Girls Season 2 Episode 2 Recap: Hannah Horvath and Her Catastrophic Taste in Men

CAUTION: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: the character Hannah Horvath on Girls embodies the mistakes that every twenty-something makes but is fully unable to recognize.Especially when it comes to the male persuasion.

Sunday night's episode only solidified this idea. Hannah was faced with two, polar-opposite men, juxta-positioned throughout the episode.

There is Sandy, “the kind, sexy, responsible boyfriend,” Hannah has always wanted and needed. Carrying over from the first episode, the relationship seems to be blossoming quite swimmingly. Their sex life is great: Hannah feels comfortable enough to exist in the moment with him, rather than wishing she were somewhere else, or someone else.

But, that’s just it – despite Sandy seemingly being the more acceptable boyfriend archetype, there doesn’t seem to be much more of a connection beyond that. When it finally comes to evaluating the things that they have in common, Hannah is distracted by something so arbitrary – God forbid she, a liberal, could date a Republican!

This put the bigger issue in blaring, Motel 6 neon letters for us: twenty-something girls will often find any excuse to push away the “right” type of guy whether it is because there is no thrill (like with the “bad boy” type), or no challenge, or simply for no reason other than we have no idea what we are doing sometimes. 

Hannah’s relationship with Sandy can be described as the millennial woman's uncanny ability to screw up relationships — we focus on one good quality (like Hannah focuses on the healthy sexual relationship) until we find one negative one that we can’t stop fixating upon, often because our friends or family – read: Elijah – put some negative ideas in our heads (on this episode, that was Hannah’s sudden issue with Sandy’s Republican beliefs). To top it off, we act as if we did the world a favor by breaking up with them.

The character of Adam is the complete opposite of the spectrum. He is the toeing-the-line-between-murdering-disposition-and-overly-clingy-ex-boyfriend stalker. I mean, who writes and delivers a 10+ long album of whining and spiteful songs (“You destroyed my heart …Thanks.”) or shows up in the middle of the night while you are trying to cut your own bangs using the key we gave you only for emergencies! Maybe Hannah took it too far by hang-up-calling the “po-po,” as Adam so lovingly calls them. But, we all know she is prone to irrational thought at (frequent) times.

While Adam might be creepier and more persistent than any ex-boyfriend we may experience in our realities, you have to admire his gusto in wanting to prove to her that it wasn’t over, it still isn’t over (yes, I did just make a reference to The Notebook). Maybe the scene where the police come to take Adam down to the station is a symbol for Hannah’s arrested development with men.

Or maybe we should take her relationship with Adam as further proof that Hannah is full of mistakes and over thinking situations. Whatever it may be, part of me wishes she continues making them because they’re so cringe-worthy. And the rest of me screams that she gets her stuff together so the rest of us might feel like there is a light leading outside this twisty, turning tunnel of love.

The episode is titled, “I Get Ideas.” Well, from this episode I do get ideas! Ideas that make me worry that Hannah is doomed to make mistake after mistake with men during this decade of her life. Leaving no hope for the rest of us wandering, fickle, and reckless twenty-something women. I see many cats, an empty left ring finger, and multiple empty Nutella and Ben & Jerry’s containers. I mean, will we ever get it right? I guess we’ll have to wait until next episode to find out...

See original article on PolicyMic.

Girls Season 2 Premiere: Are You a Hannah Or a Jessa?

As seen on PolicyMic here:

Girls Season 2 Premiere: Are You a Hannah Or a Jessa?

Twenty-something is a delicate age. There is nothing glamorous about being penniless, still not fully aware of who you are or where you’ll be tomorrow. Not to mention the awkward moments that, even in retrospect, make you cringe at their memory. Twenty-something is an age where best friendships are formed and destroyed, paths change with the direction of the wind, and it just seems like everyone is out to get you. But, when HBO released their new series, Girls, it finally seemed like someone got us. We aren’t searching for answers to all of our questions – we may be young, but we aren’t stupid enough to expect that. All we want is for someone to understand that this is a testing and transitional time for us boys and (especially) girls, and that we should be handled with great care. HBO’s Girls presented us with a voice of a generation. Our generation.

Each of the four girls on the show represents a vital part of the millennial woman’s make-up. A part that, often times, it is difficult to admit that we even have. That’s what makes the show such a wonderful experience. Each scene is so painfully similar to at least one experience we’ve had in our lives, it becomes uncomfortable to watch such raw human truths on screen. When we look at those girls on screen, a Coldplay song plays in our hearts. In a funny way, these four "girls" represent four different sides of our womanhood.

1) Hannah Horvath; Our Huge Mistakes

Lena Dunham’s character, Hannah, makes huge mistakes. The type of mistakes that, when you are a spectator watching them on screen, are blaringly obvious. But, gnawing in the back of your mind, you know you’ve made a similar mistake. She is the hardest to watch because she embodies this swinging pendulum of self-consciousness and self-absorption. Her rather unorthodox sexual experiences are often highlighted in the show. They make us laugh, they make us close our eyes but, and in the end, they remind us that we, as millennials, are just trying to discover who we are both physically and emotionally. Hannah represents our potential for greatness that is stuck in the rut of feeling helpless because everyone around us is constantly telling us this is a dismal world. She is the heroine we want to succeed because her mistakes are ours, and her feelings mirror our own.

2) Marnie Michaels; Our Deception

Marnie is our deception. As twenty-something women we are expected to have this beautiful exterior with the most on-trend clothes and make-up that highlights our features just so. It’s often easy to forget that underneath the façade of youth and beauty is a young woman screaming in fear and uncertainty. Marnie pretends to be sure of herself, as we all do in an attempt to fool those around us into thinking we are okay. Well, sometimes we are simply not okay. We push away the people that love us most, we wallow in self-pity, we slam doors at other people’s (sexual) happiness. And that is perfectly fine! Marnie reminds us that we can be beautiful and lost and angry at the same time.

3) Jessa Johansson; Our Free Spirit

Jessa is our free-spirit. As millennials, we feel invincible. Despite this feeling of misdirection, we feel as though nothing can take us down. Drink six times a week? Sure. Pull all-nighters for no apparent reason? Of course. Hang around with people (read: men) who are clearly bad influences? Why the heck not! Jessa doesn’t give a rat’s ass about consequences or other people’s opinions of her. It’s all about the next cool Bushwick party. She is the careless creature that brings us to make mistakes but produces the best stories. She is the flake that is late to her own abortion. The recklessness that adults criticize millennials for stems from the Jessa inside of us and we wouldn’t change it for the world.

4) Shoshanna Shapiro; Our Rose-Colored Glasses

Shoshanna is my personal favorite. Perhaps stemming from the fact that I am a nice, Jewish girl from Long Island, too. She is deflowered, but not devalued. She is our rose-colored lens and naïveté. Shoshanna goes in with blind assuredness that often is paired with our recklessness. She is the reminder that, even though we may be living on our own or starting our post-graduate jobs, we are still young and immature and child-like. Millennial women still have a lot to learn (i.e., don’t accidentally smoke crack out of a stranger’s pipe) but we are enjoying the growing up process and gradual shedding of every last fiber of our innocence.

HBO returns with the second season of this hit show on Sunday, January 13. I know I will be waiting with baited breath, along with a lot of my female millennial peers, to see how the rest of our lives will pan out on screen.

Bikur Cholim: My Lesson From A Friend

I had one of those “a-ha!” moments this past weekend.

Standing around a table at a rabbi’s house, his active and giggling children running around the house, waiting for the guest of honor to arrive. We are surprising her with this Shabbat dinner, a multi-course home cooked meal with endless wine, handcrafted menus, and infinite amounts of love that was painstakingly put together by her friends. This evening would be bittersweet, but we were doing our best to drown out the bitter.

This was my first Shabbat dinner in…well, as long as I can remember. My family, while very culturally Jewish, was never particularly religious. But, this dinner wasn’t about the ritual, but more about the feeling, about the understanding, and about the love that we felt for our guest of honor.

We hid quietly in corners, the children peeking through the curtain to see if she was going to arrive. Of course, her lateness was partially caused by me, forcing my roommate who was escorting her to stall because I was running late, getting into the only taxi cab in Boston where the driver had no idea how to get his way around the city. Murphy’s law strikes again.

But, if anything, the suspense of whether this whole shindig would go as planned added to the feeling of accomplishment when the success was imminent. We were so invested in getting everything just perfect for her, biting our nails, getting lost with less-than-fluent taxi drivers, lying through our teeth when she asks us why we are all dressed up (“Kortney, why are you dressed up?” “Oh, I’m going out to dinner with my mom.” “Gabie, you’re dressed up, too??” “Uh, well…Kortney was dressing up, so I didn’t want her to feel alone…”). We went through such great lengths for someone else without even thinking about it.

And then Shayna, our guest of honor, walked through the door with a dumbfounded look on her face as every white lie and odd reaction we had thrown her way the past couple of days came together. Click. And it was all worth it. She couldn’t believe that we did this for her and we couldn’t believe that we pulled it off.

We stood around the table and I was lucky enough to sit by Shayna’s side as we sung through the prayers, walking through the beautiful rituals of sharing the warm challah bread, washing our hands, twice on the right, twice on the left. I had front row seats to watch the wide-eyed happiness on her face as she had the friends that loved her most surrounding her on this Friday night. I hid my smug smile behind the prayer book we were reading – we did it and I couldn’t be happier to have done this for her.

It wasn’t until later when the rabbi wrapped up the dinner with a small teaching from last week’s Torah portion that I really saw the bigger picture of the night. He told us of Bikur cholim, or the mitvah of visiting and extending aid to the sick. It told the story of Abraham’s circumcision, how God visited him as he sat at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day on the third and most painful day of his recovery, waiting to see if any passersby would like to come in to escape the heat and have some refreshments. Abraham, while being sick, was not being selfish and worrying about his own pain, but continuing to ask, “How can I help?”

This story could not have come through at more of a perfect time. Shayna, who is unfortunately taking a leave of absence for medical reasons, never allowed her sickness to stop her from asking how she could help. While the typical response to a situation like this would be tears and friends supporting her, Shayna has been the rock for the rest of us, devastated by her departure. She never stopped being a good friend, asking how our days went, despite how mundane they might be. Her optimism in the situation, her strength, and honest-to-goodness huge heart have opened the eyes of everyone around her. I admire her for this.

I think that night, as all of us girls sitting with eyes welled up as the rabbi detailed the story to us, his devoted audience, our minds were opened to how some things are bigger than us. Things go wrong, sometimes there are unexpected bumps in the road, and sometimes we have to go through something difficult but one thing remains. We grow, we understand, and we move on.

In situations like this, you are opened to the people who really matter to you. In the moment directly following Shayna’s announcement that she was leaving school to her group of friends, we all mobilized to do something for her. “How can we help, how can we make this better?”

I think selflessness is the most genuine when you don’t even realize you are doing it. It is the most genuine when it is the first response to a crisis and your biggest concern is to how to help, rather than how you will cope.

In times like these, you see who really cares about you the most and, possibly even more importantly, you begin to realize who you care about most. Sometimes it takes misfortune to bring about clarity.

This post is dedicated to my wonderful friend, Shayna Leeds, to whom I hope a speedy and easy recovery. While things might look bleak for the near future, you are surrounded by people who will heal your heart as you heal your body.

Sorority Rush Tips: 13 Ways to Get the Bid You Want

When you enter the jungle of sorority rush week with active sisters on the prowl for fresh meat, you need to be prepared. To Greek or not to Greek is one of the bigger decision you make in your social collegiate career and, whether we want to admit it or not, it can resemble a Darwin-esque survival of the fittest battle.

Last week, Abigail Sullivan Moore wrote an article for The New York Times about the great lengths that young women go to prepare for the recruitment and pledging process. She cites that many college females attending universities in the South enlist the help of coaches who take them through a mock rush process to prepare them for the actual event.

But never fear! You don’t need a professional rush-army to get you through the recruitment events. Here are some steps that can help you along your way to conquering the jungle and being accepted into the perfect sisterhood for you.

1) Be yourself. While this may sound cliché or obvious, many girls will put on an act to appear more “likeable” with the hopes of seeming like a better fit. But, when rushing a sorority, you are choosing your family away from home (I mean, they are your sisters, after all). Would you want to be stuck with a family for the next four years that you really do not mesh with? Don’t try to fit the mold of the sorority, but see if it fits you!

2) Do your research. Most schools have several sororities that rush on campus. Each sorority has different values, culture, and pillars. Before rushing any or all sororities, make sure you look into the histories and culture of each so you get an idea of what they are looking for and whether this works for you. The sorority rush process is like a two-way job interview – you are looking to impress them and receive a bid, but they want to impress you into accepting their bid, too!

3) Do not rely on reputations. Use your own judgment. A lot of college life revolves around gossip that may or may not be true. Each sorority may have their own campus stereotype but, most of the time, there is little to no truth behind them! While you may hear this or that rumor about certain sororities, go into rush with an open-mind. Listen to what they say about their sorority and what they stand for, rather than what you heard. Your own self-formed opinion will serve as a better guide than false reputations.

4) Explore the different kinds of Greek life opportunities on campus. When it comes to Greek life, people assume that fraternities and sororities resemble those depicted on screen, like ABC Family’s Greek,  or the movie Legally Blonde. While it is true that social Greek organizations dominate most campuses, there are other options! There are community service fraternities and sororities, which focus on a more thorough and hands-on service schedule, as well as the social aspects of Greek life. Business fraternities (co-ed) are also on the rise for those future business executives on campus looking to thrive with like-minded individuals. Don’t limit your opportunity to find your niche.

5) Learn how to best market yourself. Carry yourself with confidence and make sure to familiarize yourself with the leadership and community service aspects of your resume. Show your potential future sisters what makes you stand out from the rest of the rushees and why you would be the perfect fit for their sisterhood.

6) Be outgoing. This might be more difficult for some than others, but it is vital when trying to catch the eye of active sisters. In the sea of girls vying for a spot in their top choice sorority, you want to do everything you can to be remembered. Don’t be afraid to go up and introduce yourself to active sisters and ask them about their time in the sorority. Showing interest and initiative are the best way to get on the short-list to getting a bid! (Tip: It is really impressive and useful if you remember the names of the active sisters you talk to. Use whatever mnemonic device you can, repeat it to yourself 100,000 times, whatever helps you remember! Using a person’s name makes them feel good about the conversation, which could really be a plus in the recruitment process, and in making you more memorable!)

7) Dress the part. You want to put your best foot forward because first impressions are everything and, with events as hectic and short as rush, you only have a limited amount of time to really make sure you stick in the minds of active sisters. They are looking for girls who are really taking the process seriously, which means your appearance, as well! Exchange your Ugg boots and tennis shoes for cute flats or sensible heels, and ditch your distressed jeans for a pencil skirt or slacks. You want to ooze professionalism and respectability.

8) Be honest with yourself. Throughout the week, eliminate sororities that you cannot see yourself in. This is all about a mutual perfect fit. You want to be somewhere you feel the most comfortable being yourself. Furthermore, don’t feel like you can or cannot rush based on what your friends are doing. Greek life isn’t for everyone, but if it is for you, joining will be the best decision you could have made in your college social life.

9) Make your own decisions. Opting to go through the rush process with friends could be a great comfort, but it could also hold you back from making the decision that is best for you. It is all about being an individual. Your top choice may not be your friend’s top choice … and this should never sway your decision! In the end, you will both be happy for yourselves and each other when you find yourselves the sorority that is best suited for you.

10) Be appropriate. While television shows and movies might make you believe that sororities are all about partying and dating frat guys, this is far from the truth. Being in a sorority means forging relationships with your sisters, creating a network for outside of college, and learning real world skills like leadership, cooperation, and serving others. Do not talk about drinking, partying, or your finesse with the opposite sex. This is not impressive or becoming of a potential pledge and future sister. Make sure to reveal the best image of yourself.

11) Don’t be nervous. There is nothing to be scared about! Your fear of finding the best place for you parallels the active sisters’ fear of wanting to find the sisters that will be the best additions to their existing Greek family. Instead, look to the exciting future of the possibility of new friends, new experiences, and new skills. Take a deep breath and just be yourself.

12) Be passionate. As a founding member and current president of my campus’ first community service sorority, I remember falling in love with girls who really had a fire behind their words. Tell the active sisters why you love sisterhood, your university, community service, leadership, and friendship! Let your personality come through and the girls are bound to love you. Passion and individuality are king (or queen!) when it comes to recruitment.

13) Enjoy yourself! There is no other process in college – or even post-college – which can truly be compared to sorority rush. It is both exciting and memorable, it will also help to shape the remainder of your collegiate career. Don’t forget to take a moment or two and really appreciate the process, your fellow rushees and active sisters, and the entire Greek life culture.

Good luck and may the sisterhood be with you!

The original article can be found published on PolicyMic: here

Carly Rae JOB-sen.

Well, I am a typical twenty-something approaching graduation, the Funeral March softly tinkling in the background. The number one thing on my mind is getting a post-grad job. Whether I will be graduating in January 2012 or May 2013 (still up in the air), the number one goal still stands - Get hired, or die trying.

So, in a fit of stress and delusion, I created this short little diddy from the chorus of my favorite summer guilty pleasure. It isn't a moment of musical/lyrical genius, but I hope it makes you smile. Especially you, overly ambitious, stressed and employment-challenged twenty-something. Yes, you.

Hey, I just met you,

and this interview was crazy,

but here's my resume,

so, hire me, maybe...?

Maybe when I am bored at a later date, I will create an entire parody (with YouTube music video included). But, for now, I am going to sign off with that. Wishing you all a happy Fourth of July. May America continue to be a land of the free and home of the brave, but have a little more pity on us graduating college students in the job arena...

The Social Media (R)evolution

In light of Mashable's event this past Saturday - Social Media Day - I've decided to really take some time to think about this (r)evolutionary (even beyond North African uprising) addition to our modern society and what it has meant for me. I mean, if we are inventing wide-reaching events for it, then we must really come to terms with the fact that social media has really made an impact on the way our generation reacts, communicates, and relates.

Social media created the voice of our generation, or maybe just created the possibility for each of us to become the voice of our (or just a) generation...because no blog post should go without a Lena Dunham and/or Girls reference.

I first became interested in social media a couple of years ago. I can't pinpoint a date (although, my Twitterversary is March 3, 2010) or where I was when I decided to invest my free time into trolling the many networking sites that the Internet has to offer. But, I can definitely tell that it has affected my life besides the obvious fact of Facebook being Satan to productivity, encouraging me to spend hours stalking pictures of people I knew well, people I've met once, or people I never want to see again, rather than completing the mountains of work I have looming over my head.

I think that growing up with social networks readily available has succeeded in providing me with my own voice.

I am able to talk about whatever I want, whenever I want and guarantee that at least one other person will see it. If that isn't powerful, I don't know what is. I think that all of us youngsters or twenty-somethings are just trying to be heard and the Facebooks & Twitters of this world are just giving us the outlet.

For better or worse, social media has made pseudo-activists out of all of us. Whether we religiously follow the news or just hear about the big current events through word of mouth, social media has provided an unavoidable way to make sure that huge, trending news stories are heard by all.

For example, when the Kony 2012 viral video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc) emerged through the social media channels, people who had never even cared about the well-being of children in Africa, or Africa in general for that matter, were screaming from the rooftops and stomping their feet in outrage about their concern for the children in Uganda. People were moved to make a difference and make the voices of these invisible children heard by tweeting, posting, status-ing, and video sharing. Social media gave those without a voice the chance to shout and they grabbed it. Even this past week with the SCOTUS decision on Obamacare, I cannot count the number of "I am not sure what Obamacare even entails, but YAY!" (or something along those lines) tweets that I saw from people who I knew for a fact never were politically charged before.

For me, social media has opened the possibility of cross-cultural connection. Since I was fifteen years old (and somewhat old enough to understand the expansiveness of the world we live in), I have constantly been hoping that whatever job I luckily receive in the future would somehow work toward creating a world without borders. A world where differences don't define us, but bring us closer together. What makes me love social media so dearly is that it has created an overflowing channel that lends itself to this end.

Social media emphasizes communication and, in my mind, communication creates understanding.

People from every corner and crevice of the world can easily connect to people from distant lands that they may never have or never will even set foot in. When I was studying abroad in Paris, I used social media to document my time through frequent tweets and hundreds and hundreds of pictures uploading into Facebook albums. Through social media, I painted my study abroad adventure for all to see and enjoy.

Through hashtags and mentions and tags, messages are deployed with an unbelievable reach. Maybe it is just my overly optimistic and rose-colored lens belief, but I believe (and hope) that, if harnessed correctly, social media can really make huge steps in creating a more unified and understanding world. In a way, I'm sure it already has.

More personally, social media has opened up an interesting job path for me and others in a similar field. With post-grad job searches being as difficult as they are and with graduation date fast approaching, this effect of social media has had unbelievable gravity in my life. As a student of communications, public relations, and international relations, I have the opportunity to mesh all of these specialties together to really work on creating a global social media strategy for any company, agency, or product I work for. Social media is so new and constantly evolving that us kids of the millennial persuasion have the opportunity to grab hold of this revolution and ride it to the top. This job title of "community developer/manager" or "engagement specialist" lends itself to us post-undergrad twenty-somethings because we have had our finger on the pulse of social networking since day one. Take THAT Baby Boomers!

So much is left to be explored and mastered, so much is left to develop and evolve. The integration of social media strategy into any company's marketing/PR initiative is growing deeper and deeper. This has given me (and others like me) the chance to be masters and experts, rather than going into a well-established field and learning the practices of our predecessors. We have  the chance to lead the (r)evolution.

And, I don't know about you, but I am excited to pave my own path in this new social world.

@GabieKur

From the City of Lights to the City That Never Sleeps

For those of you who have read my blog, have spoken to me recently, or just generally know anything about me, I am pretty sure you would gather the fact that I just spent the four most amazing months of my life in Paris, the City of Lights, of baguettes, of cheese, and of endless discoverable rues. I am obsessed with my time abroad and I find myself speechless and babbling about it, depending on the day, whenever I am asked the timeless question from people I haven't seen in a while: "So, how was Paris?"

But now, I find myself in another metropole, one that might be even more coveted than Paris (although, that could be debated). This summer, I spend roughly between 50-60 hours of my week working and commuting to New York City. It might sound rough, going two hours a day to and from this gargantuan concrete jungle (isn't this term becoming cliche?), but I get the chills up my spine every time the city skyline peeks out from my window on the LIRR train.

While abroad, whenever a "foreigner" (I hate using this term because, at that point, I was the foreigner, wasn't I?) asked me where I came from, I would just say New York. Why split hairs? It's not like they would understand Long Island geographically anyways. And as for the few that did, they connected it with the Hamptons. So, to save myself an explanation and wasted breath, I would put my hometown under the geographical blanket of New York.

Man, oh man, you should have seen the kind of reactions I would get! It was as if, suddenly, their opinion of me skyrocketed up the charts of coolness. I became this sophisticated, other-worldly creature who traversed the streets of Times Square like a pro and had every opportunity at her fingers.

The last two tidbits aren't entirely untrue (while the first two totally are - I am just a goofball, no sophistication or otherworldiness involved). I do work in the middle of Times Square at the Viacom building, which forces me to not-so effortlessly or gracefully shove myself through hordes of tourists. And NYC does provide endless opportunities, whether for a culinary adventure, the chance of meeting someone truly interesting (i.e., an unusual street artist), or that awesome dream job you've been itching for. It's all here.

New York City is so different from Paris, though. I must admit, I did have a bit of reverse culture shock. The amount of people on the streets doubled, the amount of noise tripled, and the possibility of getting run over in the street by a taxi cab quadrupled (which, with crossing Rue du Rivoli daily while in Paris, is a huge feat).

Sure, both cities have reputations that precede them, unbelievable architecture, culture, and an inordinate amount of tourists, but their flavors vary. Paris is a classier city, one with a regal quality. It's buildings bleed history, luxury, and thatje ne sais quoi that Paris does so well. Paris adapts to every person to deliver them their own bit of fairytale.

New York City is harsher, it demands more attention. It's where the business-minded come to thrive and innovate. It's where the weak are separated from the strong. New York Citymakes you take it's metallic wonder in, rather than molding to your fantasy.

Working in New York City has been a true experience. I am lucky enough to have two internships this summer - Viacom (specifically VH1), as I had earlier mentioned, and on the marketing team of Outbrain (www.outbrain.com, @outbrain), a content discovery platform. Whether I am in Times Square (Monday and Wednesday) or Union Square (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday), I make it a point to take 15-20 minutes out of my day to sit and watch the world pass me by.

I am a professional people watcher.

In Manhattan, the world is constantly buzzing. People are constantly moving, life is constantly rolling on - it's like there is a constant heavy bass-line pushing everyone along on the huge avenues. (Maybe Kaskade or Calvin Harris would be the ones to master the NYC soundtrack?) If Paris had a soundtrack, it would be something along the lines of Debussy or Vanessa Paradis' unbelievably catchy song,La Seine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z-NbQvhzKM).

Manhattan is busier, dirtier, and harsher, but I love it just the same. Paris is classic, cultured, and endless, and I miss it desperately. Nowhere else in the world could you for four months straight twirl your finger over a map, land on a random metro stop, exit at said metro stop, and wander the streets with curiosity and find new treasures each time. Each of these cities are constantly battling in my heart for the top spot. It's hard to see where I feel more at home, in two places where I feel comfortable with both of the languages.

I guess they each appeal to different sides of me. Paris is my inner wanderluster, elegant debutante, and wine-o. New York City is my goal-driven, attitude-y, ground-stompin' self. Put the two together and you have one girl, in love with the world, lusting after two of the greatest cities ever to be placed on the map.

Life after study abroad

Behold, I'm back! After a bit of a hiatus from writing, I am going to try and get myself back into the groove of crafting posts that you all will hopefully find interesting! It has been almost two weeks since I have returned from my life in Europe and the transition has been pretty smooth. Although, I have been experiencing some post-partum pains. Every time I enter into a supermarket, I sulk through the bread aisles, yearning for my crispy and still-warm baguettes or viennoises. When I pass a bakery, the tartes look deflated and dull. The wine is acidic and lacking the air of expertise that all French wine labels seem to bleed. When I drive - and think how much easier it would be to take the metro - I secretly hope that the Eiffel Tower will poke out its peak at wave at me. I feel Paris calling me and I want to scream its name from the Long Island tree tops.

Don't get me wrong, though. Being home has been a treat, as well. There is a comfort that comes with home that no other place can replicate. I am not going to lie, when we touched down in New York - JFK airport, I teared up as I stared out the window. I was back in my Motherland, and I felt like it was welcoming me with these warm and welcome arms. Being away from the United States, a country I value in a way that cannot be put into words, only made me appreciate it even more upon my return.

Being abroad has been an unbelievable experience, one that I have been having a hard time admitting is over. I had been waiting for that adventure since I was in kindergarten, planning my college career around it, and in the blink of an eye, as if it were a dream, it is over. They always say it is better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all, or that all good things must come to an end, but I have always been a fan of having my cake, eating it, and then eating it again and again and again. In a way, I feel like I was breaking up with Paris after a whirlwind springtime romance. I left him behind, despite the fact that he loved me well and taught me invaluable things about myself. In the back of my mind, I am hoping that there is still something left for him and I, Paris and myself, but for the time being, I will just take the lessons we learned from our time together and continue on with my life.

My last bit of time in Paris can be described as desperate, but not in the way you would assume it meant. Desperate to grasp all the culture I could, desperate to see everything my eyes could take in, desperate to not miss out on anything that would leave me kicking myself later on. I ran around the city like a starving man, gulping down everything about my surrounding world that I could because it seemed the only way to give my wonderful Paris the proper goodbye. My parents came to fetch me and spend a little time after my semester finished with me in Paris and it was wonderful. The part of my world that was pulling me back home had arrived in the city that I had grown to love madly and everything was perfect. I had tried crafting the perfect excuse to drop everything and move there - nothing was holding us back! After an amazing extra week in Paris with the homesickness dissolved, it made it that much harder to leave. Another week was spent in Spain on the island of Mallorca. It was an island paradise that differed from the hustle and bustle of the French metropole. It was the greatest place to go and wean myself off of Europe and ease myself back into the life of a suburban New Yorker.

When I graduate from Boston University, just like the class of 2012 did today, I know that I will forever know that I accomplished everything I wanted to in college and mainly because I fulfilled my study abroad dreams.

This summer, I am trying to continue with the quick speed of life I lived in Paris by spending 5-days a week in the heart New York City, my favorite city in the world (sorry, Paris, you're a close, close, close second). I am interning for MTV Networks (specifically, VH1) and for a super cool start-up, Outbrain Inc. Both are going to be amazing learning experiences where I will continue this trend of learning about myself and what I am capable of. But, more on that later...(sorry, that was SO future/Bob Saget Ted Mosby of me)

Since I guess this concludes my study abroad aventure, this blog is going to be taking a less European approach and going to detail my adventures in the most dreamed about metropolitan city in the world. New York City, practically the Holy Grail of metropoles. The blog will be undergoing a name change (same URL, though!) and perhaps an aesthetic change very shortly. I can't wait to continue chronicling my journey as a girl in her 20s because, as those of who you have lived through it or at least watched an episode of HBO's Girls, things can get awkward, hilarious, and inspiring.

Check back in soon because I promise I'll have a story to tell. Until then, for the last time...

Bisous!

Still living a moveable feast

My last few weeks have been...draining, eventful, exhilarating, and non-stop.

While, unfortunately, I didn't get much time to write (and I'm sorry for that), I have certainly been doing a lot of living. So, let's recap as best as possible...

My last week of classes was exhausting. So much work and only one night to study for finals! Presentations, and papers, and reading, oh my! Every night was a late night of stressing and wondering why there aren't more hours in the day or more juice in my tank to work even harder.

But, eventually, finals were over and, as I think back on it, I can definitely smile now for two reasons. First, I am done with classes! Ha-ha at all of my Boston University (and other various universities) friends who still have another half of the semester to toil over textbooks. And secondly, I made it through a semester of college-level classes in a foreign language! If learning about history and politics in French isn't a feat, then I might as well throw the towel in for trying to be impressive.

The very same night as finals ended, I jetted off for spring break in Prague, Czech Republic! I have received a lot of questions about why I would have chosen Prague to spend my spring break - going from somewhere cold to somewhere even colder. Well, I wanted to go somewhere a little different than the usual tropical destinations. I wanted a historical experience and a party all wrapped up into one unusual European location. The Czech Republic gave me exactly what I needed.

Each day of break was a marathon to soak up as many of the amazing sights that Prague has to offer, not to mention to scarf down as much of the hearty food (that we definitely have been missing in Paris) that we possibly could. Going to Prague is not a place you go on a diet. Whether it is the pounds of meat, potatoes, and bread dumplings, deep fried cheese, or the foot long wieners as the replacement for Taco Bell as the late night snack, or the world's best beer (arguably), Kortney, Catherine, and I totally ate our way through Prague.


Yum! Pilsner Urquell - one of the national beers of the Czech Republic and my personal favorite.


The style of the city is absolutely stunning, as well. It goes from gothic to baroque to modern in the blink of an eye. The coolest thing is to see the effect of post-communism on the city - the Museum of Communism is right above a huge McDonald's, for example! One of my favorite things to see was the famous Charles River over the Vltava River at sunset - breath-taking. There is a small sculpture of John of Nepomuk and superstition has it that if you rub his belly, you will one day return to Prague. Let's just say I rubbed his belly for a good two minutes straight.


John of Nepomuk - he looks polished compared to the rest of the structure because he gets rubbed so much by superstitious people (like me!).


Tons of people rush to the Charles Bridge at sunset to see the gorgeous sites that it has to offer.
















The gorgeous view at sunset from the Charles Bridge.


The night life in Prague was really awesome...especially, if you want to doing something illegal...but, not what you're thinking! Prague is one of the hubs for pub crawls (illegal in many other places in the world), which is when, for a flat rate, a host bar offers an open bar for an hour to two hours and then takes the group to different local bars and clubs with no cover! My friends and I did a couple and we LOVED them. Not only was it a good, debaucherous time, but it was a great way to learn about night life spots that we would have never found our first few nights in Prague. We were able to meet so many people from around the world and make friends in a more relaxed and uninhibited setting. On one of the pub crawls we did, we finished at a huge five story club, with different types of music on each floor. It is the biggest one in Central Europe, but possibly even Europe as a whole!

After a wonderfully relaxing eight days in Prague, I returned to Paris. But, there was nothing bittersweet about spring break ending because I had the special privilege of getting to see some of my best friends - Liz, Leah, Julie, Lexi flew all the way over from the United States to visit me for their spring break, while Kat and Saba hauled their cute booties from London, where they're studying, to Paris to make the reunion complete. Words cannot describe the feeling of relief you get when you see the people you have been missing for weeks and weeks and months. They were a great cure for my nagging homesickness and stress. They have been in Belgium and Amsterdam for the past couple of days, but they are coming back to Paris tonight for the weekend. I'm so lucky to have friends who would fly halfway across the world to be with me.

The final huge development in my Parisian life has been my internship. This is my first week working at a well-known Parisian public relations firm, which focuses on tourism. One of my favorite things about the company is that it is run by a strong woman. I love meeting successful women because they inspire me to want to go further and achieve more. Getting adjusted to a French company has been a little bit of a trial-and-error endeavor, but I think I am starting to get the hang of it. It is very interesting to pick up on the small differences - when you walk in the office in the morning and when you leave for the day, you must say goodbye and hello to everyone in the office; being to early is not good, being a few minutes late is expected. I am really enjoying noticing the nuances and getting the chance to work on my French, especially since I am doing a lot of translating of articles from French to English. I am really hoping that this improves my French exponentially, so fingers crossed!

So, as you can see, these past two or three weeks have been...out of this world. I've had my ups and my downs, but Paris is shining a whole new light on me lately. It is as if I see it with different eyes. Maybe it is the eyes of a working stagiare ("intern" in French), rather than a student. Maybe its the eyes of someone realizing that their journey here is halfway over (!!!!). Maybe its the eyes of someone who has been matured by their experience already.

Whatever it is, Paris is continuing to glitter for me like the Eiffel Tower does every night, without fail. I can honestly still say, Paris, je t'aime.

Bisous!

The City of Lights Will Always Shine

Even after the novelty of being in Paris has worn off, the City of Lights has not lost its gleam.

It has been a month and a half of Parisien living and I can honestly say I am not tired of it. Granted, it has been a little harder lately. It has really struck me that I am thousands of miles away from my family, my boyfriend, and my friends. While it seemed like these six weeks flew by, when I stop running and take a moment to think about it, its really is a formidable amount of time. A lot can happen in a month and a half if you think about it – the world can completely change in less time than that!

It’s really got me thinking about how much I am changing as a result of living abroad, essentially on my own. What if, when I come back to the US, the people who used to love me will no longer recognize this newly-Europeanized person I (hopefully) will have become? For better or for worse, I am changing every day.

It is safe to say that the slightly empty and gnawing feeling, known as homesickness, has begun to manifest itself in my gut. Staying in touch is harder than expected with different schedules, time zones, and sleep cycles. Sometimes you just need to remind yourself that just because you don’t talk, it doesn’t mean that they don’t think about you or wonder how your day is going. Sometimes it really is true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Or, at least, that is what I am hoping for.

I am already past the halfway point in the class portion of my program. While the workload can sometimes feel overwhelming, I love that I am getting to learn about the effect of colonialism and post-colonialism on Paris and about the politics of the Fifth Republic of France. These are classes that I would have never gotten to take if I stayed on the BU campus for my entire college career.

If there is anything I am gaining while abroad it is perspective. Perspective on a country different on my own, on how to maintain contact, on how to stay connected to home while still making the most of my time here.

One of the things that really help with missing home is seeing a familiar face. Luckily, a visit from my sorority sister, Casey, who is doing a study abroad program in London (and will be covering the Olympics there this summer - so proud!), was just the medicine I needed. It was nice to know that, even with our different lives abroad, when we were reunited, we just continued our friendship where we left off. This definitely helped me with any fears I had of integrating back into my Boston life post-semester abroad. Not to mention, familiarity is just a comfortable feeling.

Casey and I at Trocadero which, in my opinion, is the best view of the Eiffel Tower!

Despite slight hiccups after coming down off the high of my first month or so in Paris, I always come back to the same conclusion – Paris is amazing and I am living the dream, right now.

While here, I have discovered the new alternative to Taco Bell or T. Anthony’s for drunk food – nutella or jambon-fromage crepes! Specifically made by our lovely Algerian friend, Karim, near Bastille who has golden hands when it comes to making this French delicacy (#teamkarim, unlike “fetch,” this phrase will happen). I have learned that mojitos with your girls is the best solution to anything and, if all else fails, Pierre Herme macarons will surely do the trick (I recommend the praline or rose bud flavors, absolutely to die for).

I have unfortunately learned that, when it comes to a foreign language, you need to be pretty positive about what you are saying; otherwise you might get unwanted results. For example, when trying to tell someone I felt hot and used the direct translation, “Je suis chaud,” I realized I had actually told them “I am horny.” Unfortunately for me, these French men found my friends and I absolutely charming after that and wouldn’t leave us alone for a bit. I guess you can say that this is a new way of making friends?

I am learning lessons each day. I am creating memories each second. I have come to the realization that being homesick is sort-of like emotional multi-tasking. When you are away from those you love back at home, you are able to appreciate your new experiences, while still thinking about and loving those you left behind, sensing their absence.

Life abroad is all about finding balance between your home life and your foreign life (which often time feels fake because it’s so unbelievable). Right now, I think I have my equilibrium steady.

Bonsoir!

Inspiration

Simply put, Paris is a city of inspiration. Everything I see has its own appeal, from the looming Tour d’Eiffel peeking out from all corners of the city, to the put-together and stern appearances of the native Parisiens, to the perfect golden crust of galletes and baguettes in the windows of the countless boulangerie-patisseries, even the way that the language bounces off my ear drums like a song (that I sometimes have to focus too hard to understand).

Paris is everything you read about in stories. It is everything you imagine when you close your eyes and listen to the croon of Edith Piaf (just as I am now, admittedly!). And what is more amazing is that I am painting myself into the picturesque image of Paris each and every day!

This past Sunday, Kortney and I were the subjects of Janey’s photoshoot at various locations in Paris – the RER stations, the colorful tile mosaic of the St. Michel Notre Dame stop, the love-lock bridge. We put on our best “model behavior” faces and stepped in front of the lens. Here are some of the results:











My favorite location was the lock bridge. This is one of those things that really is a testament to how romantic a city Paris really is. The idea is as follows: you go to this bridge, which is suspended over the scenic Seine, with a lock that adorns the name of you and your lover, and you attach it to the bridge and throw the key into the depths of the Seine. There are so many locks that it is rumored that the bridge has started to sag from the weight! I, of course, had to do this for my boyfriend, Bryan, and I. Mainly because I am a hopeless romantic and with the idea that someday we could return and find it. It was something I could do while he is far away from me in the United States, working hard in Norfolk, and I am in France missing and loving him. This was my way of bringing a little piece of him to Paris so that he can feel like he is here with me.







It was really fun to be the subject of Janey’s artwork (you can find her photography blog here: overexposureblog.blogspot.com). In a city where people-watching is acceptable and encouraged, it was cool to know that, for one day, I could have been the subject of what people in Paris wanted to watch. Maybe they will think about the silly American girls posing for a camera and laughing self-consciously later in the day. Maybe it will inspire them, just as this city has inspired me to learn the language, to take good photos, to fit into the culture.

So many greats – Hemingway, Dali, Van Gogh – and their works were driven by everyday life in Paris, la vie quotidienne. They would simply sit in cafes, watching life go by and documenting all the beauty that their keen eyes could see. So as I explore, I try to look at it through an artist’s eye. What small, uncovered thing would they have found beautiful? Can I discover something new? What about Paris will inspire me?

I just want to let Paris stir me.

Trials and Tribulations

NB: I will be including photos I have taken throughout my time here from now on. I am not the best photographer, but I have decided to work on improving my photography skills (by enlisting the help of my friend and photographer extraordinaire, Janey). This is of the Roue de Paris at the end of the garden of Tuileries next to the Musee de Louvre.

Someone should stick me in the chokey like Miss Trunchbull did to Matilda to teach me a lesson about slacking on my posts. I guess I can't really blame myself - I hope you don't either - because every day is a constant spiral of activity and new experiences. It is hard to catch my breath sometimes, let alone sit down and gather my thoughts enough to reflect on recent events in my Parisienne life.

Well, the coolest thing that has happened to me in the past week is that I have solidified my plans for spring break! My "study abroad BFF," Kortney (iamlivingamoveablefeast.wordpress.com), and I are going to be schlepping ourselves to Prague and uncovering everything that the Czech Republic has to offer. Beer, hearty & meaty meals, and medieval castles? I am so there. Not to mention, there is an old Cold War-era underground nuclear bunker that has been turned into a quirky night club. I am going to be creating so many memories, it's hard to believe that my brain has enough space to store them all.

It has taken almost three weeks, but I think it is safe to say that I have comfortably settled into my life here. I have my group of friends (or 'salopes') that I surround myself with, I have the art of feeding myself down, and I am definitely beginning to get a grasp of Parisian night life. It is definitely different, coming from a college town like Boston, where everything is catered towards students, but still closes before the party even had time to develop. In Paris, the fête doesn't even start until after midnight, yet the Metro still closes around 1:30am! This is France's way of saying: "You either go hard, or go home because, here, we party until the sunrises and the Metro starts running again. D'accord?"

Hey, at least it's safer. Walking around the streets of Paris at 3 a.m. is a sketchy proposition. As Ted Mosby's mom says, "Nothing good happens after 2 a.m." I can attest to that - one of my many interesting late-night French encounters included a strange man frantically chasing my friend, Janey, and I into the Metro station, propositioning us for a ménage-à-trois with him for 50 Euro. Come on, man! No one is that cheap! (Kidding, kidding)

Every day here is like another step into adulthood - I am learning things, whether it be the easy or the hard way. A lot of times, it's the hard way. Like thinking we were buying bottles of alcohol for under 2 Euro, when really we just read the price tags wrong and they cost 10. Or being nice to a crepe-maker man just because he makes the absolute best crepes, so much so that he gives your group of friends his number, and then complains to you that you didn't text him when you return to his creperie because you cannot live another day without his crepes with Nutella (#awkward). Or even getting fined by the RATP police because you didn't read the fine print on your Navigo monthly public transportation pass about attaching a photo to your card and, with my luck, being singled out during one of their random checks. Such is life as a foreigner. There has definitely been a fair share of these...unfortunate times, but I value each of them as much as the good because I learned.

To be honest, I now understand how foreigners feel when they are in the US and I sometimes (heartlessly) laugh at them and their mistakes, the solutions to which seem self-explanatory to me. But, being in a country where you aren't fluid in the language, the culture is different, and being ripped away from the comfort of having Mommy & Daddy help with everything (although, they still try to do their best from across the large pond), has catalyzed my maturation.

I'm still far from being a true Parisienne woman, but I am definitely a few steps closer to being a self-reliant adult.

La Vie Parisienne

The first week in Paris has flown by in a whirlwind of baguettes, fromage, and sight-seeing. It has practically slapped me across the face how little time I actually have in this beautiful place and how fast it is going to slip through my fingers.

This week has been, first and foremost, a discovery through my taste buds. I am proud to say that I have found the most amazing boulangerie with the freshest baguettes just down the street from me. I have reacquainted myself with my love for Nutella...on absolutely anything. My diet consists mainly of bread products and cheese. Oh, and crepes, let's not forget crepes. My liquid diet has been a learning process, as well, as I have grown a taste for wine - the most famous French produce- and am in the process of learning how to distinguish between the numerous types. In France, a good bottle of wine can be cheaper than a soda, and definitely much more exciting to drink. Whether sipping on a glass while doing tedious grammar lessons, or pairing some Bourgeuil with a fresh baguette and Camembert, wine is exactly what I need to warm my Parisienne-in-training belly.

If there is one thing I have learned so far in terms of la nourriture it is that you must always have a fresh baguette and a bottle of wine on hand. After that, life will be good.

Classes have begun for me as well, which has honestly been a struggle. It is bad enough motivating myself in Boston. But now, with a whole world of things to explore, I feel like a prisoner in my Marie Antoniette-esque study lounge, doing homework rather than uncovering every nook and cranny of Parisien life.

A positive, though, is that in this week or so, I have definitely seen my French improve. After being acquainted to lectures entirely in French, signing a contract that prohibits me from speaking English at any point on the BU Paris premises, and just striking up conversation with the locals, I am inching toward my ultimate goal of fluidity in French. (Although, I'm sure the Franglish I speak with my friends here is totally not helping. i.e., I need to prendre un douche).

As each day passes, I find my worries slipping away. I have already been offered a possible internship, I am starting to master the metro, I am working my way up to solidifying the Parisian girl "bitch face" to deter creepy men, and I am making a life for myself here. I have found that I am a pretty adaptable person which, without this journey, I would have most likely never been able to see. Of course, there are people and things I miss back in the States, but at this moment, I think la vie Parisienne is suiting me just fine.

<If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast. -Ernest Hemingway

Paris, j'arrive.

Well, after a long day of travel and fighting valiantly against jet lag, I've made it! I am in Paris, at The Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, in my own private room overlooking a beautiful French park and Boulevard Jourdan. I can honestly say I am living the sweet life right now.

Of course, today has been somewhat of a struggle. Between an eight hour flight with the world's heaviest luggage, the longest wait at the baggage claim, to the slowest taxi driver on this side of the planet, having to remember how to form sentences in French, and showering in a douche where you have to constantly be pressing the button in order to keep the water running, I am definitely beat. So, I find myself in bed at 8 p.m. (or 20h00, if we are trying to be French), with plenty of time to reflect on the day that just passed.

The main thing I observed: I am in desperate need of brushing up on my French. Conversations can get uncomfortable when you are always looking up, trying to rack the Rolodex in your brain of French vocabulary buried under an inch of dust. I need to get on this pronto if I want the fatigue of formulating sentences to disappear. But, I am loving being immersed in this language, having it reverberate in my ears. It is so beautiful and musical! I cannot wait to just be able to rattle it off my tongue without a second thought.

Making friends was a lot easier than I initially thought it would be. While it was never a primary concern, it definitely was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I might spend my first few days alone in a foreign country with no support system. Luckily, I have connected with a few girls on the trip staying at the dorm with me, adding a certain umbrella of comfort over me as I explore my new home. This is definitely one of the things that has made this drastic transition on my first day enjoyable - being able to laugh with friends who have the same concerns as I do. It makes me feel a lot less clueless.

As I sit here in my bed, exhausted, I still feel like I am itching to go out and explore Paris. There is so much to discover, more than I can cover in four months, and I can't wait to do it. Every second, the mental scroll of things I want to do is expanding and I feel like I am never going to cover everything I want to do. It is making me somewhat anxious because I have so many expectations for what I want to get out of this trip and I am afraid I am going to disappoint myself in the end. I'm just hoping that this very early feeling will propel me forward to be the best adventurer I could be.

Tomorrow is going to be my first day on Paris' public transportation - although, the Tramway is eerily similar to Boston's T - and my first day at BU's Paris Center. Every new thing I learn, even the most basic thing like how to buy the monthly Navigo pass, is an exciting milestone. I can't wait to add more facets of Parisien life under my experience belt tomorrow.

But, for now, I am going to read on my iPad until I drift off to sleep, dreaming about the baguettes I will see, the art I will ponder, and the culture I will soak in each and every day I'm in Paris. I cannot believe I'm here!

Bisous!