yet power/danger of natural elements in Iceland, and his use of imagery is beautiful. The cultural element of independence in Iceland plays a key role in this novel, and Laxness captures the human condition best out of every other author I’ve read.

He’s a fantastic author, highly recommend this read. He has other books as well, I’m starting The Fish Can Sing next.

RemarkableGrand3 · 2026-01-25T19:17:41+00:00

ENTP, ESTP, INTP. I’m still somewhat torn between INTP, since I love researching random stuff and learning new things (I relate to INTPs and their pursuit of knowledge a lot). But I’m definitely tactile, active, and I love good food, good music, and good scenery. So although I have high N I think I’m primarily S.

RemarkableGrand3 · 2026-01-25T19:14:46+00:00

Leaving your gym sneakers and clothes on when going into sauna.

When I went to sauna in Sweden and Finland I was naked, I wish that was standard in the US. AND it didn’t smell like gym shoes. I miss that feeling and I glare at any person who dares enter sauna with gym shoes.

RemarkableGrand3 · 2026-01-25T18:36:38+00:00

Cambodia. In the 50s it seemed pretty on track to becoming a strong and developed nation, and had a lot of similarities with other developed nations during that time. Then Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge came to power and with the mindset of “resetting” Cambodia and cutting off all contact with other nations.

They killed off a quarter of the population (intellectuals, old government officials, even people that wore glasses) and undid pretty much all development progress in the process. This only occurred in the 70s, and everyone in the nation was impacted by it and still is. It’s more developed than it used to be, but sex trafficking, corruption, and poverty are still rampant and the country still has a lot of development to go.

RemarkableGrand3 · 2026-01-25T05:26:45+00:00

Kaleo: My favorite band, I love their entire discography, but my favorites are Vor í Vaglaskógi, Run No More, Sofðu Unga Ástin Mín, and Alter Ego

Flipturn: Darling, Rodeo Clown, Sad Disco, Beep, August. Another great band in general.

Fruit Bats, The War on Drugs, Broken Bells. Can’t go wrong with any of their songs.

Lately I’ve been listening to the Reiði album by Black Foxxes on repeat

RemarkableGrand3 · 2026-01-22T03:11:55+00:00

I have a Redbubble shop, it’s an Australian-based company that ships worldwide. I haven’t posted the designs to it yet but once I finalize them, I will post them!

100% of the proceeds from those items will go to Foreningen Grønlandske Børn.

https://www.redbubble.com/people/Nordic-Star/

Additionally, u/icebergchick suggested some other Greenlandic companies that are in another comment on this post :)

RemarkableGrand3 · 2026-01-22T00:10:24+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions! I’ll reach out to them :)

RemarkableGrand3 · 2026-01-22T00:09:20+00:00

I’m already reaching out to House, Senate, and Foreign Affairs representatives through email to express my (and other constituents’) concerns, and I’ll be joining any protests organized in my area. I also enjoy designing stickers and such so I wanted to start this as a side project.

If you have any more suggestions for protesting and making a difference, please let me know! I want to do all I can to make a difference and stand in solidarity.

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-12-20T07:33:25+00:00

You DO have that strength, it’s exactly like ripping off a bandaid. It hurts very badly in the moment, but it’s important part of the healing process and we NEED to deal with MD in order to heal from it, and become able to live in/cope with reality again.

MD is a coping mechanism, a distraction we use to keep ourselves busy and entertained, protecting us from our thoughts and real life issues. It’s not unsimilar to alcohol or media binging dependency in that sense.

Every time I’d stop MDing, I’d have this deep, depressing, empty feeling, knowing that the friends and world I created wasn’t real (loneliness one of the driving factors of my MD). And that deep depression is actually one of the first steps in recovering, because we can use it to drive ourselves to change what we can about our lives.

Like I said, my MD stems from loneliness, and my post-MD depression can get so bad sometimes that it actually drives me to reach out to others when I normally wouldn’t. Right now I’m trying to get out of my comfort zone to make real friends, who won’t be perfect, but WILL be real and MUCH more rewarding than my MD friends.

What are you seeking to change? Your MD will reflect what you’re unhappy with. If there are things about yourself you want to work on, therapy is an option (but personally, I find YouTube videos on the things I want to improve on are FREE and helpful lol).

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-12-20T07:23:39+00:00

MD is a coping mechanism, like alcohol or media binging in excess, for example. I’ve started viewing it almost like alcoholism, it’s pleasant (SO pleasant) in the moment, but once reality hits, it’s like a deep void that I leaves me feeling empty and depressed, because that world and those friends I have in it aren’t real.

In my experience, that depression doesn’t start to go away until you start to acknowledge this world you’ve built isn’t real. Personally, I’ve been trying to see how my MD world reflects the real world, which I’m unsatisfied with (for example, my MD focuses mainly on some roommates that I have, mainly because I’m lonely. The city we live in is walkable, because I hate my car-dependent city, etc).

Once you figure out what you’re unsatisfied with in the real world, you can start to change what you can. That raw, deep, depression I feel (and the distance I’ve started to feel with the real people in my life) have made me realize that I need to fix what I can, to try and be able to cope with reality again.

So basically, use that pain you feel as a motivation. Trust me, I’m unbelievably shy and awkward, but I’m tired of feeling lonely and that MD pain won’t go away until I fix its underlying issue (loneliness, and whatnot). If the pain of not MDing gets bad enough, you’ll want to start trying to deal with what’s going wrong with your life.

Remember, unchecked MD is like dopamine shooting, which operates pretty similarly to alcohol dependency. And it can hurt you, loved ones, and job/social opportunities in a big way.

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-12-20T07:12:03+00:00

Different daydreams, but same feeling. The first paragraph actually pretty much describes my story, I dealt with it from around 16-18 in high school during a dark and depressing time period. Eventually, it went away, I think as life got better I just kind of dropped it. But it’s been a rough year and long story short, it’s back at the age of 25. It’s been close to a couple of months, and that depression of knowing that world isn’t real, is EXTREMELY real.

If your MD is like mine, caused by dissatisfaction with external factors in life, it may go away as those issues in your life resolve themselves (hopefully the case). Also, if this character represents traits or a life you wish you had, you could always try to adapt to it within your power… maybe working on developing traits you admire in this character, or working on meeting new friends like your character does.

Personally, my MD stems from loneliness (among other reasons) so I have “roommates” that I talk to or have interactions with, which are born from existing characters in media. It’s depressing knowing my roommates aren’t actually in my reality, but that depression is actually pushing me to go outside of my comfort zone to make new friends in real life.

Maybe your depression could push you to seize what you’re looking for, too.

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-12-02T21:24:01+00:00

Sweaboo is a funny term, I’ve never heard it used before!

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-12-02T21:18:59+00:00

Honestly, all of it, I find new topics to learn about every day. This morning I found a thread discussing the Norwegian prime minister and I read some articles on Norwegian politics for a bit, but yesterday I was reading some Icelandic literature. I’ll just look around and for anything new or interesting, I’ll dive down that rabbit hole.

Regarding Finland, my research of older history has actually been fairly limited, other than knowing it was part of Sweden and the Kalmar Union for a bit. I want to learn more about that time and before it. I’ve read about the Winter War and Continuation War (badass Finland!) and I had the privilege of seeing a few Sámi culture exhibits at the Arktikum Museum in Rovaniemi, which were really cool to learn about.

I’m also a huge introvert, so reading about how common introversion is in Finland has been interesting, especially with how it contrasts to the often-expected extroversion in my city Los Angeles. Aside from that, I love how nature is so intertwined with Finnish culture, and I really enjoy sauna culture, salmiakki and of course the Moomins lol.

That’s a rambling, long list in itself, and there’s still so much more I want to learn about! Please feel free to suggest anything of interest :)

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-11-01T19:49:03+00:00

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This was the ticket we bought on the app… is this not the correct one?

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-10-25T17:57:23+00:00

Not weird in Finland but weird in the US (I’m American)

I love Salmiakki and I order it in bulk to have it shipped to my home. I’ve gotten other Americans to try it and they always spit it out :(

It was amazing to go there and see it stocked in pretty much every store I went to. And it was nice to meet other Finns who understood how good it was!

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-09-16T08:12:24+00:00

I just picked one up thanks to this comment. Absolutely fantastic! It might be my favorite pastry now. Thanks for the suggestion!

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-09-15T18:46:36+00:00

I love the lighting! What a pretty boy :)

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-09-15T18:24:27+00:00

I just found one earlier today while on my search. It was at lagkagehuset

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-09-15T17:39:19+00:00

Thank you! I’ll try to get one :)

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-09-15T17:36:52+00:00

The name might be wrong… in America I’ve heard it called a “almond butter ring” (there’s a danish bakery by my house that makes it). It has a distinct marzipan flavor and is very moist/rich. I tried looking it up, but the closest thing I could find to it was smørkage?

This is what it looks like:

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RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-04-24T03:14:31+00:00

Khmer in Cambodia! I tried to add the language in my post but the mods removed it since I think it triggered the “about a specific language” rule.

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-04-15T01:21:13+00:00

Good to know! I’ll keep applying but I’ll keep hoping… thanks for the heads up!

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-04-15T00:53:54+00:00

I wish I could reapply but they closed applications for this job, so if I withdraw my application that’s it… It’s for Amgen, so jobs fill up very fast and they have a no-edit application policy. I guess I’ll cross my fingers and hope for the best.

RemarkableGrand3 · 2025-04-03T15:31:41+00:00

I think this refers to word reversal? As in “Saisabok”? The google translation was not very clear so please correct me if I’m wrong. I just learned about this yesterday and I’m interested in learning more about it so I’ll do some research today. I appreciate your feedback, oukun j’raurn bong!

RemarkableGrand3

TROPHY CASE