Speech from Harvard that I said I would link to in the dooblydoo but didn't like to in the dooblydoo because I'm so tired and uploaded nine hours earlier than I intended to upload. th-cam.com/video/EQ3DakqVrvo/w-d-xo.html Also, Light Roasts and decaf are coming to the awesome coffee club next month. Hope you're well. I'm so exhausted. -John
It was a wonderful speech. I almost responded out loud to your joke about having the lowest SAT score in the room, with the fact that I have never taken the SATs…but remembered that would accidentally be heckling just in time. Thanks for the thoughts from places!
I think I’ve finally got it: Hank’s voice is excitement and wonder and makes me want to learn all of the things. John’s voice is introspection and gravity and makes me want to be present in my own life, despite.
"waiting for the train to emerge out of the darkness like a metaphor" followed immediately by the "escalator to heaven" is the best 1-2 combo since John learned to finish our sandwiches
I live in London and recently had a conversation with an uber driver who is the dad of an AFC Wimbledon player - he also got teary-eyed talking about the stadium and he was so proud that his son played for the team with the best fans!
It's so so so hard. I'm sorry. I was really helped by ocular/vestibular physical therapy but different people have different results with different treatments. Sorry you have to live with it. -John
I can't go far without wheezing thanks to post covid but this video reminded me that actually going outside might be worth it sometimes. Here's to both of us recovering in time.
Just watched this while getting ready to go for a long walk in the autumn leaves, my first walk alone since my dad passed unexpectedly a month ago. I wasn't sure I could do it. So thank you for the reminder that even though the world seems a little overwhelming right now, I can and should venture out into it. I'm closing TH-cam now, to go out into the terraverse, but thank you to you and to Hank, for being my metaverse father figures and for bringing me a little comfort and encouragement when I need it. Y'all are the best, thanks for being awesome 💜
we’re all sending you love from the terraverse. walking by myself can be really hard when I’ve got heavy things in my mind, and I can’t imagine how difficult it might be for you right now. ❤️
I lost my dad unexpectedly a year ago and getting out and seeing the beautiful changing trees was healing. Hope you find it so as well. Virtual hugs if you need.
I'm a lifelong chelsea fan but have been to plough lane a few times when I used to live near wimbledon. What you guys have done with AFC Wimbledon is amazing and I am jealous that your club is owned by the fans and not some foreign billionaire who has no idea what the football club stands for. I really hope you guys turn the season around and get back to league 1!
John, your speech at Harvard was my favourite piece of work from you to date. I think it literally changed my life. Thank you for sharing something so personal and yet so universal 💜
I also went to the freize London art fair and saw you there but I was too scared to say hi! The art was absolutely beautiful I've been twice now and it's breathtaking every time.
I just got back from London last week. I made so many internet-related plans with my internet-related friends, and I can confirm, there is nothing in the world that compares to seeing a real-life sunset with them.
my god, john’s videos to hank are just these bursts-into-your-life poems that completely enthral you. and hanks videos to john are full-of-passion storytelling that makes you see and understand something you’ve never seen before or given a second thought. i…. utterly love this. thank you.
I love this... but also as someone who hasn't been able to go outside in over a year and hasn't been able to really see the world in over 2 years due to severe MECFS this made me cry a lot. If you can go outside please do, and thank you to everyone who records the beautiful things in the world and puts them on the internet for those of us that can't.
I always find landscape paintings to be so haunting and transfixing in a way I can't really explain. Looking at paintings like those, my mind goes blank, but its also so hard to look away. Anyway, a perfect double rainbow and a stunning sunset? It seems like the world is trying to remind you how beautiful it is :)
First comment ever on a TH-cam video ever and just to say I got to go to your talk in Harvard on Friday and it was the highlight of my semester. It felt like listening to your Anthropocene podcast but live, a super surreal moment. Thank you John. Also I hope you found an answer to the question you got asked because I have been thinking about it none stop :)
Big virtual hugs to you. Lost mine a year ago. Be gentle with yourself in the coming months. Be prepared for the ebbs and flows of grief. Hold your memories tightly and be open to his presence inside your heart. You will get through.
Thoughts from places videos always remind me to go outside and experience a place firsthand - even if it's just for a walk to the store and standing still to watch the wind move the trees.
Amazing seeing Plough Lane in action after hearing about its journey from you! Lovely thoughts about the terraverse too. Think I'll go for a walk soon!
I love hearing other people talk about my home town - the good and the bad. “I need to be in the world and remember that I love it” is such a powerful thought and exactly describes how I felt/still feel getting back to the world since covid hit.
i just started college, i miss my mom, i miss my dog who followed me everywhere, i miss the goofy flavors my favorite hometown coffee place had. i am very small and the world is very big. thanks for this comfort, john. always a constant
It's early morning when I am, still dark out. On these fall/winter mornings where I'm up before the sun has even considered rising yet, I sometimes believe that it might never rise. That this darkness might be it, forever. But just when I've given up hope, the sun crests over the hillside and illuminates the world once again. Thanks, John, for bringing in the light this morning.
i remember watching the first london thoughts from places in middle school in india and now im watching it from lmy university room in london?? life is so weird
I am never more content than when I'm m outside, my wife's hand in mine. This weekend was our 26th anniversary, and we spent some of it at a local college's arboretum. It was so peaceful and the air just felt cleaner.
A London escalator "that rather resembles an escalator to heaven" is a phrase that will haunt my daily commute which includes 3 such London escalators. Never before have heaven and Bethnal Green tube station been so closely associated
Love that and love that you were in the UK. Us northerners forget that London isn't all a concrete jungle, there's much beauty in the city. Nice to visit but wouldn't want to live there - but only because of 'the commute' - nobody can actually 'afford' to live in central London. I must also add that 'thoughts from places' are my FAVOURITE VLOGBROTHERS VIDEOS.
Hello from almost 6am America! Your video makes me miss London, a place I just got to visit for the first time in July. We spent the longest time (3 nights) of our two weeks in Europe in London. Trafalgar Square really reminded me of being in the world, too--but so did Highgate Cemetery, a place where they were having their first funeral in years. The Tube did feel very metaphorical to me--especially if I apply it to Muriel Rukeyser's The Book of the Dead. Tunnels and things rushing out from darkness and the breeze that kicks up as they pass you and the way you look down a Tube train and it can go on forever, twisting and shaking and bright inside. Thanks for the Thoughts from Places vid. They're my absolute fave.
I keep forgetting that not everyone has access to a subway in their city. I take for granted those breezes and the trains. Thanks for reminding me how special they really are.
It's been interesting over the years to watch the evolution of "I'm from the Internet" and "Nerdfighteria is my hometown." Nothing about appreciating the world that isn't the internet, or about needing time outside, invalidates the reality of being a person who is deeply connected to the internet and likes being inside. It does add important dimensions to it, though.
I had Labyrinthitis earlier this year and it kept me in bed for a full month. The end of this video meant the world to me because I get absolutely terrified when I get a random bout of vertigo, but this made me feel a lot better. Thank you John. PS: I'd love to hear more about what you discovered about the illness and your general path to fighting it. You're the only person I've ever seen that also had it happen to them, so it's always nice to know it's not just me.
John welcome to London, I hope you enjoyed your stay here. There is nothing more beautiful than autumn in London but this autumn is especially beautiful 🍂
I am in my first semester of a graduate degree in social work. I was reading today about human behavior and the social environment. They talked about how therapeutic being in nature is and how hopsital patients in rooms with views of nature recover faster. You’re words about nature reminded me of this.
"waiting for the train to emerge out of the darkness like a metaphor" reminds me of the saying "there's a light at the end of the tunnel", yet I was visually struck by the fact that the train has headlights - it produces its own light to guide its path through the darkness, and is in fact itself a light in and throughout the tunnel.
Since I am now a few weeks out from chemo I have had the desire to walk to our nearby common but have not been able to motivate myself to go out in the cold. Maybe this reminder is the push I need.
Last month I was blessed to visit the Louvre and Rijksmuseum for the first time, along with the van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. I've been an art appreciator all my life, but to see these masterpieces in person was life changing. I didn't understand before how powerful it would be to stand in front of paintings, some centuries old, and be able to see the brush strokes. I could imagine having a conversation with the artists. I could feel how they might have felt as they put paint to canvas. The real world, the terraverse, is SO awesome! I'm grateful we can see it.
So far this year, this is my favorite. Thanks for explaining so eloquently my love for the terraverse. I moved to the mountains of Puerto Rico. I raise goats and grow coffee. It is completely new to me [4 years] but I just love the mountains and the views. Yes, it is the "same view" but every day something changes in the color pallets or the arrangement of the fauna and flora. Today the orchid I didn't know I had a months ago, flowered the most beautiful purple flower. Yes, we were without electricity for 21 days because of Hurricane Fiona and it broke my fridge, but I'm learning canning and fermenting so that I can be even more self-sufficient. I'm hoping to build a business with what I learn and the goats in this community with the goal to buy an acre or two near this property we are renting from my stepmom... so that we can finally build our happy here, be able to help here, and grow old here. My happy IS already here... is just not permanent yet. Then again, the impermanence of the terraverse with is landslides and earthquakes terraforming Terra is what I love about this beautifulplanet we call home. Even the inconvenience has the beauty of uniting a community during hard times. You see? You got me all inspired and stuff. Definitely my favorite vlog this year. May each one from now on surpasses it!
I was at memorial church for the speech! As a nerdfighter and as a UCC minister in cambridge area your words were so meaningful and so needed. excellent theology!!
Every Vlogbrothers videos always hits some tiny satisfying spot. This one, without a doubt, hit the spot dead center. Exactly what I needed today. Thanks guys.
Terraverse over everything! Labyrintitus is a unique kind of torture. I don't wish it on anyone, and it's always a small comfort hearing John talk about it.
I love the idea that tech is a complement to reality as a tool if it is used well and healthily. To love our interconnectedness to nature, one another, and the togetherness games we play, in the real world we came from and in the short-term or expansive spaces we create together. We're all hard-wired for connection and belonging.
This video essay expressed so well the feelings I had this weekend while I picked apples and pressed cider at an orchard near where I live. It was beautiful and grounding. Thanks for putting into words what I was feeling.
john, thank you. thank you for this window into plough lane, and your life, and the world outside of home and school.thank you for these thoughts that, i needed to hear so desperately. Go outside. Take a walk. Lay in the grass and see the branches cut open the sky. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
I keep seeing study abroad in London options at my college but I know it makes no sense for me financially or academically, so I appreciate this snippet of London vibes
Hope you enjoyed the match too, despite the result. Also, thanks for making me miss London even more that I already did. Yours sincerely, a Londoner in exile in the frozen north
I was at the Memorial Church speech! The best moment for me was how well the Timothée Chalamet quote landed - there was over a minute of applause after it.
Hey John! I know there’s a small likelihood of you seeing this, but I wanted to say that your speech at Harvard was really really wonderful. It made me think actual thoughts which were fully formed and not scary about my life and that doesn’t happen often. I even tried to recommend it to my mom, but I ran into the lovely problem of not-being-able-to-summarize-because-the-whole-thing-is-so-good. It was defiantly a “you just have to watch it please” moment. I turned it on while stress cooking and ending up stopping everything to listen. Your thoughts on suffering and proximity ring so true and it validated a lot of things I have been thinking about. I know you may not have intended that effect, but thanks for it anyways. You are such a thoughtful writer and thinker P.S I cannot WAIT until you answer that question from the girl 8 years from now. Thanks for your honesty in that moment-that was hilarious😂
im going to london by train this weekend!!! it takes a day and a half, but i love reading on the train and looking at the people and the nature. very Of the World.
This is something i came to terms with in college when I was studying media production A big thing to learn when trying to capture the beauty of the world through a lens is having to compromise on the fact that the human eye is far better than a lens will ever be (as far as current technology is concerned) and so every know and then i will look at the world and think on that fact and appreciate it
Thank you SO much John for talking about your experiences with Labyrinthitis. Vestibular diseases are extremely debilitating and life-altering and there isn't enough awareness about them. I have Meniere's Disease, a chronic vestibular disorder that causes vertigo and hearing loss. Vertigo episodes are 11/10 awful. Nothing makes me feel more trapped in my body than vertigo. Thanks for bringing some awareness to this rarely talked about health issue. Although I am deeply saddened by all the people experiencing vestibular issues from long covid, I am hopeful that it will lead to more research which in turn could help those of us with incurable and chronic vestibular diseases. Meniere's Disease has wreaked havoc on the trajectory of my life and many others', but nevertheless we persist. ❤
Thank you for sharing these words and images! What an incredible trip this must have been for your family. Knowing all the extraordinary mental, physical and practical challenges that needed to be overcome to get there, it seems like you all had some extraordinary experiences on the trip.
John you may be interested to read the story of Woodham Brothers Scrapyard in Barry, South Wales. There are haunting pictures of the yard in its heyday when over two hundred old steam locomotives lay there, rusting in the sea air as they waited to be cut up. Except that's not what happened. One by one they were bought up, mostly by societies of normal people who paid the scrap value and got to work restoring them. Not because the engines were profitable, or even historically important but because they didn't want to see those old machines die. These days the UK has one of the biggest fleets of heritage trains in the world, which I think stands as a testament to collective determination, as well as our attachment to beautiful, hundred year old lumps of metal.
"we lost on the day... We lost on a lot of days recently" is such a perfect way to sum up just about every small town football fan experience. (My local team recently scored 3 goals and lost 2:1...)
"Look at this light, these trees, and then know that out there, wherever you are, the light is more vivid, and the trees more alive than they can ever be on TH-cam." First, I'd like to acknowledge that the above quote is an absolutely wonderful and deeply thoughtful sentiment worth great consideration. And yes, the ultimate way to experience the 'terraverse', which is and always will be indeed vastly superior to anything on the internet, is to physically see these places in-person (or 'touch grass' there, as the saying goes). Unfortunately, not all of us have the financial ability to physically visit these wonderfully amazing places in the world, and so the closest we can get is viewing the scenes as others who DO have more economic freedom display them second-hand on the internet. I'm not sure I like the implication that those of us who can't set our feet in these spaces are failing to do something or choosing to trade something real for a less genuine version of that thing.
As someone who's currently living in London for the first time this year (and trying to take pictures of my surroundings for the first time) nothing ever looks quite the same on a photo than it does through my eyes. Maybe that's just the fact my glasses don't have glare proofing and they're covered in about five sheets of dust, but there's a way St Paul's top half glows at night while the rest is in darkness or the lights from the skyscrapers that images of them couldn't quite match. Absolutely agree on the Terraverse and hope London is/has been fun.
BEAUTIFULLY PROFOUND AND MOVING JOHN!!! Even tho I am 19, I see so much of myself in you and your passion for the world and in the power of words and how words can change the world. Idk if anyone is reading this right now but WORDS ARE POWERFUL, and that could be a bad thing or a good thing but I guess most things can be taken both ways, anyway thanks, like genuinely THANK YOU for being you and sharing parts of what make you, you. It really helps way more than you know. I guess that makes you ignorant of a lot of the good that you do in the world but you don’t have to know about it for it to be. I know the chance of us knowing each other personally is basically 0 but i guess that’s why I took the time to write out all of this because even if it don’t, there’s still a chance for you to read this and for us to make a small connection over the internet and our passion for..uhhhh WORDS AND IDEAS😂 thanks for reading :)))))
@@enycha22 John has a running joke when he visits European countries that every word in the language is exactly the same as the English, but with -o or -io on the end, because it sounds slightly Spanish. In this video, the joke is that US English-speakers say elevator, but the British English is lift- instead of saying lift, he's just doing the European languages joke. I don't know how clear this is, but hopefully it helps explain a very silly joke! :)
I just got back from a trip to London two days ago. The escalators truly do take you to heaven. Standing on one of those, I had time to contemplate all my deep regrets and joys, and come to peace with life thus far. And the leaves. Pure joy.
i grew up in alaska, and somehow made it to London for university (in the middle of covid no less) and as much as living here horribly depresses me, this video made me feel better. I didn't know about that football team, I didn't know about frieze london, makes me think there's some stuff worth while for me here, in the end hopefully it'll be worth it.
I took a very similar photo of the sky above where I am in South London at the weekend. Lovely to have you and the family in my part of the world John. The autumnal London Terraverse is indeed gorgeous.
I have never felt such hope after listening to a speech in a church before. Thank you for the talk. You, and this channel have been a part of my internet world for over a decade now, and seeing you speak in person was such a wonderful and strange experience.
I just went on an amazing trip to London about a month ago and your description of those steep elevators is apt! 😄 Also, we went to the National Gallery in London and in the medieval art section we played the "has this artist ever seen a baby" game and later saw some famous works by Monet, Van Gogh, and Turner; Before that I had NEVER seen art I've recognized in person!! It was incredible!
' i need to be in the world.' yes to a thoughts from places video. i've been home a bunch because of chronic pain flares and did go for a walk in central park on sunday bc i live close by and reminded myself of the beauty that exists by just sitting there and reading and people watching. yes to the terraverse. appreciate this community always!
I love listening to your view on life through books, vlogs, podcasts, and speeches. I can’t think of anyone capable of using better words in then best formation than you.
How annoying when one of your favourite youtubers was literally 20 mins away when at Plough Lane and I didn't get to meet them! Please come back to London soon :)
As a fan of a soccer team who almost always looses I understand the frustration but I am always amazed because the players did something that I can't do, they played a game I don't know how to play and we're good at it, sometimes the other team is better and we have to come to terms with that but I always maintain that it is better to root for the "underdog" because the lessons I've learned as a fan of Bella Vista I don't think I could learn by being a fan of a team with more money and more recognition. They taught me that it's okay to be down because they always find a way to get back up again, and I always try to practice that in my day to day life. You're right when you say soccer is way more than just soccer and players following a ball. DFTBA
Speech from Harvard that I said I would link to in the dooblydoo but didn't like to in the dooblydoo because I'm so tired and uploaded nine hours earlier than I intended to upload. th-cam.com/video/EQ3DakqVrvo/w-d-xo.html
Also, Light Roasts and decaf are coming to the awesome coffee club next month. Hope you're well. I'm so exhausted. -John
Yay for decaf!
Thanks for giving that speech. It was the my second favorite thing that happened last week.
It was a wonderful speech. I almost responded out loud to your joke about having the lowest SAT score in the room, with the fact that I have never taken the SATs…but remembered that would accidentally be heckling just in time. Thanks for the thoughts from places!
And YAY DECAF! Now I can join!!!
please get sleep
I think I’ve finally got it: Hank’s voice is excitement and wonder and makes me want to learn all of the things. John’s voice is introspection and gravity and makes me want to be present in my own life, despite.
Yep. I think you have summed it up well.
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Great use of despite. -John
Well now I’m beside myself.
@@cynnicysm I was just about to ask "despite" what?
god there is nothing i need more in my life right now than a thoughts from places video
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"waiting for the train to emerge out of the darkness like a metaphor" followed immediately by the "escalator to heaven" is the best 1-2 combo since John learned to finish our sandwiches
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😖😖😖 its not a train its a tube, and its not pronounced "toob" its "TChube"
@@watchonjar it is absolutely a train, and gatekeeping is for babies.
@@watchonjar pretty sure the tube is the tunnel system, not the trains themselves
“Its as if the whole place was telling me, touch grass” - John Green 2022
That’s the best quote of my life.
Followed by the look in the next shot was just *chef’s kiss*
I live in London and recently had a conversation with an uber driver who is the dad of an AFC Wimbledon player - he also got teary-eyed talking about the stadium and he was so proud that his son played for the team with the best fans!
As someone currently struggling for 8 months now with vertigo caused by long covid, I must say that the end of this video really spoke to my soul.
It's so so so hard. I'm sorry. I was really helped by ocular/vestibular physical therapy but different people have different results with different treatments. Sorry you have to live with it. -John
I can't go far without wheezing thanks to post covid but this video reminded me that actually going outside might be worth it sometimes. Here's to both of us recovering in time.
Just watched this while getting ready to go for a long walk in the autumn leaves, my first walk alone since my dad passed unexpectedly a month ago.
I wasn't sure I could do it. So thank you for the reminder that even though the world seems a little overwhelming right now, I can and should venture out into it.
I'm closing TH-cam now, to go out into the terraverse, but thank you to you and to Hank, for being my metaverse father figures and for bringing me a little comfort and encouragement when I need it.
Y'all are the best, thanks for being awesome 💜
❤️
we’re all sending you love from the terraverse. walking by myself can be really hard when I’ve got heavy things in my mind, and I can’t imagine how difficult it might be for you right now. ❤️
Sorry for your loss. Thinking about you and hoping you had a nice walk ❤️
I am so sorry for your loss. Losing a parent is like losing as part of yourself.
I lost my dad unexpectedly a year ago and getting out and seeing the beautiful changing trees was healing. Hope you find it so as well. Virtual hugs if you need.
“We’ll see what the people think.”
I think it’s a good bit!
"the meta verse is a compliment not a replacement to the terraverse"
100% on point
... just don't tell Zuckerberg. 😂
In more ways than one, thank you for taking us to Plough Lane John.
I hate to do it. I HATE to do it.
But that’s what she said
Sorry
@@ToriKo_ I don't think you're that sorry
I'm a lifelong chelsea fan but have been to plough lane a few times when I used to live near wimbledon. What you guys have done with AFC Wimbledon is amazing and I am jealous that your club is owned by the fans and not some foreign billionaire who has no idea what the football club stands for. I really hope you guys turn the season around and get back to league 1!
John, your speech at Harvard was my favourite piece of work from you to date. I think it literally changed my life. Thank you for sharing something so personal and yet so universal 💜
Hey, I can’t find the link. Can you please help?
I'd really like the link too please 🙏
@@sherrijennings9309 see below :)
@@timgertzen Where below? D:
The link is in the first comment from John in the comment section.
I'm going to go enjoy the autumnal-ness of just outside London now. Thank you for motivating me to enjoy the world.
Said the tree named Robert.
There's definitely a metaphor in here. ;P
I also went to the freize London art fair and saw you there but I was too scared to say hi! The art was absolutely beautiful I've been twice now and it's breathtaking every time.
Ahhh well I'm glad we got to see the same art at the same time at least! -John
I just got back from London last week. I made so many internet-related plans with my internet-related friends, and I can confirm, there is nothing in the world that compares to seeing a real-life sunset with them.
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my god, john’s videos to hank are just these bursts-into-your-life poems that completely enthral you.
and hanks videos to john are full-of-passion storytelling that makes you see and understand something you’ve never seen before or given a second thought.
i…. utterly love this. thank you.
I love this... but also as someone who hasn't been able to go outside in over a year and hasn't been able to really see the world in over 2 years due to severe MECFS this made me cry a lot. If you can go outside please do, and thank you to everyone who records the beautiful things in the world and puts them on the internet for those of us that can't.
I'm a couple of years behind on Dear Hank and John and the phrase 4th tier soccer team hit me far harder than I expected. :(
I’m only a yearish behind so I’m nervous every update bc I know it’s coming 😬
I always find landscape paintings to be so haunting and transfixing in a way I can't really explain. Looking at paintings like those, my mind goes blank, but its also so hard to look away.
Anyway, a perfect double rainbow and a stunning sunset? It seems like the world is trying to remind you how beautiful it is :)
I agree that many landscape paintings have a haunting beauty to them.
First comment ever on a TH-cam video ever and just to say I got to go to your talk in Harvard on Friday and it was the highlight of my semester. It felt like listening to your Anthropocene podcast but live, a super surreal moment. Thank you John. Also I hope you found an answer to the question you got asked because I have been thinking about it none stop :)
The captions called it "terror verse" and honestly, that feels fitting, too.
I needed this video. My dad passed away about 8 hours ago. This was great. Thank you.
So sorry for your loss! 😥
Sorry for your loss!
Big virtual hugs to you. Lost mine a year ago. Be gentle with yourself in the coming months. Be prepared for the ebbs and flows of grief. Hold your memories tightly and be open to his presence inside your heart. You will get through.
May his memory be a blessing to you.
@@3countylaugh thank you
Thoughts from places videos always remind me to go outside and experience a place firsthand - even if it's just for a walk to the store and standing still to watch the wind move the trees.
Amazing seeing Plough Lane in action after hearing about its journey from you! Lovely thoughts about the terraverse too. Think I'll go for a walk soon!
Update: I went for a walk in the autumn sun and it was lovely!
I love hearing other people talk about my home town - the good and the bad. “I need to be in the world and remember that I love it” is such a powerful thought and exactly describes how I felt/still feel getting back to the world since covid hit.
One of the most poetic pieces I've heard in a long time. Thank you for your beautiful thoughts and words John.
i just started college, i miss my mom, i miss my dog who followed me everywhere, i miss the goofy flavors my favorite hometown coffee place had. i am very small and the world is very big. thanks for this comfort, john. always a constant
It's early morning when I am, still dark out. On these fall/winter mornings where I'm up before the sun has even considered rising yet, I sometimes believe that it might never rise. That this darkness might be it, forever. But just when I've given up hope, the sun crests over the hillside and illuminates the world once again. Thanks, John, for bringing in the light this morning.
i remember watching the first london thoughts from places in middle school in india and now im watching it from lmy university room in london?? life is so weird
I am never more content than when I'm m outside, my wife's hand in mine. This weekend was our 26th anniversary, and we spent some of it at a local college's arboretum. It was so peaceful and the air just felt cleaner.
Happy anniversary! Congrats!
A London escalator "that rather resembles an escalator to heaven" is a phrase that will haunt my daily commute which includes 3 such London escalators. Never before have heaven and Bethnal Green tube station been so closely associated
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Yeah, I bet I'll think about that tomorrow as I emerge from the tube, bleary eyed at London Bridge :)
At least it's not the stairs.
I love these Garison Keillor esque videos of John's, it's always the thoughtful ones that get me
The talk on friday was incredible, i was so happy to have been there! Thank you
Love that and love that you were in the UK. Us northerners forget that London isn't all a concrete jungle, there's much beauty in the city. Nice to visit but wouldn't want to live there - but only because of 'the commute' - nobody can actually 'afford' to live in central London. I must also add that 'thoughts from places' are my FAVOURITE VLOGBROTHERS VIDEOS.
Hello from almost 6am America! Your video makes me miss London, a place I just got to visit for the first time in July. We spent the longest time (3 nights) of our two weeks in Europe in London. Trafalgar Square really reminded me of being in the world, too--but so did Highgate Cemetery, a place where they were having their first funeral in years. The Tube did feel very metaphorical to me--especially if I apply it to Muriel Rukeyser's The Book of the Dead. Tunnels and things rushing out from darkness and the breeze that kicks up as they pass you and the way you look down a Tube train and it can go on forever, twisting and shaking and bright inside. Thanks for the Thoughts from Places vid. They're my absolute fave.
I keep forgetting that not everyone has access to a subway in their city. I take for granted those breezes and the trains. Thanks for reminding me how special they really are.
It's been interesting over the years to watch the evolution of "I'm from the Internet" and "Nerdfighteria is my hometown." Nothing about appreciating the world that isn't the internet, or about needing time outside, invalidates the reality of being a person who is deeply connected to the internet and likes being inside. It does add important dimensions to it, though.
I'm still in love with how you manage to include your children (here and pizzamas, etc.) while protecting their identity. (you = you and also Hank)
I had Labyrinthitis earlier this year and it kept me in bed for a full month. The end of this video meant the world to me because I get absolutely terrified when I get a random bout of vertigo, but this made me feel a lot better. Thank you John.
PS: I'd love to hear more about what you discovered about the illness and your general path to fighting it. You're the only person I've ever seen that also had it happen to them, so it's always nice to know it's not just me.
John welcome to London, I hope you enjoyed your stay here. There is nothing more beautiful than autumn in London but this autumn is especially beautiful 🍂
I am in my first semester of a graduate degree in social work. I was reading today about human behavior and the social environment. They talked about how therapeutic being in nature is and how hopsital patients in rooms with views of nature recover faster. You’re words about nature reminded me of this.
I just moved to the east coast after growing up in Texas all my life. Currently having my first “absurdly autumnal” experience and it is incredible
"waiting for the train to emerge out of the darkness like a metaphor" reminds me of the saying "there's a light at the end of the tunnel", yet I was visually struck by the fact that the train has headlights - it produces its own light to guide its path through the darkness, and is in fact itself a light in and throughout the tunnel.
Sometime the light you see in the tunnel is not the light at the end of the tunnel, it is the headlights of the express train about to smash into you.
Since I am now a few weeks out from chemo I have had the desire to walk to our nearby common but have not been able to motivate myself to go out in the cold. Maybe this reminder is the push I need.
I hope it's that a few weeks out means you've competed it rather than between cycles. I hope it got all your rogue cells. Enjoy your walks.
@@3countylaugh Yes, I completed. Eight cycles. My surgeon elected to do chemo first so that's what is up next. Thanks for the good wishes.
I will never not love thoughts from places. It’s like a postcard from places that you’ll never be able to see in such a light.
Last month I was blessed to visit the Louvre and Rijksmuseum for the first time, along with the van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. I've been an art appreciator all my life, but to see these masterpieces in person was life changing. I didn't understand before how powerful it would be to stand in front of paintings, some centuries old, and be able to see the brush strokes. I could imagine having a conversation with the artists. I could feel how they might have felt as they put paint to canvas. The real world, the terraverse, is SO awesome! I'm grateful we can see it.
thanks John for the the spirit-lift... much appreciated
I've used the motivation of walking to pick up a food order to get myself outside, and truly makes a big difference
So far this year, this is my favorite.
Thanks for explaining so eloquently my love for the terraverse. I moved to the mountains of Puerto Rico. I raise goats and grow coffee. It is completely new to me [4 years] but I just love the mountains and the views.
Yes, it is the "same view" but every day something changes in the color pallets or the arrangement of the fauna and flora. Today the orchid I didn't know I had a months ago, flowered the most beautiful purple flower.
Yes, we were without electricity for 21 days because of Hurricane Fiona and it broke my fridge, but I'm learning canning and fermenting so that I can be even more self-sufficient.
I'm hoping to build a business with what I learn and the goats in this community with the goal to buy an acre or two near this property we are renting from my stepmom... so that we can finally build our happy here, be able to help here, and grow old here. My happy IS already here... is just not permanent yet. Then again, the impermanence of the terraverse with is landslides and earthquakes terraforming Terra is what I love about this beautifulplanet we call home.
Even the inconvenience has the beauty of uniting a community during hard times.
You see? You got me all inspired and stuff. Definitely my favorite vlog this year.
May each one from now on surpasses it!
I was at memorial church for the speech! As a nerdfighter and as a UCC minister in cambridge area your words were so meaningful and so needed. excellent theology!!
Gosh I love the way a 'Thoughts from Places' video can make me feel. It's life feeling genuine human connection when you haven't had that all day.
Every Vlogbrothers videos always hits some tiny satisfying spot. This one, without a doubt, hit the spot dead center. Exactly what I needed today. Thanks guys.
Terraverse over everything!
Labyrintitus is a unique kind of torture. I don't wish it on anyone, and it's always a small comfort hearing John talk about it.
I'm so happy John had the opportunity to attend another match!! It's been so long 🥲
I love the idea that tech is a complement to reality as a tool if it is used well and healthily. To love our interconnectedness to nature, one another, and the togetherness games we play, in the real world we came from and in the short-term or expansive spaces we create together. We're all hard-wired for connection and belonging.
I LOVE THOUGHTS FROM PLACES
This video essay expressed so well the feelings I had this weekend while I picked apples and pressed cider at an orchard near where I live. It was beautiful and grounding. Thanks for putting into words what I was feeling.
john, thank you. thank you for this window into plough lane, and your life, and the world outside of home and school.thank you for these thoughts that, i needed to hear so desperately. Go outside. Take a walk. Lay in the grass and see the branches cut open the sky. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Thoughts from places is second only to reunion videos in my mind. Thanks as always.
5 am vlogbrothers I’m here for this
I keep seeing study abroad in London options at my college but I know it makes no sense for me financially or academically, so I appreciate this snippet of London vibes
I was walking that same park path just yesterday...it is absurdly autumnal (and absurdly populated by water fowl)!
I love this beautiful and hard world we live in and I always will. Thanks for reminding me why.
Hope you enjoyed the match too, despite the result.
Also, thanks for making me miss London even more that I already did.
Yours sincerely, a Londoner in exile in the frozen north
I was at the Memorial Church speech! The best moment for me was how well the Timothée Chalamet quote landed - there was over a minute of applause after it.
I was watching from home, but I laughed so hard at that bit oh my goodness😂
Hey John! I know there’s a small likelihood of you seeing this, but I wanted to say that your speech at Harvard was really really wonderful. It made me think actual thoughts which were fully formed and not scary about my life and that doesn’t happen often. I even tried to recommend it to my mom, but I ran into the lovely problem of not-being-able-to-summarize-because-the-whole-thing-is-so-good. It was defiantly a “you just have to watch it please” moment.
I turned it on while stress cooking and ending up stopping everything to listen. Your thoughts on suffering and proximity ring so true and it validated a lot of things I have been thinking about. I know you may not have intended that effect, but thanks for it anyways. You are such a thoughtful writer and thinker
P.S I cannot WAIT until you answer that question from the girl 8 years from now. Thanks for your honesty in that moment-that was hilarious😂
Such beautiful word usage, thank you John.
Your thoughts from places is my favorite series of videos. Thank you
im going to london by train this weekend!!! it takes a day and a half, but i love reading on the train and looking at the people and the nature. very Of the World.
This is something i came to terms with in college when I was studying media production
A big thing to learn when trying to capture the beauty of the world through a lens is having to compromise on the fact that the human eye is far better than a lens will ever be (as far as current technology is concerned) and so every know and then i will look at the world and think on that fact and appreciate it
Thank you SO much John for talking about your experiences with Labyrinthitis. Vestibular diseases are extremely debilitating and life-altering and there isn't enough awareness about them. I have Meniere's Disease, a chronic vestibular disorder that causes vertigo and hearing loss. Vertigo episodes are 11/10 awful. Nothing makes me feel more trapped in my body than vertigo. Thanks for bringing some awareness to this rarely talked about health issue. Although I am deeply saddened by all the people experiencing vestibular issues from long covid, I am hopeful that it will lead to more research which in turn could help those of us with incurable and chronic vestibular diseases. Meniere's Disease has wreaked havoc on the trajectory of my life and many others', but nevertheless we persist. ❤
Thank you for sharing these words and images! What an incredible trip this must have been for your family. Knowing all the extraordinary mental, physical and practical challenges that needed to be overcome to get there, it seems like you all had some extraordinary experiences on the trip.
Thoughts From Places is my favorite. Thank you once again for sharing this with us
John you may be interested to read the story of Woodham Brothers Scrapyard in Barry, South Wales. There are haunting pictures of the yard in its heyday when over two hundred old steam locomotives lay there, rusting in the sea air as they waited to be cut up. Except that's not what happened. One by one they were bought up, mostly by societies of normal people who paid the scrap value and got to work restoring them. Not because the engines were profitable, or even historically important but because they didn't want to see those old machines die. These days the UK has one of the biggest fleets of heritage trains in the world, which I think stands as a testament to collective determination, as well as our attachment to beautiful, hundred year old lumps of metal.
"we lost on the day... We lost on a lot of days recently" is such a perfect way to sum up just about every small town football fan experience.
(My local team recently scored 3 goals and lost 2:1...)
Love a good ol' thoughts from places video.
Of all the things taken from us over the past 3 years, the outdoors is the one that makes me spite the circumstances the most.
It’s so weird being awake at almost 4 am Seattle time, and seeing a vlogbrothers video that was posted less than an hour ago….
Help fellow early west coast riser, we got this! Sunrise is only 1 hour away now.
I love getting lost in art. It helps quiet my mind and soul 😊
"Look at this light, these trees, and then know that out there, wherever you are, the light is more vivid, and the trees more alive than they can ever be on TH-cam."
First, I'd like to acknowledge that the above quote is an absolutely wonderful and deeply thoughtful sentiment worth great consideration. And yes, the ultimate way to experience the 'terraverse', which is and always will be indeed vastly superior to anything on the internet, is to physically see these places in-person (or 'touch grass' there, as the saying goes). Unfortunately, not all of us have the financial ability to physically visit these wonderfully amazing places in the world, and so the closest we can get is viewing the scenes as others who DO have more economic freedom display them second-hand on the internet. I'm not sure I like the implication that those of us who can't set our feet in these spaces are failing to do something or choosing to trade something real for a less genuine version of that thing.
I too have found myself spending more time outside than on a computer
As someone who's currently living in London for the first time this year (and trying to take pictures of my surroundings for the first time) nothing ever looks quite the same on a photo than it does through my eyes.
Maybe that's just the fact my glasses don't have glare proofing and they're covered in about five sheets of dust, but there's a way St Paul's top half glows at night while the rest is in darkness or the lights from the skyscrapers that images of them couldn't quite match.
Absolutely agree on the Terraverse and hope London is/has been fun.
BEAUTIFULLY PROFOUND AND MOVING JOHN!!! Even tho I am 19, I see so much of myself in you and your passion for the world and in the power of words and how words can change the world. Idk if anyone is reading this right now but WORDS ARE POWERFUL, and that could be a bad thing or a good thing but I guess most things can be taken both ways, anyway thanks, like genuinely THANK YOU for being you and sharing parts of what make you, you. It really helps way more than you know. I guess that makes you ignorant of a lot of the good that you do in the world but you don’t have to know about it for it to be. I know the chance of us knowing each other personally is basically 0 but i guess that’s why I took the time to write out all of this because even if it don’t, there’s still a chance for you to read this and for us to make a small connection over the internet and our passion for..uhhhh WORDS AND IDEAS😂 thanks for reading :)))))
ill never forget crash course 😭😭❤️
Can confirm John, we do call it an elevatoro in the UK- lots of people get that wrong 😉
Commit to the bit!
@@3countylaugh Always!
would anyone explain the joke for a non-english speaker?
@@enycha22 John has a running joke when he visits European countries that every word in the language is exactly the same as the English, but with -o or -io on the end, because it sounds slightly Spanish. In this video, the joke is that US English-speakers say elevator, but the British English is lift- instead of saying lift, he's just doing the European languages joke. I don't know how clear this is, but hopefully it helps explain a very silly joke! :)
I just got back from a trip to London two days ago. The escalators truly do take you to heaven. Standing on one of those, I had time to contemplate all my deep regrets and joys, and come to peace with life thus far. And the leaves. Pure joy.
Perfect illustration at 3min of “the internet is a complement to the terraverse”. I never would have seen that sky without the internet.
i grew up in alaska, and somehow made it to London for university (in the middle of covid no less) and as much as living here horribly depresses me, this video made me feel better. I didn't know about that football team, I didn't know about frieze london, makes me think there's some stuff worth while for me here, in the end hopefully it'll be worth it.
One of my favorite things on TH-cam was the Art Assignment art trips, and this was a nice reminder of those.
Thoughts From Places videos are always are such a pleasant surprise.
I took a very similar photo of the sky above where I am in South London at the weekend. Lovely to have you and the family in my part of the world John. The autumnal London Terraverse is indeed gorgeous.
I have never felt such hope after listening to a speech in a church before. Thank you for the talk. You, and this channel have been a part of my internet world for over a decade now, and seeing you speak in person was such a wonderful and strange experience.
Wow early upload. Glad you had a fun vacation! The art you shared with us is beautiful :)
This was exactly what I needed. It always is. Thank you, John. ❤️
I just went on an amazing trip to London about a month ago and your description of those steep elevators is apt! 😄 Also, we went to the National Gallery in London and in the medieval art section we played the "has this artist ever seen a baby" game and later saw some famous works by Monet, Van Gogh, and Turner; Before that I had NEVER seen art I've recognized in person!! It was incredible!
' i need to be in the world.' yes to a thoughts from places video. i've been home a bunch because of chronic pain flares and did go for a walk in central park on sunday bc i live close by and reminded myself of the beauty that exists by just sitting there and reading and people watching. yes to the terraverse. appreciate this community always!
I love listening to your view on life through books, vlogs, podcasts, and speeches. I can’t think of anyone capable of using better words in then best formation than you.
How annoying when one of your favourite youtubers was literally 20 mins away when at Plough Lane and I didn't get to meet them! Please come back to London soon :)
thoughts from places has always been my favorite vlogbrothers videos
As a fan of a soccer team who almost always looses I understand the frustration but I am always amazed because the players did something that I can't do, they played a game I don't know how to play and we're good at it, sometimes the other team is better and we have to come to terms with that but I always maintain that it is better to root for the "underdog" because the lessons I've learned as a fan of Bella Vista I don't think I could learn by being a fan of a team with more money and more recognition. They taught me that it's okay to be down because they always find a way to get back up again, and I always try to practice that in my day to day life. You're right when you say soccer is way more than just soccer and players following a ball. DFTBA