Brașov, Romania,
Time is passing by,
I have been here for 12 days already and I have been starting to feel stuck a little. My productivity is not optimized as it is hard to focus.
It is a scenario I already encountered many times in the past. Evolving through a new place, and rebuilding my own landmark and routine habits takes time and energy.
So at this point after having confronted the same challenge many times in the past I should be able to easily deal with it. But there is always this moment where I feel hopeless and nothing works the way I would like to. This is the time when I wish I could be anywhere else, dreaming of being back in Malaysia for example.
I will eventually get my place here and find a way to be productive. Some elements however do not help much and make it more difficult to overcome the situation. Firstly my place does not have a proper desk, it has chairs, but the only suitable table is the kitchen bar which is dynamic but this is not suitable for long work session; moreover, I feel like a little rat in this place because there is no open view, the place is dark, and windows opens only on the small alley. Hence I much more prefer to go somewhere else to get work done. The issue is that the old city center (where I live) is invaded by flocks of tourists making it impossible to choose any place as a workplace. I thus have to go further away than the old center. After few days of looking around, I found out that the shopping mall actually makes the best working base for me here. As it is a little distant from the attractions, it has very few tourist crowds compared to the center, mostly local people come here. This mall also has a great view of the mountains, and a choice of restaurants easy and fast to eat, unlike most of the restaurants in the center (which are slow and tourist-oriented). The cafes in the mall are quieter and better dedicated to make a workplace for me. There is even a gym inside the mall so I can get to exercise too. I don’t like 100% this alternative as I do not support the consumerism lifestyle that these places promote. However, it makes it pretty convenient in my case.
In addition to the shopping mall, there are 2 or 3 coworking spaces in the city, I already tried one, and tomorrow I will try another. But this one was empty and dead. At this time of the year as everybody is on vacation. therefore the space does not feel inspiring and motivating ( I even slept there during the first trial ). Another point that holds me back from coworking space is that they are expensive (probably less expensive here than America or Western Europe, but more than Asia).
To wrap up, I am still perfecting my lifestyle and routine here. It is taking shape, but maybe I’ll find a different flow in the coming day, we will see.
