despite my previous entry,

i still want to travel. & really, everyone does. so, what prevents people from doing it? for me, it was the finances. i never thought that all these global experiences were possible bc i grew up fairly frugal & money-conscious...never with a surplus of the greens. buttt to me, the extra hefty loans (not to mention the rearranging of my school plans)and the consequent dark cloud lodged in the crevices of my brain is totally worth it (i hope).

everyone wants to travel. it's life-changing, and i wish i could bestow it upon others. if i was a ms. havisham, i'd give the gift of travel. but now i can only say it: GO!

(...with me. haha. i want to backpack in southeast asia in a few+ years after i start to recover from this trip)

as i always say,

teleportation is the best answer to the common question: which superpower would you choose to have?

i absolutely detest travelling. i loovve the experiences of travel, but dread the in-between time full of unending lines, tear-inducing stress, crazy ladies, unpredictable delays, nausea, and the like. blegh. i used to think that i liked the romantic idea of a port full of possibilities, but after fifteen trips to the airport in the past four months (& 33 hours to get home), i'll just be happy stay put for a while. ohmygosh, & after always having to take public transportation, it felt SO good to have someone pick you up--especially my fammm<3

merry late christmas

joyeux noel

i know it's not yet the 25th of Decembre, but i'm so blessed to have soaked a bit of Christmas spirit from places all over Europe. I love how Christmas feels so universal ~

amazing, what a blessing!

jack frost nipping at your nose

"as much as i hate the weather, the child in me feels joy when i see the first snowfall & that's what keeps me going through the winter" -Claudia, my crazycool French professor

as a California girl, i canNOT take the cold. i feel like it's a form of torture. i dread going outside & i can't imagine how much colder it will be as winter continues. shiver* (in fear & bc of the cold)

but... today i felt like a child. i absolutely loved today's gentle snowfall--where you can actually see the six hands of a single flat snowflake. it's so delicate and beautttiifffullllll ahhhhhhhh

it just makes you fall in love with paris again

here's to kids from one to ninety-two (:

the macaron

i remember i first came across it a couple years ago--unaware of any pre existing notion that it might have had.  to me, it was just a curious cookie that i carelessly picked. i almost confused it with the macaroon & wondered if it contained any coconut.

i was surprised at the light meringue-based confectionery, & noticed it's delicately domed top, fat feet & fresh insides. hm, crunchy yet chewy--full of almond nuttiness. love!

perhaps i would think differently had i been caught unaware. but now, despite the macaron hype, i still defend my macaron.

hehe.

i'm bringing back boxes to the states.

andddd the strange feeling of missing home/not wanting to leave Paris is upon me... (why do i always use food to illustrate my thoughts?)

let it be

say, twenty years later, i come back to visit paris. i will probably be shocked at all the changes and be nostalgic for the twenty-years-ago Paris i once knew--just as some frenchmen are nostalgic for the Old Paris. many of the local boulangeries and patisseries will probably be replaced by larger commercial chains...the metros will prob be wayy different. even within the past few years, paris has seen a great increase in monoprix's, a dwindling number of real parisians, and a skyrocketing of the use of the internet.

but it will still have a charm of its own, i'm sure.

i don't usually approach change in a friendly manner, & will quickly come to miss the olden days. gawd, i can already imagine myself saying "back when i was young...."

i have to remember that culture (and i'm not just talking about paris) is fleeting. it changes, just as life changes & i can't expect it to stay frozen in a certain time.

& i'm reminded that this world is a vapor in the wind.


anyways, i went to abbey road this past weekend(:

the grand odalisque

by Ingres, in 1814

by Vanity Fair, in 2000