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5 Takeaways From Europe (So Far)

K man, so I lied apparently. We're not back to regularly scheduled programming, likely because every time I have a free second to settle down with my computer, the bright glare of it lulls me into deep sleep. Every. Time. Summer woes, eh?

Instead, I thought I'd try my hand at semi-regularly scheduled programming and go with the flow for the next couple of months. To start things slow, I thought I'd share some of the things I'm learning / remembering / noting about Europe travels.

Calories actually don't count. And in particular, Coca Cola is every American's best friend in the summer. You're on your feet all day walking, exploring, and generally not being on your hiney attached to the computer like you'd usually be doing at home. That's my justification for every glorious cheese-oozing, oil-drenched meal. And for the Coca Cola I crave and indulge in four times a day. There's simply nothing more refreshing. I overhear American accents all day long: "I need a (Diet) (Lemon) (Cherry) (Poison of Choice) Coke, and stat."
The summer daylight is beyond amazing. In London, the sun was up and shining until just about 11pm. In Paris? After 9pm, every 15 minutes you could hear us exclaiming in disbelief: can you believe it's 9:15 right now? 9:30? 9:45? Can you believe this is what 11pm looks like? It was so wonderful, having dinner in the dusk, but also messes with your brain a bit. You think you have a good, like, eight hours to derp around before bedtime but no sirreeeee. You don't.
The things you didn't plan for always turn out to be the best stories. That is not to say that they are funny or entertaining at the time. They more or less actually seemed to be like the end of the world, not trying to be dramatic or anything. But looking back, the moments that make me laugh the most or the ones I'm sure to remember for decades are the ones like when I locked us into our AirBnB for the entire morning, when we brought one bag too many to our flight and spent thirty minutes in a flurry trying to make it all work. When we were caught in a rainstorm in Venice and powered through a walking tour in dorky yellow ponchos. None of this was planned, but they will be remembered.
I can pack light, and I can hardly even believe it. A month and a half abroad, with all my stuff in a tiny little carry-on suitcase and a Longchamp purse. I reserve the right to brag, which I am doing right now. The End. (Please send help in the form of an international care package in about... eight days.)
For every Pinterest / Instagram worthy moment, there will be five not-so-great experiences as well. I follow quite a number of travel accounts on both social media channels, and they never fail to have me all wistful and wanting to me on the other side of the world. Floppy hats against the Mediterranean, tapas in Spain, cool huts in Thailand. I'm doing the same, sharing my favorite highlights from my adventures. And that's when I realized that those snapshots are the 1%. The 99% = my roommate falling ill with bronchitis and seeing only the hotel room while we were in London. Mean bus drivers, getting tricked out of 5 euros by a "nice man who was going to show us where our train seats were," ALL THE TIMES WE WERE HANGRY, getting snappish, frustrated, or exhausted. It's all a part of the same game.

Off to eat more pizza! How's your summer goin'? Any traveling for you?

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While I Was Gone

Well, this is more than a little awkward. Anyone out there still remember who the heck I am even?

Where have I been? I think the better question is, where haven't I been in the two weeks I went MIA?

Right at this very moment in time, I'm in hell. KIDDING. Please, I'm kidding. I'm actually decompressing after a very long and hard day of eating crepes and listening to street music along the river Seine, basking in the gentle sunlight and bonjour! bon soir! merci! that's all the French I know! –ing it up to the best of my ability. Aaaaand... now you kind of want me in hell, don't you?

Before this, I was re-visiting my favorite haunts in London and Oxford and finding out for the first time that good weather actually does make its way into the UK every now and then when it's not February. Why in the world did I choose the dreariest of months to study abroad there? 
how much can we fit in one tiny car?

Before THAT, the roommate and I survived a seven hour drive down to LA from SF. This was about two weeks after a ten hour drive both to and from LA, a drive straight outta the lower rungs of whatever's more torturous than hell. AND, get this. Cassandra, who is the sole driver out of the two of us, was faint, coughing out every internal organ, and feverish with bronchitis during the entirety of this last drive. (Sidenote: she was also bedridden during all of London, poor soul. Her first time in Europe, too.)
thank you for everything.

That directly followed the heels of packing for 48 hours straight, um a little thing called GRADUATION (although at Stanford, it's casual as heck and everyone shows up in costume... I have more to say on that too!), spending time with my family, dragging out the last of college, having honestly the best two weeks of school in my ~18 years of education in the sense that we hopped in a lot of fountains and indulged a ton. Booking accommodations and transportation for Europe also became a huge headache in those weeks as well. There were panic attacks about the future. There was acceptance, as well. I took finals and finished projects, said "see ya later" to friends, and tearfully bid farewell to a place that has become beloved to me.
working on our graduation costume hours before graduation. can you guess what we were?

Needless to say, that was probably all very incredibly boring to you, but a nice table of contents for me to have as some semblance of order in a crazy, crazy time.

All this was to say that I'm back to regularly scheduled programming. Follow my Instagram and get spammed with all the things I was willing to forgo naptime for in Europe. Come back later this week for hopefully more interesting details on any of the aforementioned things I rambled on too long about.

Laters baby. (Ugh.)
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Living By Your Own Rules

When the days are numbered, you begin to live by your own rules. The closer we inch (aka rocket-launch) towards graduation, the days that we are able to call this beautiful campus "home" have steadily decreased. We started with four years, then it became three... two... one... Three quarters, one quarter, five weeks, two weeks, and now here we are. Seven days.

But see, the sitch with these seven days is that they also come with these squawking little blocks on the calendar that also like to go by the names: finals. papers. revisions. packing. trip booking details. storage. boxes. saying goodbye to friends. checking credits. laundry. cleaning. preparing for the parents to arrive. picking up caps & gowns. The list goes on and on and on, believe me.

In the name of "make big small, and small big" though (uh, a pretty incredible insight taken away from the Gilmore Girls reunion can you even guess how much I freaked out over that)...

I've been squeezing out every second of time not dedicated to that laundry list of things to do (quite literally) and savoring every amazing detail. Tim Tam Slamming until our stomachs hurt, and then sneaking wine into the movie theater to see Spy. Jumping out of bed to prepare breakfast and drinks for a full day extravaganza of walking to and visiting every meaningful place on campus. Inhaling pizza. Fountain-hopping. Again and again. Deciding at 3am that tapas the next day would be the way to go, and making it happen. Hugging friends. Napping. And really, just living by our own rules because right now, that is what's feeling like the best thing to do.

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Well This Went From 0 To 60 Real Fast

Last week, it was still perfectly acceptable to complain about being in the midst of schoolwork and classes and needing to do a couple of loads of laundry (they didn't get done) (in case you were dying to know). Even as my hometown friends bombarded Facebook with jumping graduation shots and plane tickets to South America or Europe, I was still existing in my normal. Going to work, organizing my email, planning weekend activities. It ain't over till the fat lady sings MM in MMDDYYYY is solidly 06. 

But then, the 05 did indeed switch sneakily on over to 06, and helpless was I to stop it. And all of a sudden, we were thrust into a time vacuum of sorts that's sucking us towards June 14th and tossing around like confetti, things like:

Finals and projects and essays. Wait wait huh, did we get fair warning for this though?
Today being the last day of classes. EVER. WHAT IS LIFE WITHOUT CLASSES IDK.
Apartment hunting.
Frantically trying to finish booking Europe.
Finding people to live with.
Picking up cap and gowns.
Realizing my parents will be here next week.
Somehow figuring out a way to pack up my whole room without hyperventilating too much.
Storage options.
Uh... employment. L-O-L.
Today being the last day of my internship. 
Graduation photos.
Outfits for graduation festivities next week.
Making the best of campus (they turned the fountains back on for commencement week after having shut them down for a year as a symbolic gesture in light of the California drought ... we are going nuts bringing in the floaties and inner tubes and spending whole afternoons fountain-hopping, that's for sure).
Listening to sentimental, bright-eyed, go change the world last lectures from professors.
Inching towards true adulthood.

And most importantly,

strategizing for Free Donut Day at Krispy Kreme this Friday.

Excuse the crazy for the next couple of weeks please!

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Currently :: May

And we're here. June. I have a feeling June is going to mark both the best and worst days of my life. The best? Well, hello, Europe. I'm leaving in exactly 16 days for that adventure, and can't even begin to think about it or else I'll pass out from excitement. The worst? Graduation. I can't even begin to think about it or else I'll pass out from anxiety slash sadness slash not-being-ready-ness.

Watching :: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and FRIENDS. Racing to finish them before the school year ends. Also, dying for the new season of Pretty Little Liars to begin. Totally ready for my head to spin from all the nonsensical storylines again, like why the heck would you go into the dark by yourself EVER THOUGH.

Eating :: all the things. Exhibit A: every minute of my weekend getaway to LA. Additionally making an effort to try new places around town before we leave - step one was the local New York bagels place.

Wanting :: to hammer out the details of our graduation walk. Stay tuned - you guys will love this.
Planning :: Europe, obviously. We have about 90% of it set in stone, but need one more train, two more flights, and two more AirBnBs. I'm itching to be back in that invigorating state of travel, of anticipation. 

Reading :: not a lot of blogs (apparently). I usually read every last post in my Bloglovin' on the day that it's posted, but right now I'm backlogged at about 200+ posts. It's frustrating being behind on something I love so much, but I'm happy to know that I'm using this time doing other worthwhile things as well.

Making :: so many memories. My friends and I have been making a conscious effort to enjoy these days, these wonderful, carefree, worry-free days that we're so privileged to have. From wine-tasting with our whole senior class, to attending all the events that we can, to terrible roadtrip traffic, to playing random games on a Sunday night (Paranoia, as recommended by Sarah) (yes it was last night) (yes it was such a good time), it's been the best month.

Saying :: "how did we get to this point so quickly."

Noticing :: how I'm surrounded by such amazing people. The best people. The smartest, the most compassionate, the most driven. I'm lucky to know them.
Needing :: these next two weeks to crawl at a snail's place. I know it won't. But oh do I hope for it to be so.

Learning :: to embrace the uncertainty.

Feeling :: conflicting emotions – everything's bittersweet. But beyond anything, I feel so, so, SO lucky that this is where my life has ended up. These four years have been better than anything I could have ever dreamed or wished or hoped for.

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