- I’ve been shedding a lot of tears lately. Its mainly when I see a cute dog or have a moment of self-reflection and feel deeply grateful. I was in shambles on my flight to Prague. London was super gloomy and dark that evening. As the plane gained altitude, we suddenly emerged above the clouds to see a gorgeous pink sunset. The two little girls in the row ahead of me gasped so loud and were so excited the moment we popped out above the clouds. It was adorable. And it made me miss my sisters and being young and silly together. And then it had me thinking about how when I was their age, I dreamt about being 20 and getting to do super grown-up things like fly on a plane all by myself to visit my boyfriend and study abroad in Europe like my dad did. I am exactly how I hoped I would be when I was little.
- I really miss my dog, Kenny, weirdly. I’m definitely not his biggest fan, but I have missed being able to pet a dog whenever I want. I got this little Paddington bear in the duty-free before my flight to Prague, and I plan on bringing him with me on my future travels. He has been very comforting to have around in the absence of a real pet.
- Last week I spent almost entirely indoors. I needed to lock in on my work so I could relax and have fun in Prague. I wrote a big fat essay and published five blogs for Circe. It took me a long time to write last week’s blog because there was so much to recap. It made me sad that those fun times were over, but like, wow. My friends and I are so good at having fun all the time.
- The long essay I wrote was for my sociology class, and it was about chosen family. I have loved this concept even before this class. Especially going into a friend holiday like Halloween (as opposed to a family holiday like Christmas), I loved reflecting on how much I love my friends and who I consider my family. It made me think back on freshman year of college when it was the first time I was away from my real family for an extended period of time. My family became my roommate, Maya, along with my floormates, Beckett and Shelly. Its crazy how we acted like an actual family unit. We ate meals together, debriefed each other on our days, watched TV together. The floor 10 common room quickly began to feel like my living room at home. I miss that era of my life all the time.
- My London chosen family and I went to an A.G. Cook show on Halloween. I only have this one photo because I was busy dancing and having fun. Britpop!
- The day after Halloween, I was off to Prague! It was so good to see Gretchen and Emma, I hadn’t seen them since Oktoberfest. And it is always fun to see Max and his friends. It was a short trip, and I feel like I only did three things; sleep, sightsee, and go out. It was the perfect amount of relaxing and exciting. I tried hot wine for the first time in the old town square, along with some ham and bread I shared with Max and his friend Oliver. It was a very Czech experience.
- I don’t have much else to say about Prague except that it was completely perfect. The architecture was perfect, the sunsets were perfect, my friends are always perfect. All perfect.
- The toilets are so strange across Europe. I always panic when they don’t flush immediately like I’m used to. You either have to hold down the handle or crank it multiple times, and I always forget. Just thinking about that lately.
- This week I am locking in again. I have an essay and two presentations due this week, along with the usual 14 hours of my internship. I’m cooking at home every night this week too so I can get yummy tapas this weekend in Malaga, Spain, which is my next trip. I am beyond excited to smell the ocean and experience better weather than 55 degrees and cloudy.
- Ava and I are grinding work in her kitchen right now and crazy fireworks are going off outside for some reason. I’m pretending like they’re cheering me on as I’m getting all my tasks done.
- I’m doing my best to not be miserable during the week with this heavy of a workload. My friends and I are all in it together, since they have internships too. I sat at my favourite cafe, the Marylebone Corner for five hours today doing work. Everyone joined me for a little bit and it was the perfect balance of goofy and productive.
DU Abroad 