wow... Being abroad feels like a world away now. It's almost as if it was all this crazy dream and I've woken up again. But it was all a real part of my life. I really was in Europe for a long time so it's impossible to come back and pretend that didn't happen. It would be crazy for me to say that I don't miss any of it at all, but at the same time, I couldn't be any happier to be home. There's the little things like how I'm so happy to sleep in my bed every night in a comfortable(bigger) bedroom or having my cat back to just pick up and hug whenever I so please. On the other hand, there's things I miss about Paris like late nights sitting on an empty metro after a really good day or walking being the number one mode of transportation. I'm sure the list goes on and on, and since my blog here has been mostly a collection of lists so far, might as well end it with one last list. What I miss the most about Paris and why I'm crazy happy to be back in the states.

Now a quick disclaimer: I did not become fluent in French by any means. I can read almost anything and understand most – if the French person speaks slowly – but please don't expect me to have a full conversation in French because that isn't happening. That being said, I miss the French language. After living every day with everyone around you speaking another language, it begins to feel more normal than the language you speak. For me personally, I would have to really focus to listen and understand the language, so in moments where I didn't need to have my translator mode on, it was so easy to just tune out the world around me. I could make everything just turn into background noise, as weird as that may sound. The language difference gave me this strange sense of privacy in the most public of places. I felt like nobody could be peering over my shoulder or listening on my conversations(most Parisians speak English so this wasn't true at all, but hey it helped). Another cool thing about being in a French speaking country is that every time I heard someone speaking English, which was much more often that I was expecting, there was an instant connection. This was true especially when it was English in an American accent. I met a lot of really cool people just with the conversation starter "Hey, where are you from?" Meeting someone from your home country while in a different country just feels crazy, so it's a cool opportunity to share stories about why you ended up in Paris. So yes, I miss French, but for some really strange reasons.

I strongly believe that Southern California has the BEST weather the world has to offer. Now that I have experienced another place in the world that gets much more of a "seasons" feel to it, I can only believe this even more. It just makes me feel much luckier to have grown up where I did. I wore a dress without tights on Christmas. I was able to go to the beach twice in December. Speaking of the beach, can we talk about the views? Home has so much more open spaces and beautiful views that I get to see daily. I can walk along the Pacific coast and watch the sunset. I wake up in the morning and look out the window to see these perfect looking mountain ranges. My drive to University is through a gorgeous canyon where every turn is a new view that still leaves me in awe. I could brag about the place I live and things I get to see all day. Yes, Paris had all the fancy old buildings and its own secret views in that sense, but there's nothing like seeing God's work in action on a 70-degree day.

I don't really understand how, but time moved differently when I was abroad. Days were shorter, but they moved slower and I was able to do so much more. The concept of time wasn't really something I felt like I had to think about. A 45-minute metro ride wasn't a big deal at all, I'd just go do things all the time without letting the clock determine if it was a good idea or not. I could walk half the city or go to a few different museums and still be back in time for dinner. I don't know how I did it. I'm a little upset with myself for going back to questioning if the 30-minute drive to Anaheim is worth it. Time moves fast again and days feel wasted if I don't get out of the house early enough. I miss the time warp of Europe and every day feeling like an adventure and a chance to make the most of every minute.

Yes, the metro system was nice and convenient, but I'm from Southern California where we don't have public transportation and my car is my best friend. I missed driving so much despite the traffic and the annoying things that come along with it. There's no feeling like driving down PCH with the music blasting. That's what I was excited to do when I got home. On the metro, I'd listen to music too, with headphones in to pass the time, but you can't sing along on the metro. It feels great to be back in my car singing my favorite songs at the top of my lungs. It's my favorite and something I couldn't ever do in Europe so it feels great to have that back in my life.

Since I've been back home it's been a whirlwind of getting coffee with this person or lunch with that person or dinner with someone else. Don't get me wrong, I love it all. It's so great being able to reconnect with all of these people I love so much and missed when I was gone, but I haven't really had many moments to myself. That's what I miss the most about Paris. In Paris, I had so much time to myself. Time to read. Time to wander. Time to think and write and do the things I love to do. It became my favorite part of the experience and something I wanted to bring home with me, but during these first few weeks I remembered why I didn't have that kind of experience before, because it's so much more difficult here. I live a fast paced life and I need to put in more of an effort to slow down. As I'm sitting and writing this post now, it's honestly the first chance I've had to really sit and think to myself like this and I still have plans to meet up with more people in about three hours. In Paris I would do this every day, just sit in a coffee shop and write. I guess most of my free time in Paris was due to the lack of responsibility like a job or copious amounts of homework so it was easier to prioritize time to myself because there was just so much time. I miss it a lot, so now it's just more of a new years resolution to get that back while I'm here.

I love the people in my life way too much. I don't want to admit to the amount of money I spent on stamps to send letters back to every single person I missed back at home. It only makes sense that the people here at home are the main reason why I'm so happy to be back. First off, my family is the coolest ever. Like I mentioned before, my favorite week in Paris was the week my mom came to visit because she's just too cool for words and the best travel buddy a girl could ask for. After my long long LONG day of travel to get back to the states, I pushed through the jet lag and sleep deprivation to go see my dad and brother who had a gig that night. My dad is also the coolest – thus why my mom married him – and my brother is my best friend whether he knows it or not. Then most of my winter break was spent reconnecting with friends. My old coworkers at Disney treated me like a celebrity when I came to see them all at work. Walking around deck, giving so many hugs, I was too happy to see them all again. I feel so blessed to have amazing people like that in my life. The number of friends that genuinely cared and wanted to know about my experience made me realize a lot about friendship. I have friends that I've had in my life for as long as I can remember that I now feel even closer to because of this experience. Friends that I didn't think I'd miss that much, but made me so much more excited to see them again. I'm even starting to miss some of my abroad friends already, so that's going to help fuel my stationary problem and fill their mailboxes with letters. My abroad experience put a new perspective on the people in my life and gave new meaning to the word friend.

Overall being back is a bitter-sweet, but for me, there's no place like home. Home is the familiar. Home is the people. I have a little list of places that feel like home to me, and yeah, now I think I can tack Paris to that bottom, number four position. I look forward to the day when I can afford to go back and show it all off to someone I love, but for now, I'm happy to be back in home number one.

time to start the next adventure,
Julia Carrington

This is it. A new years resolution turned two-year project is finally done. Yes, I failed to read 12 books in 12 months, but I was not about to give up and have that electronic proof just sitting at [6/12] blog posts of book reviews. So here, at the end of December 2016 I am writing a 12th and final book review, never again will I have to write one of these.

So in Paris, there is this little bookshop called Shakespeare and Company. It's one of the best known English bookshops in the city, sitting in the center of the city on a tiny street across from Notre Dame. When you purchase a book from here they put a little stamp with the shop logo on the first page, so of course, I needed to buy something purely for the stamp. I decided to buy a story that is special to me and very stereotypically "French" to mark my time in the city. There was no better option than The Phantom of the Opera. The story that inspired my favorite musical of all time which is set right here at the Paris Opera house.

I had never read the novel before, so I was expecting it to be the same story that I've seen on stage and screen so many times. To my surprise, the two plots did not align perfectly. The focus shifted in a way I wasn't expecting, it was written from a point of view that was completely separate from the plot, and it was a much more drawn out story than I was expecting. It was interesting to read as a source text for an adaptation. The musical adaptation just pulls a few key concepts from the novel such as the character of the Phantom, the love triangle Christine gets tangled in, and the idea that the opera is gaining new ownership. The adaptation takes these and creates a more appealing story for the stage, something that a viewer would become more emotionally attached to, while the novel is much more descriptive with the events that happen and the character Vicomte de Chagny's journey to save his love.

Overall I think it was a perfect little story to read during my last few weeks in Paris and a great keepsake from my time there. I will always love the story of The Phantom of the Opera, but I think I prefer the adaption that I've watched far too many times.

Julia Carrington

Last night I had to say goodbye. I walked to the Eiffel Tower one last time to watch it sparkle. I spent the evening at my favorite cocktail bar with all my favorite people from the semester. We were chatting and laughing about memories from our times together. At the end of the night, we gave our hugs and said our goodbyes, not knowing when we will see each other again. Now I'm sitting on my flight back home trying to process the last three months, preparing for the repetitive question "How was Paris?"  

How do I even begin to answer that question? I feel like if I want to give a full and accurate answer I'm going have to sit down and talk someone's ear off for a few hours and I really doubt anyone will really want that. So how was Paris? Paris was this crazy learning experience. Paris was a daily adventure. Paris was a struggle. Paris was charming. Paris smelt terrible. Paris was surprisingly friendly. Paris was exhausting. Paris made me slow down to enjoy things.  Study abroad is an experience that is so personal that I think the hardest part of the whole thing is trying to explain it to someone else.  

The easiest thing for me to say is that I have grown more in the last three months than I ever could have imagined. Now I totally believe what people say about how going abroad changes you. Choosing to study abroad isn't about the classes you take there or the amount of new places you get to see. It's about the things you learn through those experiences. That's what is so special about study abroad. It's the one time in your life where you are going to be thrown out alone in a totally unfamiliar situation and you have to figure out how you are going to make the most of it. That is what I am going to take with me "post-abroad."  

I learned a lot about myself. I had a lot of personal time while here abroad. Wandering the city alone or taking solo trips, I definitely hung out with myself more than anyone else. I will preach how important this is till the day I die because there is no one else in the world that you are going to be stuck with every day except you so it's so important to get to know and like yourself. When abroad you have this awesome opportunity to grab every opportunity to go out and see things even if it is on your own. When you're exploring solo you are in charge of making the decisions of what to do. You find out exactly what you like, without the outside influence of another person's preferences being taken into account. Walk into that cute place that caught your eye without asking someone if they would want to do that too. Sit and read in that coffee shop for three hours if that's what you want to do today. This is your time. I know I learned so much about what I really enjoy to do. Things that I wouldn't have thought to try out at home because I let little things hold me back from thinking. But in Paris I just did it and now I can't wait to keep that with me when I'm home.

Of course, there was the culture. I learned so much more about French culture than any classroom could have taught me by going out and living in it every day. At home, I will probably do a lot of comparing and say "well in France they.. " because there was so much that was different from what I've grown up in, and that became what I was used to. French culture is so different and special. It has its quirks. Like any culture, it has its pros and cons. There's things I learned to love and others that I still don't understand, and I'm ready to get away from. Now I could list a few of the cultural differences that I learned about or adapted to when in Europe, but I don't want to. I don't want to because that's all a part of going abroad. Learning these kinds of things on your own along the way through every experience, good or bad. That's what makes it special. Knowing the French culture because I lived in France.  

Now to go home and take what I learned from Paris and make sense of it in the states. Paris was an amazing experience. I am so glad I took this opportunity of a lifetime to live in a foreign country as a student. This is a time in my life that I won't be able to forget. Thank you Paris for everything you gave me and taught me during our time together. I'm excited to see when we meet again, but until then, I can't wait to get back to my real home in California.  

à bientôt

After three long months, I believe I have been in Paris long enough to have some repeat places and favorite spots in the city. I know this city better than the city I go to school in because I put so much pressure on myself to go out and explore in all of my free time. There's a lot that I am going to miss about here, so here's a sweet little list of some of my favorites in the city. My Parisian favorites list.




Le Peloton Café
I think I have a sentimental attachment to this place because of the way I happened upon at first. I was looking for another shop and walked past this sweet little hole in the wall cafe. It felt familiar, probably because I had seen it on Instagram before, so I decided to walk on in. Everyone in the room was speaking English. It was the first time I had that happen in Paris. The staff was so friendly to me. I chatted with the barista about what made him move to Paris and he gave me suggestions of things to do in the area. Since then I've kept coming back.

honorable mentions: Ten Belles, Boot, Chambre Aux Oiseaux, Nuage, The Hood




Chez Janou
This restaurant has given me some of my best meals in Paris. It's surprisingly difficult to find good food here, which I find very strange being that the French brag about their food so much. Chez Janou has very traditional food from the south of France and they do it well. But one of their biggest specialties is the desert. A giant tub of chocolate moose that you can eat as much of as you please. My personal favorite part of the restaurant is the experience. The ambiance is amazing and the same bartender that's been there every time I've gone is so funny and flirty. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a proper french meal.

honorable mention: Ober Mamma

Cafe Oberkampf
Cafe Oberkampf is the best all day brunch spot I've been to in the city. Everything is so good and at very reasonable prices. The location is in the heart of my favorite neighborhood, in this tiny little spot. But be warned, the place only fits about 20 people and gets quite popular on the weekends so if you don't time it right, you're probably going to have to wait a while.

honorable mentions: Candelaria, Du Pain et Des Idées, L'as Du Fallafel




Dome of Sacré-Coeur
When my mom came to visit me for a week we were wandering around Montmartre one evening and had a little extra time to kill before going to get dinner. We happened upon the entrance to the dome of Sacré-Coeur and it was something I had never done before so we bought our 6 euro tickets to take the hike up the many many stairs and see what it was all about. There were a lot more stairs than we realized we were signing up for and got a little discouraged halfway, but boy was it worth it. We made it to the top right as the sun was setting and got to just look out from the very top of Paris to see the most breathtaking view. There's no better way to see the city all at once.

honorable mention: *see metro section*


Musée D'Orsay
This is the museum that I have visited the most this semester. Both because I had class held here every week and because I love to just go hang out with my favorite impressionist sometimes. The Louvre is over-rated and crowded and too big for any person to successfully get through and really enjoy everything. Orsay has some amazing pieces of art and you can stop and take it all in without someone pushing at you, the way art should be enjoyed. Plus impressionism art holds a very special place in my heart and this museum has the most amazing collection on their top floor. The first time I was up there was a crazy experience and was the first moment that I thought "I'm going to like it here in Paris."

honorable mentions: Palais de Tokyo, Centre Pompidou, Musée de la Poupée


Merci
Merci is this insane concept store in Bastille that has just about everything. I warn you, it's rather expensive so try hard not to fall in love with anything, but you must take a peak because everything about the store from the design to the products to the building itself is amazing. They have beautiful clothing with terrifying price tags, kitchen and tableware, furniture, books, stationary, and almost anything else you can think of. The name Merci comes from the fact that part of every purchase goes to charity therefore when you buy something they say "merci." Another cool thing about this place is that attached to the store they have this sweet little used book coffee shop where you can stop to get a coffee and grab a book off the wall to read, given that you can read in French.

honorable mentions: Sezane, Reciproque


Line 6 (especially between Passy and Bir Hakeim)
Here's my little story about this metro line. On my second day in Paris and my first day actually seeing the light of day, I had to navigate the metro to get to orientation. I didn't have anyone to help me and a very limited knowledge of metros so after asking a kind french man for help I got on line 6. Now I always assumed that metros and subways were all underground, but I guess I was wrong. At the second stop, Passy, I thought we were still underground but then suddenly we came out of this tunnel and I saw the light and looked up out the window and saw this view. It was the very first time I saw the Eiffel Tower. This was my "shit I'm living in Paris moment." Now I get to pass this view every morning on my way to class and it's pretty hard to have a bad day when this is one of the first things you see.

honorable mentions: lines 1, 9, 7 bis, 13


Buttes Chaumont
Something cool about Paris is that even though it's very much a city with busy streets and so much going on, Parisians still find time to slow down and enjoy nature. There are so many parks in Paris. Big or small, you can't get very far without passing one. Of course, there are the big famous ones like Tuileries or Luxembourg and don't get me wrong I love Luxembourg so much, I go there just to walk around all the time. But this park is massive and green and just so different from all the rest that I've seen. It's unique with this gazebo at the tippy top of a cliff and suspended bridges. Very cool and very different.

honorable mentions: Place Des Vosges, Jardin Des Plantes, Jardin du Luxembourg


Canal Saint Martin
This area has been my favorite spot in the city hands down. There's something about the canal that is so calming to me. I love to stop and sit here to enjoy a nice day and journal. When the weather is not unbearably cold, you'll find me sitting at the edge of the canal with a book in one hand and a sandwich in the other. Honestly, Saint Martin is what I am going to miss the most about the city because it has been my spot. My place to be on my own and just think. To me, that's the best.

honorable mention:  Jardin Des Rosier


Oberkampf
So Paris is organized into arrondissements and within these, there are neighborhoods that each has their own little personality. There's the more central area's like Opera or Champs-Elysees that are very rich and touristic, but then there are the more bobo neighborhoods with the younger "hipster" population of Paris. Those are the neighborhoods that I prefer to spend my days wandering. It's hard to pick one favorite but Oberkampf has so many places in it and I could see myself living there if I ever came back to Paris.

honorable mentions: Le Marais, République, Belleville, Montmartre 


Palais Garnier
I am a huge Phantom of the Opera fan. It was one of my favorite musicals and movies while growing up. And guess what? That opera is in the heart of Paris. I still can't believe I got to walk up that amazing staircase and sit in one of the boxes to watch a ballet. The chandelier hanging above all those perfect red seats. Oh and this room in the photo. I have seen a lot of castles and beautiful things in France but this, this is the most breathtaking room in all of France. No opera ghost was spotted during either of my visits, but the Phantom of the Opera vibe was so strong. Another cool thing was that I learned that the strange painting that's been hanging in my home for as long as I can remember is an exclusive print of a section of the ceiling painting around the chandelier. So cool.

honorable mentions: Petit Palais, Musée Carnavalet


Giverny
Monet was a wonderful man who filled our world with beautiful art. Being about to take a quick trip away from the city to see the home he lived in and the garden and pond that he painted so often, indescribable. If I lived there I would probably be inspired to paint all the time too. I want this life. I now plan on designing my future home after his because the pink and green look is so dreamy.

honorable mention: Disneyland


Shakespeare and Co.
As much as I miss my car back home, the nice thing about taking public transportation is that now you have this entire commute to do something else. I quickly got sick of staring at a phone so I decided to use that time to read. As an English speaker, there aren't a whole lot of bookstores that will have something I could actually understand, but thankfully there's Shakespeare and Co. It's this old book shop right by Notre Dame that only has English books. I spent hours browsing their collection before picking out my next metro read. They stamp your book so picking something up here is a very special keepsake for your time in Paris.

honorable mentions: ofr, artazart


Le Kitch
I am legal of age to drink in Europe so I have discovered here that cocktail bars are my thing. Just a cool place to sit with friends and hang out sipping on a drink is so lovely. Still not one to rage and doubt I will ever be, but it's been great to just have a drink every now and then. Our favorite cocktail bar since the first time we went has been le kitch. The place has walls and ceilings covered in all these crazy knick knacks and the more random things. The vibe of the place is so cool and different, I love it. And the drinks have all been fantastic. I think collectively as a group we've tried just about everything on the menu and nothing has been a disappointment. My personal favorites have been the shrek and the tiramisu. Also, the prices are so good compared to most places. It's around 6 euros before 9 pm and 8 euros after.

honorable mentions: Hero, Comptoir General

This is just a simple little list of some of the places that I have really enjoyed during my time here. If you ever find yourself in this crazy city, maybe this could me a good help to find things to do a little more off the beaten path. There's just so much more to the city than the Tour Effiel and Champs-Elysees, you just need to know what you are looking for.

Bisou
Julia Carrington
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Oh, Amsterdam. You were the most confusing place I have ever been to. I wanted to love you with all of my heart and in moment's, I did, but then you would remind me about how much of a disappointment you can be. Yet with all of that, I will still allow you to hold a special place in my heart and hope that someday when it's warm, we will meet again.

Amsterdam is a very beautiful city. The city is covered in these picture-perfect canals. The streets are lined with homes and buildings that are so unique to the city. Everyone is riding bikes and there are hardly any cars. It all seems like a place that you could be nothing but happy in. I was so content exploring the Jordaan area with all its sweet little shops and beautiful streets. Then we wanted to stop and get some coffee and suddenly I had trust issues with this city.

If you didn't know, a coffee shop in Amsterdam is a weed dispenser. A name that is so dear to me is ruined by cannabis. I was so disappointed that a city that has so much beauty and charm makes something so gross readily available for anyone who wants to partake. It's hard for me to understand why people enjoy drugs as something that enables them to be in full control of their self. It goes the same with the over consumption of alcohol or anything of this sort. I also struggle with knowing that when I get back home to California, where weed was just legalized, this could very well become a normal thing to see every day. Just another road I'll have to cross when I get there.

Now the scariest thing that Amsterdam normalizes, and is famous for, is their Red Light District prostitution. There are streets in the city that have women standing in little rooms with glass doors, dressed in lingerie, waiting for a man to come up and knock so she can take him back and do god knows what.

It's personally hard for me to see these women or the big neon signs saying "live nonstop sex show" because the whole concept is so foreign and unreal to me. I grew up in a conservative Christian home so I have always had the values that sex is not just a recreational activity, but something special that should be only for two people who care deeply for each other. 1 Corinthians 6 speaks about this idea that when two bodies join they become one body and when a man "joins" with a prostitute he becomes one body with her, a strange woman whom he will never see or remember again. It saddens me to see that the world I live in has people that will readily knock on these doors.

These girls willingly give out their body day and night for cheap sex and pleasure. They all have their own personal reasons to do so and I wish I could sit down and talk to some of them to try to understand. Some do it for the money, but others somehow see it as empowering. They only see that they have some small sense of power to control men's emotions, but they ignore the fact that they are still being taken advantage of because, at the end, he will always just pay and walk away.

It's a crazy world we live in and so many of us easy accept or ignore the gross sin in the world. I guess it's just easy to blindly let it happen, but that doesn't make it right. The theme of how Amsterdam conducts their businesses is the whole concept of "if it's going to happen anyway, might as well regulate it." That whole idea is what's starting to spread elsewhere. I know tons of people who argued for legalizing weed back home saying "people are still going to smoke so might as well tax it." But that's not the issue. Once it's normalized and said to be okay more people will willingly fall for the traps.

One cool thing that I was able to experience while in the city was in the hostel we were staying at. We found a Christian hostel and decided to book there mostly because it was the cheapest and most central in the city. It seemed a little odd and dorky, but one morning I was able to have a conversation with one of the girls working there. She was a recent high school grad from America so I asked her what made her want to come live here. She told me about how she wanted to take a year to do ministry before going to college and while searching the internet for possibilities she happened upon the website for this hostel and God was just calling her to come here. She said it was an amazing experience because being in the hostel she could interact with people coming to visit and share the gospel by showing that there is more to the city than the gross. She was a light in a dark place and that's the best that we can do as Christians. It's not our job to save the world, but just to share love.

So that was my Amsterdam experience. You may or may not agree with what I have to say, I know it's all very sensitive and controversial. You do you and I'll do me.

till next time,
Julia Carrington

London is just one of those places that, as an American girl, sounds so dreamy and perfect. London is where all those perfect looking British boys with their sexy accents come from. London is extremely fashionable is a more eccentric way than Paris. London is full of elegant tea rooms where you can get afternoon tea every single day. They have the underground and the red double decker buses. They have Big Ben, the London Eye, and Buckingham Palace. I was so excited to finally get my chance to go see it all for myself.

I spent a majority of high school watching youtube vloggers and most of the vloggers on youtube are in fact, British. So I spent all this time watching people live fun lives in this foreign country and it had always made me want to go. When I was trying to choose where I would apply to study abroad it came down to Paris and London. I wanted to pick London so badly, but everyone was telling me "it's just the older America" and I knew the language aspect of Paris would be a good challenge for me. But now that I had made into Europe, I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to make a quick trip over an ocean to see this city that I had built up so much in my mind.

That ended up being a problem for me. I had built up the city too much in my mind that nothing could meet these expectations. It's just another city and didn't deserve to be held to such a high regard. Yes, it was so lovely and I enjoyed every bit of my time there, but by the end of the trip instead of regretting choosing Paris like I thought I would, I was pretty excited to get back to my city. Anywho, time for the details of my three days in London.

Day One..

Now London was not on most people's list for their abroad travels, at least in my program. It was becoming difficult to find a travel buddy, but I didn't let that stop me. I booked my overnight buses there and back and was ready to travel alone. Granted this was a much easier decision knowing that I could communicate with locals in English and easily read all street signs was very reassuring. I got on a bus just before midnight on a Thursday and after nine hours of going through an annoying amount of border control and traveling by boat to a new country, I found myself waking up at 8 am Friday morning (there's a time zone change, I know how to do math) in London, England.

After getting a feel for the city and figuring out where I needed to go, I headed to my first stop, the Sassoon beauty school. I had the idea put in my mind that getting a haircut during my visit was a good idea because it was cheap and I could communicate what I wanted with someone who understood me. After becoming a new person, I walked up Oxford Street, popping in and out of shops. I bought something at a Boots, a personal bucket-list item for me. Did a little bit of shopping at Primark, which was one of the most crowded stores I have even been in. Eventually, I made my way to the end and went straight into hyde park which was just massive and beautiful.



All of that was just killing time until my reservation for what I really came to London for. Sketch. The most wonderful and perfect tea room I have ever seen. I spent a pretty penny to sit in this blush pink room surrounded by cute artwork while sipping tea and eating delicious pastries, sandwiches, and scones. There was no shame in being the sole person enjoying a tea for one because it made me so happy. I will daydream about this experience till the end of time. I also had to take a trip to their bathroom because it is well known for being this crazy experience with the colored lights on the ceiling and egg-shaped pods as toilet stalls. Sketch stole my heart so points for London on that one.



After my proper English afternoon tea, I met up with the friend and fellow bulldog that I was crashing with for the weekend. (super big shout out to him for saving me lots of money on a free bed) He was studying in London in a theater program, so being that we both had theater in common, we went to go see a musical for the evening. School of Rock, it was totally awesome. It was extremely well done and the kids in the show had talent beyond their years. We left totally in awe of the production. After a quick nightcap at a British pub, we called it a night and day one of London was done.

Day Two..

The next morning we planned on getting an early start to see all the hot spots of the city. From Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square. Big Ben and the London Eye. Tower Bridge and Shakespeares Globe. Borough  Market and Saint Pauls. Every postcard place you could think of. With all of this plus a stop for fish and chips and walking around a little Christmas market, we were somehow done before 4 pm. It put into perspective how close everything was together and how small the city can seem. With all of that time, my friend couldn't think of anything else to show me and I had already shown him a few things he had never seen before.


We caught a 4 pm service at Saint Paul's and then wandered over to Piccadilly Circus to see if we could find any cheap tickets to see another show that night. We bought tickets for In The Heights and still needed to kill time until the show. We went ahead and got ourselves some dinner from Nandos (thanks to One Direction for that suggestion) and had some yummy chicken. The show was being held next to Kings Cross Station so we went over early to see the famous platform and 9 and 3/4. I was a bit disappointed by how underwhelming it all was. It seemed like the station had recently been remodeled so it wasn't as charming as in Harry Potter, and the little photo op for the platform was just a section of a wall next to a store full of Harry Potter merch. In the Heights was great though. I knew nothing of the story other than it was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda who has yet to fail me. It ended up being a perfect way to end the night.

Day Three..

Sunday was a slow and relaxing day. I wanted to go explore Notting Hill and this little part of the city did not disappoint. The little townhouse apartments in perfect rows and the bright colored doors were something I could only dream of living in. Portobello Road was lined with shops that would strike my fancy any day. Amazing thrifts and vintage and little small business shops, my heart. At the end of this road, there was a little flea and food market, something that's right up my alley. Stopped for a pulled duck sandwich that was to die for and only cost 4 pounds, the cheapest thing I had seen in the city during my entire trip. Sadly the sun went down and after a final stroll through Hyde Park in the pitch black night, it was time to head back to Paris.



Now back to what I said at the beginning, I am by no means saying I didn't enjoy my stay in London. I loved so many parts of it. I think what disappointed me was how small and underwhelming the city seemed to me. There was nothing that truly screamed special. A lot of the stuff that I did enjoy I could probably find very similar things back in the states. London is far too expensive and that's saying something coming from Paris. The city seemed to give into commercialism a lot more than I've noticed in Paris. I was surprised by how hard it became to find things to do. I am so grateful that Paris has a never ending list that I know I'm not going to be able to finish in even these three whole months. London was great and I'm so glad I went and am excited to come back someday. This trip just really reassured me that Paris was the perfect decision for me, even if I didn't realize it in the first place.

xoxo
Julia Carrington