It's time for Part 2 of my Loving Lately series, where I share all the things that have been bringing me joy recently! I started it in order to focus more on the positives while on lockdown, and I'm ready with the next installment. I count how long I've been on lockdown from the 27th of January because that's the week we started getting messages from teachers about being more careful and whatnot, so at the time of writing this, it's been 107 days/15 weeks and 2 days! What!?
MUSIC //
To do assignments, I've been listening to a whole range of things. K-drama OSTs (I would recommend One Spring Night, Hotel Del Luna, and Descendants of The Sun!), Dua Lipa's new album Future Nostalgia, and Taeyeon's album Purpose have been what I've been rotating when working on biochemistry assignments. When doing actual studying, I've been loving the YouTube lofi radio that is live 24/7 because it isn't distracting so I'm able to learn new info well, and it's good background noise. A song definitely worth mentioning is the Savage remix by Megan Thee
Stallion and Beyonce. No words can describe just how hyped I get when
listening to it!
I also want to give a shout-out to Elevation Worship for dropping one of my favourite worship albums ever! Graves to Gardens is full of inspiring and beautiful songs that are super motivating! If you're looking for new worship music, anything by Elevation Worship is worth a listen.
YOUTUBE //
Since being on lockdown, I've been on YouTube way more than I normally would have been. A channel I've been l o v i n g is Ashley Choi's. Ashley is a K-pop star whose group actually just disbanded after 7 years (I'll miss you Ladies' Code!), and since her group disbanded, she started an 'adulting' series on her channel to document her moving into her first apartment, buying furniture, cooking for herself - all things that other people have some experience with but it's stuff she's just started doing for the first time. I've been subscribed since she first started her channel and watching her move onto this new phase in life has been so interesting!
BLOGS //
It's no surprise that I've been reading a whole lot recently. A blog post I loved is Michelle's Simple Self-Care Rituals for Introverts. She gives great tips on how introverts (like me!) can look after themselves during this time and it's definitely worth a read, whether you're introverted or not.
A blogger who gets me so excited for a new post is Becca! She's got everything on her blog - my favorites have been her posts on baking even though I literally don't have an oven! (I think I like living vicariously through the photos haha!) Her Instagram has always been one of my favourites too, so if you're not following her I definitely recommend that you do!
I've also been heavily more and more into the studygram community on Instagram! My current 'theme' is a checkerboard where I alternate between a travel/lifestyle shot and a study shot, and I think it looks pretty good! Talking to new people who study a whole range of things has been so much fun and also amazing for my productivity and motivation. Here are some accounts I started following to get me started: a.medstudents.journey, bana_vu, janicestudies, and hara.studies. (If anyone wants a blog post on being a "studygrammer", leave me a comment below!)
TEA //
It's no big surprise that I love tea - I could literally drink the stuff forever - but one of my favourites recently has been chrysanthemum tea. I bought a tiny bottle online with what must be over 500 individual chrysanthemum flowers and I've been drinking a few cups every week but have yet to reach even half of the bottle! Chrysanthemum tea has so many benefits, such as boosting the immune system, increasing metabolism, helps with inflammation, and the reason I started using it which is that it cools down your internal body temperature.
The weather has been getting extremely hot recently, and you may be wondering how it cools you down if you're drinking it hot! In traditional Chinese medicine, certain foods when they're digested will heat you up from the inside (for example ginger or dates), while others cool you down (like green tea or mung beans). It's important to have a balance between these, so I like to just drink some chrysanthemum tea during the week so I'm not boiling in this heat too much! To brew a cup, I just boil some water and pop two or three flowers in there, let it sit for 5 minutes, and I drink away! The taste is light and it smells very fragrant, and I sometimes add a few leaves of green tea for a bit of a different flavour. Such a must have!
I also want to give a shout-out to Elevation Worship for dropping one of my favourite worship albums ever! Graves to Gardens is full of inspiring and beautiful songs that are super motivating! If you're looking for new worship music, anything by Elevation Worship is worth a listen.
YOUTUBE //
Since being on lockdown, I've been on YouTube way more than I normally would have been. A channel I've been l o v i n g is Ashley Choi's. Ashley is a K-pop star whose group actually just disbanded after 7 years (I'll miss you Ladies' Code!), and since her group disbanded, she started an 'adulting' series on her channel to document her moving into her first apartment, buying furniture, cooking for herself - all things that other people have some experience with but it's stuff she's just started doing for the first time. I've been subscribed since she first started her channel and watching her move onto this new phase in life has been so interesting!
BLOGS //
It's no surprise that I've been reading a whole lot recently. A blog post I loved is Michelle's Simple Self-Care Rituals for Introverts. She gives great tips on how introverts (like me!) can look after themselves during this time and it's definitely worth a read, whether you're introverted or not.
A blogger who gets me so excited for a new post is Becca! She's got everything on her blog - my favorites have been her posts on baking even though I literally don't have an oven! (I think I like living vicariously through the photos haha!) Her Instagram has always been one of my favourites too, so if you're not following her I definitely recommend that you do!
I've also been heavily more and more into the studygram community on Instagram! My current 'theme' is a checkerboard where I alternate between a travel/lifestyle shot and a study shot, and I think it looks pretty good! Talking to new people who study a whole range of things has been so much fun and also amazing for my productivity and motivation. Here are some accounts I started following to get me started: a.medstudents.journey, bana_vu, janicestudies, and hara.studies. (If anyone wants a blog post on being a "studygrammer", leave me a comment below!)
TEA //
It's no big surprise that I love tea - I could literally drink the stuff forever - but one of my favourites recently has been chrysanthemum tea. I bought a tiny bottle online with what must be over 500 individual chrysanthemum flowers and I've been drinking a few cups every week but have yet to reach even half of the bottle! Chrysanthemum tea has so many benefits, such as boosting the immune system, increasing metabolism, helps with inflammation, and the reason I started using it which is that it cools down your internal body temperature.
The weather has been getting extremely hot recently, and you may be wondering how it cools you down if you're drinking it hot! In traditional Chinese medicine, certain foods when they're digested will heat you up from the inside (for example ginger or dates), while others cool you down (like green tea or mung beans). It's important to have a balance between these, so I like to just drink some chrysanthemum tea during the week so I'm not boiling in this heat too much! To brew a cup, I just boil some water and pop two or three flowers in there, let it sit for 5 minutes, and I drink away! The taste is light and it smells very fragrant, and I sometimes add a few leaves of green tea for a bit of a different flavour. Such a must have!
I hope you liked this post! The things I've been enjoying lately seriously make staying indoors just a little bit more bearable.
If you missed the previous edition, you can check it out here!
What have you been enjoying lately?
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