10 things you can currently do from home

Последно ажурирана на Вторник, 09/11/2021

In order to fight the Coronavirus pandemic, it's important to stay home, wash your hands regularly and practice social distancing. But staying home doesn’t mean wasting time. On the contrary, it’s the perfect moment to learn something new.

Read and listen

If digging into “War and Peace” has always been your ultimate goal but you often felt discouraged by the size of the book, this is it. Now, you don’t even need to carry it in the bag. Speaking of classics, Project Gutenberg for instance invites the readers to download a selection of titles for free, whereas Wattpad invites you to discover or even write the next – perhaps – published pearl! 

If listening is more your thing, you can check Digitalbook (that also offers ebooks) or Audiobooks, Spotify’s playlist containing hours of recorded stories, from Oscar Wilde to Franz Kafka. 

Theatre 

Do you know what is almost as good as going to the Opéra in Paris? Going on the website of the Opéra in Paris and watching, from the comfort of your armchair, some of the greatest plays of all time. You can see the calendar here. 
More opera as well on the YouTube channel of the Venetian theatre “La Fenice”.

This year, the sixth edition of the Irish festival, Poetry Day, will be held online on the 29th of April, it will include virtual poetry workshops, readings and much more.

An interesting initiative to highlight is the Social Distancing Festival, on this website it is possible to upload your online event and check which shows or concerts are being streamed around the world.

Music

If you’d like to have access to various concerts (mostly classical music) you can explore online the Müpa Budapest, one of Hungary's most modern cultural institutions.

Yes, it became possible to personally ask Chris Martin to play your favourite Coldplay song. No kidding, you can look for yourself here. During these past few weeks, many artists are hosting live concerts on their Facebook or Instagram profiles, from John Legend to Pink, It’s also a lovely opportunity to get a glimpse of their apartments. Here is a collection (of the performances, not of the apartments).

Art, Heritage and Museums

UNESCO made available its World Digital Library (containing almost 20.000 items between maps, images and pictures) and the EU National Institutes of Culture (EUNIC) put together a list of cultural activities coming from its members.

This is also a good time to discover cultural heritage from European museums on Europeana or to get lost on Google Arts & Culture database. If interested in very specific exhibitions there is Faces of Frida, Frida Kahlo’s retrospective.

Did you know that the beneficiaries of the Creative Europe Programme are showcasing their art on social media? You can look into it by following the hashtag #CreativeEuropeAtHome.

Missing Sunday morning at the museum? You can keep on with this habit thanks to various virtual experiences. Here’s a list with some European museums that can be explored online: The Vatican Museums (Rome-Italy), National Archeological Museum (Athens-Greece), Museo del Prado (Madrid-Spain), The Louvre (Paris-France), Prague Castle (Prague-Czech Republic), the Museums of Lithuania, The Dali Theatre-Museum (Figueres-Spain), the Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest-Hungary), National Museum (Warsaw-Poland; available in Polish only). More museums? Look here. 

New skills 

Feel like developing new skills? Have a look into European e-learning resources here.

If particularly interested in programming take a look at the videos of freeCodeCamp.org. 

You can decide to spend some time developing a new skill, this being a new language or a musical instrument. Platforms such as Coursera or Canvas offer a wide variety of courses, some free of charge. You can work on your language skills using free language learning apps like Duolingo, Memrise or Quizlet. 

Courses

Universities around the world are offering their courses online for free (or at-least partially free). These courses are collectively called MOOCS or Massive Open Online Courses. Around 600 courses (coming from 190 Universities) are currently available online for free on Class Central. 

On Edx you can see other options too, while if specifically interested in the ones promoted by Ivy League Universities you can check here. In some cases you may have to pay extra for a certification. 

If you are into human rights you can pick the academy of Amnesty International, available in multiple languages.

Sport

With the gym closed it is a bit more tricky to keep yourself active and don’t feel as if the couch is slowly starting to swallow you. On YouTube, there are various free workouts that can be easily followed indoors. Some channels? Check for instance POPSUGAR Fitness, FitnessBlender or these 20 minutes exercise for beginners. 

If you are more like a yoga person look into Yoga with Adriene for instance (or control if your regular studio is promoting online classes). Feel like you’ve been sitting too much time? Then have a look at these stretching exercises you can do directly from a chair or follow the daily free Pilates/Yoga live videos from FitnessandPilates. Why not also trying out some Tai Chi figures or meditate 5-minute a day. There are plenty of videos available online.

You can always have a look at your app stores and check for apps that are currently offering free trials during this #stayhome period. 

Cinema

Probably you are already well aware of the most common streaming platforms, if you don’t have an account yet you could start now with a free trial period. If more charmed by art-house films and less by blockbuster you may consider Mubi, a platform co funded by the MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe, which you can access 7 days for free, extra help during the quarantine.

The International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA) is providing online access to 300 documentaries and let’s not forget Arte, the European platform which contains documentaries, feature films, news-related programmes, music and other performing arts. You can also always check the libraries of your national broadcasters for content in your own language.

Other sources of free movies (as well as other materials) are the Internet Archive or Open Culture.

Cook

Everyone is noticing how finding flour or baking powder in the supermarkets is getting slightly more complicated, but if you are one of the lucky ones that got some off the shelf, it’s a nice idea to get your hands on a few new recipes.

Here are good choices when looking for yummy European recipes, while on European Cuisines you can directly select country by country. 

Why not try a daily theme for discovering new cuisines and having a feel of travelling? Fancy a Monday in Italy with freshly made pasta, a Tuesday in Bulgaria with Tarator, a Wednesday in Sweden with a Toast Skagen?

If you are more of a sweet tooth, challenge yourself by making the Italian Tiramisù, which literally means “Lift me up” or explore this collection of European desserts.

Inspiration

Fair enough, you don’t know exactly when life will be back to normal, but this doesn’t have to stop your willingness to plan upcoming trips or life-changing experiences abroad. Here you can find the perfect Ted Talks playlist focusing on travelling, you can listen to it while browsing on Eurodesk’s Opportunity Finder for inspiration or while creating a profile on the European Solidarity Corps portal.
 

Of course, there are endless offline and online possibilities to fill your days during this very peculiar period. It’s good to create a routine and keep busy but, sometimes, you should allow yourself to feel bored too; from empty and less dynamic moments come the best ideas.