sunny mornings and rainy days

I'm back in Paris after fall break, and full of a quiche that I made all by myself (are you proud?) because I am tired of making fried eggs, pasta, rice and beans, and salad. I clearly need to buy a cookbook. Because I'm avoiding work at all costs, I thought I'd send out a little update on my weekend trip travels.

L O N D O N

I popped to London (which I think I already mentioned somewhere), mostly because I wanted the excuse to get on the Chunnel.

Not really.

I was excited to get some regularly priced tea in my body (tea here is $$), and speak the queen's English for three days straight to anyone I wanted. I didn't know how grateful I was to speak a language fluently until I got off the train in London. I imagine it's the feeling you get when you put on perfectly prescribed glasses for the first time: everything was crystal clear. Since we arrived at night, my friend Maddy and I headed straight to our YHA hostel (lovely) and after rustling around to get all our clothes in our cubbies we conked out.

The first thing we did was search for an English breakfast, and we found a delish one that had a veggie (!!) option with a portabello mushroom and halloumi instead of meat. We then wandered to the National Gallery and wandered about aimlessly, one earbud in, enjoying the art and the large groups of young British school kids having their first art history lessons. Then we hopped on a bus and climbed to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral, which offers a gorgeous, albeit blustery, view of the city, if you don't mind winding staircases or the word shart engraved on a wall.

Our last stop of the day was the Tate Modern, where we made imprints of our butts on the floor before wandering up and down its many floors. We stumbled on an empty room that was filled with a pepperminty-chemical, designed to make you cry. The idea was to create a space of collective feeling, and it was an intense moment amongst a weekend of giggles and dancing. We headed home for a rest before popping back out to see Heathers, (!!!) but not before we had a dinner of yummy Baos across the street).

Heathers is quintessential high school, and to this day, the opening notes send me immediately back to 6AM wake-ups, hunched over on the A train, fighting off sleep on my way to school. To top it all off Heathers is playing in the west end with Carrie Hope Fletcher, an actress and author who I followed religiously way back when. I felt like I (at the least) owed it to my younger self to snatch up a ticket while I was in town. 80's music was piped in while the audience was being welcomed, so by the time the curtains rose I was truly pumped, and I was not disappointed.

The show was gorgeous, and the only things that threw me off were the change of the song "Blue" to the song "You're Welcome" and the addition of "I Will Never Shut Up Again". "Blue" was a comical song where Veronica evades Kurt and Ram while they chase her down with blue balls, and it was transformed into a rap number that Veronica sings about evading their assault. The song was aimed to give Veronica a bigger voice in the attempted assault, but for me, it deviated from the show's voice and created higher, scarier, stakes. With "Blue" the threat of assault was obviously not imminent because Kurt and Ram were clearly stupid, and going to be outsmarted by Veronica. "You're Welcome" creates the threat of assault in a real way, giving Kurt and Ram an agency they don't deserve (or have) for the rest of the show. As for "I Will Never Shut Up Again", it was sung by the beautifully talented T'Shan Williams, but the lyrics and tone felt out of place again, and it seemed like a Random Black Girl moment more than anything else. She deserved a more developed character and moment.

OK I'm done with the theater talk now.

We hit up Notting Hill to wander around the Portabello Market trying things on and wandering around the colorful houses, ate at one of my favorite Mexican restos in London, Wahaca (great cocktails, and a respite from bland french food), and headed out to a pub (that I've forgotten the name of) and danced all night to a wide range of our favorite 2000's hits. The next morning we rolled ourselves out of bed in time to make it to our Afternoon High Tea, where we became quickly over-caffeinated and tried to see what strange things we could make stick to our faces.

I've found through my many high tea escapades that my faves are Boise in NYC and Sketch in London because if you are gonna do it, you might as well Do It. Our experience was great though, and we learned the hard way that you should intermingle your finger sandwiches with the predominantly sweet flavors of the rest of your Afternoon Tea tiers. We waddled back to the tunnel, coming down from our Earl Grey highs and groaning at the prospect of going back to regular weekday life.

The strangest part about these weekend trips is returning back to Paris with the realization that it is home. New York never feels so far away as it does when I'm in transit back to my apartment on the Metro, and I often try to conceptualize what I am going to feel when I actually step off the plane back in the USA. I got off the train feeling more at home in Paris than I did when I left.

F L O R E N C E

My trip to Florence was bookended by some pretty serious early flights, so the entire trip I felt a bone tiredness that I only feel when I travel. Florence is known for its paper goods, and so I scooted myself over there for 5 days of fall break. It rained pretty much the entire time, which was a little dampening for morale (haha), but there is really no way I can complain about wandering the streets of yet another gorgeous place, snagging some florentine marble paper and Intimissimi bras.

Our first day was the brightest one of our trip, and we took advantage by walking to a gorgeous church decked out in minty green and white, where we could see a beautiful view of the city. We traipsed down the hill for lunch, and admired Florence's famous Duomo: as far as I understood, the Duomo is not only covered with tourists but is also the center of the city, making the energy surrounding it a little stressful, but making the Duomo (which I thought looked like a fantastic piece of candy) no less gorgeous.


We mostly wandered along the winding streets, remarking how different the architecture was from Paris' building motifs, but we visited the modern art museum too and enjoyed a quick look around at the many different mediums.

Oh yeah, and we had pasta. The main attraction for might have been the food (is that bad?), and we spent a lot of time searching for exactly what we wanted: for an Italian city, it was surprisingly difficult to find pasta...or anything for that matter. Florentine stores/restos/bars all seem to have wildly different hours, and we came across a lot of closed doors that were supposed to be open.

On our last full day, we took a bus ride to Sienna, a little town famous for their huge city center (among other things). It was gloomy and cold but we took it in stride, laughing as the rain poured and exploring the petit coins of a city that hasn't ever been touched by war. We wandered to a church built in the 1200s, and I almost could feel time moving under me as my footsteps echoed in the halls.

We grabbed probably the most delish ice cream I've ever had, hazelnut-stracciatella and cherry, and visited Sienna's Duomo, which was decked out in stars and beautiful tiles, before getting back on the bus for one last drink and dinner in Florence.

Returning to Paris was exhausting, and I spent Halloween curled up in bed watching some Netflix and recalibrating: I organized the rest of my travel for this crazy study abroad adventure, and flipping through the pages on my GCal (all hail) freaked me out a little. This trip seems to get exponentially faster each day, and I am trying not to blink and miss it.

In between all my traveling I have been trying to squeeze in some sights in Paris. I traveled to Fountainbleu, and even though I have NO pictures, I promise you it was gorgeous. I liked getting out of Paris for a day, and Chateau de Fountainbleu was grand, tranquil, and devoid of tourists. I think it's worth the train ride to see a castle where there aren't huge lines or selfie sticks tripping you at every turn (Versailles, cough, cough).

I also took the metro to Porte de Clignacourt to wander the twists and turns of Paris's most well-known flea market again, and I was not disappointed. Among the bits and bobs, I snagged a gorgeous faux-leather jacket from an artist, Laetitia Messegue, running her booth.

C O P E N H A G E N

Before I knew it, I was off to Copenhagen, and I can't tell you how surprised I am that we are already this late in the semester. I planned this trip a while ago, and in my mind, it would stay far away forever, because November seemed eons in the future. Whoops. Here we are, and I am SO sorry that I don't keep you all as updated as I should. 

We arrived in Copenhagen for one of the more brutally cold weekends I have had in Europe, so naturally, I bought some lavender gloves and nursed hot drinks the entire weekend. Copenhagen feels full to the brim with festivities, especially because we are coming up on Christmas. The brisk weather only added to how cozy I felt sipping gloog (Cope's amazing mulled//spiced wine) and walking amongst their colorful houses and holly-decked markets. Nyhaven (the street of houses you see all over insta) does NOT disappoint. 

We climbed the clock tower for a view of the city, and I am happy to report that the skyline reflects the city itself : colorful and calm. 

Next we wandered to Rosenborg castle, muttering about how we've already visited too many Chateaus, and wondering how a Danish royal building could really be that different. Instead, I found the castle that was in all my stories as a kid: gloomily lit with paintings lining the walls, statues lining the garden paths, and a huge willow tree perfect for hiding.

After our stint in the castle, we headed to Freetown Christiania, a truly magical commune, separate from Copenhagen. Decked out by lanterns, buildings covered in graffiti and lined with dirt paths that got us immediately lost, Christiania felt a little like Neverland, if it was a little more dodgy and less fairy tale. You aren't allowed to take any pictures, so I have none for you, but one of the highlights of our trip was easily watching birds swim on the lake while the sun set peacefully at an early 5:30PM.

Our biggest evening out was split between La Bucherie, which was great for dancing, and played a ton of fun American songs (I can't tell you how much I miss that) and Bakken, which offered a smoky vibe, neon lights and electronic music.

Before I knew it, I was waking up with only a few hours of sleep under my belt, making my way through the literal mall that is the Copenhagen airport, and arriving back in Paris with a proverbial thump. I'm facing a week with 7.5 pages in French in it and a whole lot of laundry to wash, but I'm trying to soak up every spare second in this place. In three weeks my program will be over, and I still get out of the Metro sometimes, gobsmacked that I actually made it to Paris in the first place.

I thought I'd add the playlist I've been listening to while bopping on the metro, since you guys seemed to love Banana Pancakes when I posted it a while back!

I hope you enjoyed this little fly-by of my fly-bys---here's your moment of zen. xo