

There are some things I have accomplished in my life that people are very impressed by, but that weren't nearly as hard as they think.



I tend to not take initiative on things unless they are familiar to me, and I would like to lose the fear of the unknown by hearing from people who have done cool stuff (in academics, travel, adventure, business, etc.) For example, I am particularly fearful of continuing my education in the US, definitely because I know nothing about how academia works here. I wonder what other things I could try that aren’t as bad as I imagine.



I have found myself explaining unbelieving people how easy these things were...



- Wrote an essay on free trade and traditional agriculture and scored a free trip to Japan.

- Got sent to London for a couple of months by scoring A on the FCE exam, this I achieved thanks to all the English vocabulary I acquired by reading Harry Potter

- Survived 8 months in the Amazon, had a bug lay eggs under my skin, and removed the eggs with a knife and scotch tape. (the bug thing was not intentional or cool, but it’s an awesome story and it wasn’t nearly as painful or traumatizing as people think)

- Lost 30 pounds (this wasn't easy, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be)



My purpose with this question is double:

- I would like to demystify the unknown

- I would like to hear ideas of cool things I could do all along , when I thought I had to be wonder woman/have an IQ of 300 to do. Any input, from snowboarding to getting into grad school will be appreciated.

what "life adventures" are easier to achieve than people would think? What are the practical steps one must follow to experience "awesome stuff"?