As It Should Be

I'm smiling. Not the kind of smile that you use for when Grandma goes ballistic with the camera on Christmas. Or the kind of smile you use as a disguise around public audience.

Really smiling. 1% of you have seen this smile. The 1% that has truly made the effort to keep in touch this semester. The 1% that can decipher the face I'll make when faced with hilarious awkwardness. You're probably the same 1% that has Chapstick rites of passage.

Why the smile?

Sunlight floods the room. And I sit in its presence, greeting the streams of gold as they gently wash over me. Something feels right. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the smooth click on life's gears feels apparent. This could totally be the effect of too much coffee. Yeah? Saturday, get at me.

Or it could be the discovery that:

• I have 14 days more in France. That it will be an amazing 14 days but that going home will be the freakin' tits.
• My host sister has become like a sister to me and my best friend here. The fact that she is neither a biological sister nor my host family's actual daughter is irrelevant. Friendship extends beyond culture and language.
• Studying abroad is a janky crash course in showing you which friends remain friends, even when it's not convenient. Ironically, the people that I've talked to most are some of the busiest people I know. It's taught me that saying "Sorry, I was too busy, but I miss you!" or "Sorry! I just really suck at communication" is a bit misleading. "Busy" is a convenient excuse but a rather inconvenient truth. I haven't kept in touch with people this semester who 'have' time but rather people who have 'made' time. It's a small, but important, distinction.
• By American standards, what I eat on a daily basis is considered horrifyingly unhealthy. Yet I've never felt more at peace with my body.
• Language immersion is like playing the game CatchPhrase 24/7 -- you spend most of your time describing what you want to say to people, while they try to guess the meaning or word you're trying to convey. Sometimes you win; sometimes you lose.
• I will eat Chipotle with reckless abandon upon return to the states. RECKLESS ABANDON. To the kind man/lady in charge of said inaugural homecoming burrito: please inform HQ that you will need exactly 1.74296 shit-tons of guacamole for my burrito.  Thanks!

Over and out.

Happy Saturday :)

-lex

On "Hating" Blogs

To those who have decried the presence of blogs: 

I have never personally encountered one of you. But after speaking with a dear friend who is writing a (study abroad) blog, your existence has come to my attention. It is with this discovery that I would like to convey my sincerest apologies for the earth-shattering inconveniences caused.

I'm terribly sorry that you were forced to click on those links we posted. Utterly heartbroken that we decided to share the experiences that have impressed upon us a lasting memory. Truly despondent that spending a hot second reading a "friend's" account of cultural crossroads took precious time away from you watching Netflix /drinking cheap beer and blacking out (again? again.) on a Friday night.

It's a shame, you know -- deciding to do something you hate and then additionally wasting all that holy breath of yours hating the subject of the decision you made in the first place. We shouldn't have to put up with this! To hell with reading blogs, the rent is too damn high anyway!

So you say you shouldn't have to read these blogs?

You're absolutely right!

Indeed, you have the right to exercise your own self-restraint when presented with a blog link. Whether you have the capability to exercise said restraint is unfortunately not a question I can answer for you.

As for us--we who do choose to recount our experiences on a blog: we're right too.

We have the right to pen a life that is perhaps different from the one we live everyday, replete with the experiences that otherwise remain locked behind lips. We have the right to publish, as you have the right to read (or not). We have the right to be intrigued, pensive, funny, janky, corny, silly, stupid, nonsensical, morose, in d'em-down-dumps,  angry, shocked, excited, curious, and/or incandescently happy.

Because that, you see, is our write.

Cheers ;) -lexi

p.s. Voilà - tough love, but certainly not hate in any form. chill out, and let's keep it funky fresh.

A Glimpse at Paris

We're totally going to talk Paris. About how all alone in the city of love & lights, I was rarely alone. It's a conversation and a half, and it's headed your way in a jiff. "Why not now?" 8 AM classes, homeskillets. Like whose gameplan was that? Don't remind me.

Let's do pics...it's a total mellow Tuesday move.

{ best friend A & I casually strolling near Le Tour Eiffel}

{The Lumineers concert in Paris!}

{Macarons from the master himself, Pierre Hermé}

{Locks of Love & Cathedrale Notre Dame}

{place de la république à paris}

Now who wants to go to an 8 AM class?

...That's what I thought.

-lexi

Florence, You Sexy Beast

I wish I could tell you I've been off honeymooning in Fiji for 10 days with Italian pop star Paolo. Or Italian sandwich star Pino.

There would be coconuts! Turquoise water tip-toeing! Exclamation points! And palm fronds gently fanning.

Reality check: no palm fronds. Unless you count the tree branches that decided to assault my face during the last 7 days of unrelenting rain in Nantes.

Not funny, Mother Nature.

Italy? Let's talk about these dang adventures already.

Along with friends K & E, I spent 5ish days in Italy for our Fall break. The break was the longest of the semester, and we booked our tickets for Italy pronto within the first week of arriving in September. Italy was a done deal for us. We had roughly no idea we wanted to do in Italy, except just about everything. Yes, gelato was a big part of "everything."

So what happened? 5 days of abso-freaking-lutely, smokin' hot mess.

Totally not kidding. With a little veritable truckload of help from our friends (new and old), we managed to make organized chaos look nothing short of awesome. After a night's layover in Bologna, it was off to Florence!

It would probably be an A+ idea to tell ya'll that our fantastic time in Florence is deserving of a special shoutout. Longtime pal and Stanford grad M, who previously studied abroad in Florence, sent me the most ridiculously thorough declassified guide to Florence. Monuments, gelato, spectacular sights, tourist traps, declarations of love (and hate), gelato, local gems, and warnings (of fake gelato) were all scrupulously detailed on a Google map. And because he's a gold-medal doofus, there was also a warning command that read, "If you go here, I'll kill you. Go somewhere that is less like a Nightclub version of Applebees." 

Clearly, he's a keeper.

After around 8.56 bajillion miles of walking, we managed to see just about all of Firenze as guided. Including...

Piazza Michelangelo, home of the best view in all of Florence. Beautiful view, meet my best friend 'bottle of wine' and good company too.

Not one, but two melt-your-face-off amazing trips to Salumeria Verdi -- or more fondly, "Pino's". This man makes the best frick frackin' sandwich that will ever meet your lips. For 3,50 euro, you receive a mindblowing lunch AND a new best friend; Pino is the bomb.com and a Firenze legend.

Classy sights like the museum housing the famous David sculpture and a surprise meeting with friend AC.

Followed by a trip to Fiesole, with a sweeping view of all of Tuscany.

Excuse me while I make my way down from Cloud Nine. Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to have gelato.

Jokes on jokes. Zero gelato? Meatballs are more likely to rain from the sky (that would be cool?).

This was a trip to Vivoli Gelato, which we decided was the best gelato in central Florence. Tiramisu for this kid. Like the gods of Italy decided to throw a double dessert whammy all up in this shabang.

Badiani Gelato. Which must be pronounced with sweeping hand gestures and a boisterous Italian accent that is rolling in the deep. You were right (again), M.

(You're still a goober though.)

Kickin' it with the Medicis in Fiesole.

We're super casual bros.

Hey ho, ya spiffy Duomo. (center of Florence)

Piazza Santa Croce. With colors that look like they splashed off the ground and onto the buildings + sky.

Florence was heavenly. The perfect blend of culture, Pino, history, accidental penthouse apartments, adventure, janky buses, toils of getting pooped on by a bird, beautiful views, carbscarbscarbs, students of all sorts, Tuscan sun, and gelato as a first language.

Like palm fronds and Fiji.

Only much, much better.

-lexi

p.s. Rome to come!

This Couldn't Be Me

I look out the window, and my breath catches.

The freccia train that spryly runs from Florence to Rome beats onwards, whisking through the Tuscan countryside.

Italy.

I want to telephone the higher powers (?) and tell them they have the wrong girl. That this luck should be shared with someone else. That this couldn't possibly be me sitting here.

Softly, I raise the goblet of champagne that has appeared beside me to my curious, smiling lips. I watch the little, wide-eyed Italian toddler as he dawdles through the aisle, staring at the world. I think, this couldn't possibly be me.

I absentmindedly nibble on the Italian  fennel-laced biscuit in front on me. The chorus of Californiacation fills my ears, and my smile grows a little wider with the stroke of happy memories. I hear English, see Italian words, and write un petit essai in French.

I want to tell you that I feel so very lucky and that I haven't forgotten the importance of that. I think of you and me and this endless world we've set out to see.

And then I think again, this can't be me; you must have the wrong girl.

11 Commandments of Italy

Holy cannoli. I leave for a whirlwind tour through Italy with pals K and E tomorrow, and studying for my exam is nearing the point of useless.  We're heading to Bologna, Florence, and Rome in high spirits, in a major state of hot mess, and in pursuit of the ultimate adventure. Excited? I can't even. Ready? As I'll ever be. Forgetting anything? Don't ask.

11 Commandments of Italy

1)   Thou shalt live with infinity as the only boundary. No ceilings.

2)   Thou shalt eat gelato until thou can eat gelato no more.

3)   Thou shalt not elope with an Italian popstar named Paolo. Unless Paolo has 2 gorgeous Italian brothers.

4)   Thou shalt make one Italian friend, be it Pino....or Paolo. What dreams are made of?

5)   Thou shalt live in the moment, every one of them.

6)   Thou shalt keep friends close and good spirits closer.

7)   Thou shalt drink wine like it is water and water like it is wine.

8)   Thou shalt find the grand sights but also the hidden gems too.

9)   Thou shalt embrace pizza as a second language.

10)  Thou shalt remember that one will never again be 20 and traipsing all over Italy.

11)  Thou shalt break all the rules if it makes the rules better.

ciao!
-lexi