A year later ...

February already! A year since we started The New Project, and as you probably noticed, we are far from having accomplished our 365 new things.

A message from Chloe:
As I am writing these words, the last post is indeed showing #112 ... still 253 to go! So, ok it was more difficult than what we thought, and well, life also changes in ways you don't expect and then you don't follow the initial plan. Me for example, I moved back to London and am not working much. So living in one of the most expensive cities in Europe with a small income ... doesn't help to try new things. Do take me wrong, I haven't give up on The New Project at all!! I am still doing things, I haven't written on the blog in a while but I have some stuff waiting, just need to take the time to write everything down. I am not doing as many things as I would like to, first because even if I am not full-time employed, I am still extremely busy (yes, yes), and second because I do lack of ideas that wouldn't require me spending money (by the way, any suggestions?).

Anyway, all this to say that it has been a year already but since we didn't reach our goal, The New Project will keep going on! After all, the purpose of all of this was more to try new things than do it in a short period of time. Of course, we won't take 10 years to do everything, The New Project is still about accomplishing as many things as you can in the shortest possible time. I really want to go to the end of this because I think it was a wonderful idea, and I'm quite sure it helped me to change my life (which has change A LOT in a year).

Some time ago, we received a mail from somebody who ended up on this blog and was inspired by our project to start one of her own. We didn't consider this when we started, but a few months ago, after a suggestion from our friend Maddy, we thought that having some guests on The New Project would be nice. Either if they have been inspired by our idea, or just because they happened to have done something new and would like to share the experience. Grégoire told us about his turkey adventure on Thanksgiving and Sean his experience of flying, facing thus one of his fears (he actually travels by plane quite often now so hurray! to him). So don't forget, if you too have done something new and want to share the experience here with us, send us an email (you can contact us here : chloeandangela at gmail.com), or well, if you are friend or family (since most of the readers of this blog are), the easiest thing would probably to contact us on our personal addresses :)

And now, let's finish these 365 new things!

A message from Angela:
When we first started this project, I needed to jump start my life a bit.  I know, I live in Prague, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, why do I need to improve my life?  Because I was in a rut.  I needed to branch out; find new places to enjoy, try new things, meet new people, etc.  And I have.  So much so that I have almost forgotten that it was part of my plan to try new things all the time.

With the restaurants and bars, I just try new places without stopping to think about it, so half the time I forget to mark it on the list of places.  I went to Roxy in VERY cold weather with only 2 sweaters and no jacket at the insistence of some Germans. I slid down a frozen hill while wearing a dress, without a sled.  All these things (while half not written up yet, sorry, getting there!) have been done with a bit of persuasion and a bit of courage.  The 'Why not' attitude has taken hold and I feel more likely to try something than to turn the opportunity down.

You may ask why this project has taken us a year to get through.  It's been a couple of reasons for me: 1. Too many new things.  I'm busy doing and not writing.  Sorry!  2. Sometimes there are things lacking, like a defined plan (think Shakespeare recited on the tram) or a cheap plan (being a teacher in the summer can be a very poor time) or there's a language barrier that would/could be harmful to my well-being (think kite+snowboard).

To sum, this has been a great project and I encourage you to send us your experiences (you can post anonymously if you want).  Thinking about trying new things for a year, makes trying new things a habit.  A habit that can be very rewarding (my new favorite cafe), disgusting (tlacenka), or hilarious (remember the  Cocktail Cupboard?).

Enough writing about WHY I'm delaying, and on to trying and writing about new things! xxx