Summer 2013 & Other Adventures

May 21, 2013 Filed Under: Everyday Stories, Roadtrips!, SO EXCITING!, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

For a little while there, it kind of felt like 2013 was going to be… boring. I know better than anyone how quickly that can change, but it’s just one of those silly fears I have every time a new year begins.

Was I EVER wrong! 2013 has been wonderful. I think I was worried that if I didn’t travel through as many continents or take as many planes as I did in 2012, this year just wouldn’t match up. But I have been able to keep busy and happy in so many different ways. Through planning charity events with CASA Cares, school, going to concerts, working for CONFRONT, spending lots of time with my family and with friends, and planning small road trips to new cities, 2013 has been treating me really well.

casacarescolors Showing some school spirit on behalf of CASA Cares at another committee’s event! 

I have a few more road trips planned in the summer months- my favorite kind of road trips- and I also *just* last week finally booked my vacation for the summer. The scary idea that I wouldn’t travel anywhere new this year? Gone! I’ll be visiting FIVE new places-  I’m going on a cruise!

In early August I’ll be hopping a flight to Miami with my family for one week of sun and beach. A potential visit from one of my absolute best blogger friends Stephany, and then my travel BFF will be meeting me on Day 6 in Miami. On Day 7, we board a 7 day cruise with Carnival that takes us through Cozumel, Mexico/Belize City, Belize/Mahogany Bay, Honduras/Georgetown & Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. It seems like a pretty intense cruise with a port city almost every day, but I absolutely can’t wait.

cruising Can’t wait to see Mahogany Bay in real life! 

Before my two weeks of wondrous travel through Central America, I’ll be heading to Toronto (one of my favorite cities for music) TWICE in June/July, and I’ll be heading to the state of New York for another concert in July as well. I’ll be celebrating my birthday in mid-July (so, maybe it won’t be in Brazil and I won’t have my own personal fireworks, but I’ll get to spend time with friends!) and really, who knows what else this summer has up it’s sleeve?

to I haven’t been to Toronto in almost 2 years. I miss this city so much! 

For now though, I’ll focus on getting myself through my summer class (my motivation isn’t doing so great, neither are my study habits!) and I have a few really amazing concerts coming up here in Montreal before I start visiting other cities. Life has definitely been keeping me busy, and I promise I’ll never start a new year with the same kind of fear that I did at the end of 2012!

What does summer 2013 have in store for you?

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Always, Sometimes Never- The Travel Edition

April 29, 2013 Filed Under: Travel, Traveling Tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m stealing this idea from Stephany, who recently wrote this exact type of post, but about cruises! Coincidentally, this happens to be a great way to share some traveling tips I’ve accumulated over the years. Things to do always, things to do sometimes, and things to never do:

While traveling, I always…

Overpack. I think I’m slowly getting better, especially now that I have started backpacking everywhere I go, but I still fill my poor backpack up until it looks like a turtle shell. I can never wrap my mind around not having EVERYTHING with me.

Try the local cuisine. I love food, as a general rule, but I’m not afraid to try new food, either. Unless it has noticeable limbs, tentacles, wings, or whathaveyou, I’m always up for a little bit of a foodie-adventure!

IMG_3195 A traditional Brazilian cook-out for lunch! 

Watch a sunset. This sounds a little bit random, but I’ve been in some countries where the sunsets are the most gorgeous in the world. Some of the most memorable include the sunset over the Santorini’s caldera & over the Mediterannean Sea in Italy. I could literally live in those kinds of moments.

IMG_1700 Sipping wine and watching the sun set in Santorini

While traveling, I sometimes…

Like to go out & be a little crazy. I mean, as a general rule I “sometimes like to go out”, but when I travel, I’m always up early, which means that going out and partying until late is rarely something I actually enjoy. Sometimes though? A little dancing in a faraway country is *just* what I want to do!

IMG_2548 A night out with my best girls in Mykonos!

Sleep in. Normally, I’m up relatively early, because I love enjoying every day to the absolute max. But every once in a while, the long days take a toll on me. I’m a sleeper by nature, so a sleep-in day gives me the chance to really enjoy my trip without burning out.

Try experiences out of my ordinary. In fact, it’s these moments while traveling that have really pushed me to realize that being out of my comfort zone is okay. I am a very anxious person and new things can be intimidating. I will often tell myself that I can’t do something because it’s just “not me”, but then I do it and I realize that it’s all in my head! My stand-out moment for this was when I agreed to do a hike in Cinque Terre, Italy. My BFF convinced me to do it, and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I’m by no means a very ACTIVE person. The adrenaline rush after the four hours was incredible. Jumping off a tiny sailboat into the middle of the Mediterranean sea was another relatively scary moment for me that ended up being a favorite! I try and do ‘out of my ordinary’ experiences as much as I can, and I think I’m getting better at it!

IMG_4612 Hiking the Cinque Terre trail, at the halfway point and feeling amazing!

While traveling, I never…

Say no outright. Sometimes, I try and convince myself that “no” is the better answer, but chances are if you make a case for something, I’ll come around. Plus, why say no when you’re in a faraway country? You never know when you’ll be back there. I give everything a fair chance, even if it’s scary.

img017 Even though I wasn’t crazy about the idea, I still took a chance and went exploring Mexican caves. It was amazing!

Leave my hotel/hostel without a map. I used to be afraid of getting lost, even in my own hometown. I’ve discovered that with a regular, paper map, I can find my way in even the most confusing of cities. I directed my friend & I through all of Rome without getting us lost once. The one time our map flew out of my bag in Paris? We got lost for almost two hours. It was exhausting!

Book transportation/lodging last minute. I need all of my stuff planned in advance. Sometimes, things can go wrong (like that time I booked a train to the WRONG city) but once I’m away from home, away from trustworthy internet, away from my native language? I want to have the least amount of worries as possible. I research everything in depth in advance, and everything is booked as far in advance as I can handle.

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What would make your list of always/sometimes/never while you travel?

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Augustana Sang it Best…

April 7, 2013 Filed Under: Music = Love, My Many Husbands, Roadtrips!, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

If you’ve read a few posts around here at any given time, you’ll know that there are two things I love more than anything else in the world. Music, and traveling. Putting them together? That’s just a bonus! I’m heading to Boston with a good friend of mine today for two days, to see two different concerts, and soak in a little bit of a brand new city.

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I’ve never been, but if Augustana’s song ‘Boston’ (a long-time favorite track of mine) tells me anything, it’s that I’m going to love being there.

It’s been a hectic couple weeks as the winter semester comes to an end and finals begin, and I fully plan on enjoying these couple days away, even if I may have some homework to do at the hotel at night. I get to see one of my all-time favorite musicians for the first time since 2011. I’m very lucky that I have had the chance to see him perform live five times since 2008, but it will be the first to see him doing his own thing, rather than with a band. Nonetheless, I’m ridiculously excited for a roadtrip to see Andrew McMahon!

andrew!

We’re also enjoying a spontaneous show by Andy Grammer and Parachute. I hadn’t heard much of either of these bands before planning my trip to Boston, but my friend is a big fan, so we’re making a special evening out of tonight to see them. Should be a good time! I rarely say no to a good show.

I’ll be home late Tuesday night, and hopefully some updates after that about my trip and other random life things. Until then, I’ve put together a playlist if you’re interested in hearing all the bands I’ve mentioned above. A little music for your Sunday.

Boston Playlist by melissapayette on Grooveshark

Have a great weekend!

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The City That Never Sleeps

March 21, 2013 Filed Under: Roadtrips!, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I got home from New York very late on Sunday night (more like Monday morning, really) and since then my life has been one hectic blur. I was right back at work Monday morning, and between working and school, I haven’t had a single moment to just breathe (or blog).

I had an amazing time in NYC, though. It was four MUCH needed days away from the insanity of my life. Although I still checked social media, it was a drastic step back to the 3 hours of answering e-mails I was accustomed to each day. As a whole, the trip was a very good reminder that as much as I love to work; as much as I LOVE what I do, I need to just relax once in a while. It was becoming unhealthy, how much I would push myself to work more, harder, longer hours. Although it was by no means a RELAXING four days, it kind of was. We wandered the city streets, shopped, ate good food, visited tourist areas, and just had a good time between friends.

IMG_5806 Dinner and drinks at the Olive Garden on Thursday evening after almost 12 hours in a car!

IMG_5807 One of my favorite views; Olive Garden in Times Square was the perfect way to start the trip!

21 Mandatory visit to the M&M’s store in Times Square after dinner

1 Friday morning was very relaxing; we just wandered around and got a feel for the city before heading out to lunch! It was so nice to just BE there.

IMG_1549 The Empire State Building was looking very gorgeous that morning.

IMG_5812 On Friday afternoon, I met up with Allison (With Faith and Grace) and she took me and my three friends to the West Village for lunch! We ate at this amazing Swedish place called ‘Smorgas Chef’, and then we wandered into Magnolia Bakery. Afterwards, she brought me to Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment and I just about died. A very wonderful early afternoon!

IMG_1552 Vanilla cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery!

IMG_5817 Later in the afternoon, the two of us went to the Harry Potter Exhibition in Times Square, where we proceeded to completely nerd out for almost two hours. It was AMAZING. I highly recommend it if you’re a fan of the movies! It’s a huge display of a ton of the original props from the 8 movies, and you can purchase an audio guide as well.

IMG_1569 Oh and of course, you can buy pictures of yourself after you’ve gone through the whole thing!

IMG_5834 Late morning brunch at Max Brenner the next day was JUST what we needed. One of my favorite restaurants that I know of in NYC.

IMG_5841 Strawberries, waffles, whipped cream, raspberry sauce and melted white chocolate sauce. So delicious!

IMG_5851 Saturday afternoon turned out to be very gloomy and rainy. After breakfast, we wandered through The Strand’s 18 miles of books, did way too much shopping at Century 21, and then headed to the Financial District to see Battery Park, the Financial Bull, and a distant view of the Statue of Liberty.

IMG_5856 Mandatory photo with the Financial Bull!

IMG_1581 It’s good luck to touch the Bull’s special parts! We had to take part in the tradition.

4 Random picture of us as we wandered NYC on Saturday… We’re good looking, I know.

IMG_1586 Saturday evening was St. Patrick’s day celebrations throughout the city. After a bit of relaxation in the hotel room, we all got ourselves dressed up for a night out!

14 A much later-that-night, blurry iPhone picture. I love these people :)

IMG_5888 Sunday was our last day in NYC, and naturally we needed to spend some quality time in Central Park. It has, by far, the most gorgeous view of the city you’ll find anywhere. The contrast between nature and city is staggering, but so beautiful. We wandered for 3 hours, very cold, but barely realizing that time went by at all.

IMG_5882 I adore Central Park <3

IMG_5869 We found the famous Alice in Wonderland statue, and randomly stumbled across Hans Christian Andersen a little bit later on. The randomness of Central Park, really!

IMG_5892 After Central Park, we wandered around the far too expensive 5th Avenue, and had lunch at Bouchon Bakery in a random mall near where we parked the car. At around 5:30 we said goodbye to the city, and made the 8 hour drive straight back to Montreal!

Although I was happy to find my bed that evening, I miss New York City terribly. It’s one of those places that I’ll never get tired of visiting, and there is ALWAYS something new to see. Four days was a really perfect amount of time to be there, and I’m already planning the next time I’ll get to go back!

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New York, New York <3

March 14, 2013 Filed Under: Roadtrips!, SO EXCITING!, Travel Tagged With: , , , , ,

NYCbaby

I’ve been feeling pretty absent from my blog recently, no matter how hard I try to make the appearance and write especially in this place. Life has been crazy, in the best way possible. This week has been full of highs and lows. Each year, this is the toughest week of March for me to go through, and in fact I can’t remember the last time I ever enjoyed myself and forgot the sad times that this week holds for me. But this year things are changing. I may have been sad to say goodbye to 2012 at first; scared to say hello to a new year that I bore no attachment to, but that is all changing.

This year is filling itself with so many amazing things.

I’m going to save this for a bigger, better blog post. Right now, I’m heading to New York City for four days! First trip of the year, and I just can’t wait. NYC is one of my favorite cities on this continent (after Montreal, of course) and although I was just there in September, I’m going to be properly spending three full days there. There are very few places that make me as happy as the hustle and bustle of Times Square, the shopping in SoHo, and the street carts filled with all kinds of good food.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and take some time to do something a little extraordinary while you’re at it. :)

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Thank God I’m Leaving the Country in 2013

February 27, 2013 Filed Under: Roadtrips!, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

wander

My biggest *fear* of 2013 was that I wouldn’t get to leave the country and do anything exciting after all the money I spent traveling last year. I’ve been in a travel daze for 6 straight months, getting lost in books about faraway countries & wandering the travel department of the bookstore, planning itineraries in countries I’d like to one day visit.

In the last year and a half of my life, I’ve visited places around the world that I have dreamed of all my life. I spent more money than I had, but it’s been beyond worth it. I’ve caught a travel bug! I’ve been thinking of ways to make 2013 a travel year in its own way, even if it won’t be to more distant lands of my dreams. I’ve said many times that I want to travel the whole world, and that includes some smaller places too.

This year, it’s going to be about making the best of smaller opportunities. So far, I’ve got four cities lined up between March and August, and something tells me I’m not done for 2013 yet!

March- New York City

I’ll be booking 3 nights and 4 days in a city that I’ve been in love with for years. I’ve been twice, but the last time I properly visited was in 2008. In September 2012 I stopped in for one day to see a concert (which was amazing!) but it’s time I go back and spend quality time in Manhattan with some good friends. It’s in the middle of semester, I can’t really afford a trip in a month, but I miss the feeling of packing a bag and being in a new place- even for just a few days. This is a VERY  needed getaway!

manhattan

April- Boston

I think I mentioned this a couple weeks ago, but I’ll be heading to Boston in early April to see Andrew McMahon in concert! He is one of my absolutely favorite musicians, and I haven’t seen him live in 3 years now. A week or so ago, we also added a second concert to our trip (the night before Andrew’s), so I’ll be trying to soak in a little bit of Boston for the first time as well as two shows! I don’t know either of the artists I’m seeing on the first night (Andy Grammer and Parachute) but I’ll get to know them before then. I love roadtrips for concerts, so this is bound to be a really great few days out of the city before finals hit hard.

boston

June- Toronto

A city I’ve been to many times, it’s been YEARS since I’ve had the chance to hop a bus and go back to visit. So far, my only big plan is to see Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, but it’s a whole weekend of music events when we’re there, so my friends and I will probably make an adventure out of it. This trip isn’t very far from home, but I’m particularly excited because so many of my favorite things will be happening all at once. Music, traveling, and adventures with friends!

T

 August- MIAMI! 

Last year, I went to Brazil with my mom, sister-in-law, baby nephew, and brother. We traveled 24 hours there and back, hung out with family at the beach, and I got to soak in an entirely new culture that I fell immediately in love with. It was a super unexpected trip, and one that I won’t forget anytime soon. I didn’t grow up with many family vacations (in fact my last one was when I was 13, and I can’t even remember before that if I ever had one?!), but it looks like it may be becoming a spontaneous tradition of sorts since my nephew has been born.

Earlier this week we booked an apartment in Miami all together once again for one week! It’s not so far from home, but it’s a beautiful city that I’ve never been to (other than plane layovers) so I’m excited to explore the beaches, enjoy some cheap shopping, and just get away for a week with my family. I can’t quite explain how amazing it was to spend 3 weeks in Brazil last year with some of the most important people in my life, it was at times frustrating and confining, but mostly it was wonderful, rewarding, and I loved waking up everyday so far away with the inability to be truly homesick. I can’t WAIT!

miami

 August is usually the month I like to travel in, so who knows if I go straight home after Miami? A week is certainly not my usual norm for being away from home, and I think I’m going to look into doing something else from there. But who knows?! Right now, I’m just thrilled to have adventures to look forward to almost every month for the next little while. The anticipation of a trip is almost as great as the trip itself!

Where are you traveling to this year?!

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25 Places I Visited in 2012

December 30, 2012 Filed Under: Pictures, Reminiscing, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

While deciding what kind of posts to write as re-caps for 2012, I came across this one on Elle’s blog, and I knew I just had to steal it! This year was all about travel for me, and I want to look back on the most memorable places I saw for a long time. Although Elle made it 10 places she visited, I found that there were at least 25 I wanted to look back on in 2012!

#1 The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Orlando, Florida

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#2 Universal Studios – Orlando, Florida

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#3 Valadares, Brazil

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#4 Tumiritinga, Brazil

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#5 Guarapari Beach, Brazil 

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#6 Ibituruna, Brazil

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#7 The Colosseum – Rome, Italy

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#8 Da Michele Pizzeria – Naples, Italy

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#9 Capri, Italy

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#10 The Amalfi Coast- Sorrento, Italy

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#11 The Leaning Tower of Pisa- Pisa, Italy

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#12 Monterosso Beach – Cinque Terre, Italy

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#13 The Corniglia Hiking trail- Cinque Terre, Italy

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#14 The Rialto Bridge – Venice, Italy

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#15 The Hard Rock Cafe – London, England

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#16 Buckingham Palace – London, England

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#17 Platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross- London, England

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#18 Chateau Versailles- Versailles (Ile de France), France

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#19 The Eiffel Tower- Paris, France

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#20 The Louvre Museum – Paris, France

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#21 Burlington – Vermont, USA

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#22 Belleville – Ontario, Canada

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#23 Max Brenner – New York City, USA

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#24 Times Square – New York City, USA

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#25  Radio City Music Hall – New York City, USA

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What are some memorable places you got to see this year?

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Eurotrip 2012: Paris, France (Day 2) – LAST DAY!

September 28, 2012 Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Our first full day in Paris had been so much fun, but there was still SO much to see with just one more day left in the city. Day two was just as jam-packed as the first, but we’d long ago given up on the idea that we might take a breath on this Eurotrip. All 20 days of it were a wonderful, amazing whirlwind adventure.

We woke up bright and early on day two (August 24th)  and got ready to visit the Versailles Palace. I was EXTREMELY excited about this, I’d wanted to see Versailles for as long as I could remember! I excitedly got dressed for a chilly Parisian day and we were off to the train. It was a hilarious train ride, looking back, although at the time I must admit I was kind of terrified.

You see, we kind of got STUCK ON THE TRAIN TO VERSAILLES. We’re both French,  so there was very little language barrier while we were in France (besides sometimes different slang or misunderstanding the accent a little bit) but for some reason the guy on the train intercom spoke at the most ridiculous speed, not to mention the speakers kept cutting out. At some point halfway along, Mister Train Announcer came on and said something quickly in French about no more passengers getting on. Okay, cool. We kept reading. Then? The train SHUT OFF. Completely. We started to look around and noticed there was NO ONE left on our train. We were at a random station nowhere near our destination and we were completely alone. I tried opening doors to the neighboring carriages, but everything was locked. We tried getting out of the train through the doors but they just wouldn’t budge. I finally had to stick my head out a window and scream across the tracks for a girl to get someone in the train station because we’d been immobile for close to ten minutes. No one ever came to our rescue, but luckily our train moved again and we were freaked until we were at the Versailles stop and safely two feet outside the box that had felt so terrifying just moments before. REALLY WEIRD EXPERIENCE.

The Versailles Palace was absolutely stunning, but completely jam packed with tourists. We got there *late* by Versailles standards, so we got stuck in tour groups and just the overall commotion of the tourist site. Still, we managed to learn a lot about the history through an audio guided tour. It was really interesting! & did I mention how beautiful it was?

 
Our “WE MADE IT ALIVE” smiles & me at the front gate. You can see the immensity of the palace in the distance!

The famous “Hall of Mirrors” was probably one of my favorite parts, despite being FULL of people

All the rooms were ridiculously beautiful and luxurious like this one!

We had bought tickets to see all of the palace, the gardens, as well as Marie-Antoinette’s chambers (a half  hour walk through the acres of land.) Unfortunately, it began POURING RAIN and neither of us were prepared for it in the least. It was cold, the rain didn’t stop, and we made the decision to skip out on the second part of our tour to go back to Paris and do some more sightseeing around there.

   
After a short break at our hotel to put one some warmer clothes against the rain, we took the metro to the Sacre-Coeur Basilica where we heard you could get the best view of Paris. I think Sacre-Coeur was also my favorite church from the outside, it was so beautiful!

We hung around Sacre-Coeur for quite some time soaking in the whole city. It was a gloomy day, though, and the rain made us want to NOT be out for longer than we really had to. Nonetheless it was a stunning view as far as I could see!

Our last stop in this area of Paris was the Moulin Rouge! The red light district was kind of strange to walk through and we didn’t stay very long (just to get some pictures) but I was really happy we made the trip to see it up close.

Finally it was time to head back to The Louvre, which we’d skipped out on the previous morning. We were both BEYOND exhausted on our feet, but we made the trip back to the museum and walked through two wings before being QUITE LITERALLY unable to take one more step. I must admit I hadn’t been in so much pain as I was after walking the Louvre. Not just because of the museum, but because my body was beginning to understand that this was almost over and everything was just catching up to me.

Nonetheless we made a point of seeing some of the great paintings housed in the famous museum (hello, tiny little Mona Lisa!) and I picked up a souvenir book that we used once in a while to learn more about some paintings.

This is the part of my trip that I had become too lazy to journal, and as I expected the details were a little fuzzy. I know we went out to dinner on our last evening (or at least I imagine we ate something) but before we knew it, our time in Paris was coming to an end and we had to go back to the hotel to pack our backpacks for a 7:30AM wake-up the next day to go to Charles de Gaulle airport.

Paris was beautiful. I was so happy to have made the trip there for a few days, although the rainy weather kind of dampened my spirits in those last few days. That being said, I’d love to go back and spend more time there without feeling SO EXHAUSTED. There’s so much I didn’t see! Next time, though? Definitely not flying in or out of Charles de Gaulle. That airport was CRAZY confusing.

& that sums up the whirlind three weeks of my trip to Europe. It took me longer to write these re-caps than the time I was actually there, ha! I still think about my trip every single day though, and I miss it like CRAZY. I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. Exhaustion, heat strokes, and all. It was the experience of a lifetime and I am so excited to dig my backpack out again for the next big adventure!

Oh and the final tally of bracelets I accumulated through my travels?

THIS MANY!

Europe, you were a dream <3

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Eurotrip 2012: Paris, France (Day 1)

September 26, 2012 Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Our last stop on our three week Eurotrip was Paris. We had 2 days and 3 nights in the city and then we’d be flying home! I last left off in London; we ran to Kings Cross/St. Pancras Station, but unfortunately we completely missed our train to Paris. We not only got incredibly lost on our way there, but we had been told there was no need to get there early when in fact we had to check in half an hour in advance. Luckily the lady checking our passes saw my distress and put us on the next train, an hour later, free of charge.

We arrived in Paris in late afternoon, got on the metro and found our hotel relatively quickly. As we were wandering the streets near our hotel with our big backpacks on (mine was affectionately known as Turtle at this point) I realized it had been a couple hours that I was wearing 45 pounds without a single complaint or notice. I couldn’t believe it! It was at that moment that I realized just how far I’d come in 3 weeks. I knew I’d toughened up a little, but it was nice to actually see it.

After checking in and getting changed, we wandered up to look for some dinner. We walked straight for the Arc de Triomphe which was only a few minutes from the hotel, and we chose a little Parisian bistro to eat some French onion soup. Yum!

It was a pretty early night for us because we wanted to enjoy our full day the next day as much as possible. The next morning, we woke up relatively early, took out our map of Paris, and decided we would do the nice long walk from our hotel straight down Champ D’Elysees to the Louvre & go from there.

 
It was a beautiful day in Paris, and the walk was absolutely gorgeous and so leisurely. Didn’t even see time go by!

Our walk led straight to the Louvre’s entrance. So surreal to be standing in this spot!

Agnes & I in front of the entrance. Actually so pretty here!

Our plan had originally been to visit some of the Louvre that morning, but we found out that as students, we’d get a free entrance the following day after 6pm. We decided it would be a lot better to save that money & just enjoy the other sights of Paris for the day! We left the Louvre, walked around the museum through some souvenir shops, and crossed the Seine River to go visit the Notre-Dame Basilica.

 
It’s SUCH a beautiful walk along the river, and the Basilica was GORGEOUS!

By far the most gorgeous stained glass I’ve ever seen in my life was in Notre-Dame

We continued walking along the Seine for HOURS, stopping here and there to visit inside shops, look at the items being sold by street vendors, and just enjoying the beautiful Parisian views.

We walked past everything there is to see in Paris, and I absolutely loved it. There’s no better way to see a city than on foot. We could have easily taken the metro to our destination, but the exhaustion and exhilaration of seeing so much of Paris in just a few hours was completely worth it.

And then, finally, we were at the Eiffel Tower.

 
We probably spent an hour if not more just soaking in the Eiffel Tower’s beauty. It’s by far one of the most gorgeous monuments to see up close.

After enjoying the worlds’ best ice cream cone under the Eiffel Tower, we began our walk back to the hotel. WITHOUT A MAP. It flew right out of my purse into the gated area around the tower, so we tried our best to get back from memory. Obviously we got slightly lost, but I can’t say I complained with a view like this!

By the time we got back to our hotel, it was well past dinner time and we were beyond the point of just tired. Neither of us could move a muscle even if we’d wanted to. We lay down on our beds instead and mapped out our days’ walk to see how long it was. Turns out we walked about 20KM of Paris on foot that day, not including all our stops. Crazy!

Suffice to say, it was a quiet night in for us. We bought tickets to see Versailles Palace early the next morning, so we just enjoyed our lovely hotel, bought some grocery-food dinner, and RELAXED! It was fabulous, although we knew we only had one more day left in Europe before going home!

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A Weekend in New York City

September 24, 2012 Filed Under: Concerts, Music = Love, Roadtrips!, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

A couple months ago, I planned a short weekend trip to New York City with three friends. We randomly decided it would be totally worth it to go see Bon Iver perform one of his 4 back-to-back shows at Radio City Music Hall. I was so 100% down for this idea immediately because I hadn’t been back to NYC since 2008 and it’s been on my to-do list since I came home. I’ve always loved that city, so it was like two awesome things in one. Not to mention the fact that I knew I’d be missing traveling around now & it would be a nice little getaway.

Friday was NEW YORK CITY DAY. We were supposed to get our stuff together and leave no later than lunch time and get to the place we were staying in Long Island just after dinner. Unfortunately, through a series of rather hilarious events, we were stuck in a car for somewhere close to 12 hours (instead of 8) and we only arrived in Long Island at almost 3 in the morning. Our driver realized about an hour in that he had mixed up his passport with his friends’, so we had to go all the way back home to get the right one. Then, we decided we’d ignore the GPS and try another route but we ended up driving straight through New York and into Connecticut… Basically it wasn’t so funny at the TIME, but once we found our way, we joked that we TOTALLY meant to take a short trip into an entirely different state. Good times.

 
Finally arriving at the border & driving at sunset

 After only about 5 hours’ sleep, we got up around 8:30am on Saturday. We only had ONE DAY in the city (and the concert was that night) so we wanted to make the best of it. We hopped a train to Manhattan and got in around 10:45am. Two of my friends are regulars in NYC, but I was immediately jumping up and down from excitement. I WAS BACK IN NEW YORK CITY. It was just as busy, hectic, bustling, dirty and awesome as I remembered it to be.

On the train early in the morning with my favorite (other) Mel! 

Hello again, NYC :)  

We made a stop at Macy’s & Crumbs Bake Shop for a delicious cupcake before walking straight for Times Square. I think this is still my favorite part of NYC that I’ve seen so far. I know it’s the most touristy place, but there’s something about being in that exact place that just makes me smile uncontrollably.

SO MANY CHOICES!

This cupcake was AMAZING.

Times Square was PACKED with people! The city was crazy busy. 

 
Soaking in my favorite part of the city before heading to SoHo! 

We had to have a photo all together in the M&M store… I also had to hold myself back from eating everything

Our glasses matched the M&M’s so we just had to do this. Ha :)

We wandered through a couple more stores in Times Square before getting on the subway to SoHo. It was too busy & hectic to take pictures there, but I enjoyed some delicious street vendor food (weirdly the yummiest gyro ever) and we shopped around for a couple hours. Since I’m still extremely broke from Europe, I avoided shopping as much as possible! It was still fun to look around and just enjoy the fact that I was in actually there. I mean really!

Once we were tired of shopping, it was like 4:30pm or so. My friend Mel had been talking about a famous chocolate place called Max Brenner, so we decided to check it out. They actually serve AMAZING food and it’s the coolest concept for a restaurant ever. I mean it’s based on chocolate so how could it not be?!

I just love the inside design of this place and it has SUCH a good vibe. I highly recommend it if you’re ever nearby! It took me forever to order food, too, because I was having so much fun reading the menu over & over again. I could have eaten EVERYTHING but I settled on fish tacos with a chocolate milkshake. Probably the best I’ve ever had (and will ever have!)

 

When none of us could eat another BITE of food, we headed out to walk off all that chocolaty goodness. It was almost time to head to Radio City Music Hall, but first we made a quick stop at the NBC Studios store where I stocked up on Community merchandise (FINALLY got my ‘Troy and Abed in the Morning’ mug and couldn’t be happier!)

FINALLY we walked over to the theater and headed inside.

I really didn’t know what to expect from Bon Iver in concert. I mean, I love his music but it’s so mellow & I was so tired… I was scared I might fall asleep! That was not the case in the LEAST. They performed for an hour and a half, and the time just FLEW by. I didn’t check the time for the entire first hour because I was just SO mesmerized and he sounded so freaking amazing live. I’d go to another one of his shows in the blink of an eye.

Their song ‘Skinny Love’ is, if possible, 10 times better live than it is recorded. And I absolutely adore that song. I’m still beyond words for this show, but suffice to say it was fantastic. I also bought a really cute t-shirt which I wore on the way home because I was so sad it was over.

On Sunday morning we went out for breakfast at a real, legit New York diner. It reminded me of the opening (and closing) scenes of Pulp Fiction and I totally wish I had something like that closer to home. Afterwards it was a full day of driving straight back to Montreal. We listened to lots of good tunes, talked, and just usual roadtrip-ness all around!

It was a gorgeous drive home!

Hysterical photos at the gas station after WAY TOO MUCH SUGAR at Friendly’s :D

My traveling for 2012 is officially ALL DONE. I’m so sad, but I must admit my bank account heaved a huge sigh of relief when I stepped through my front door. Now it’s time to focus on school and my three jobs that patiently let me take a nice long-weekend off!

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