settling into paris

Bonjour from la belle Paris! I am writing from the living room of my family friends' flat in the 15th arrondisement. Yesterday, I arrived off the red eye from Toronto incredibly tired, but determined to last till at least 8:30 pm. After a lovely lunch with my hosts, I walked around their neighborhood, to a street called Rue Cler, where I found a lovely selection of food shops to browse. Oh and I passed somewhat noteworthy buildings..

Oh, hi there.

Delicious eats on Rue Cler

falling in love (with new york city)

Musicians in Union Square Station

Lounging at the Guggenheim. Photo Credit: Sarah

Now back home in Toronto, after having a whirlwind weekend with the parents of moving me out of my apartment into a storage unit. I'd be lying if I said it was easy to leave. In fact, of all the times, it was by far the most difficult. I've really fallen in love with New York City. I feel my heartbeat changed to match that of the city, that I woke up in the morning feeling I was in the right place at that moment. After almost a year of living in one of the most intense, superficial cities, I actually feel remarkably wonderful in my own skin there.

While I was packing up and saying goodbye to my favourite places, I thought about what were some of my favourite small, but wonderful things about living in the city this past year. These are things that I did regularly, that became part of my "life" that I really value.

downtown fairs and uptown feasts

As you may have noticed, the spring has not been a good time for blog updates. I really took on a lot-  interning 2.5 days a week while also doing a full graduate school course load- I had very limited time for fun NY related activities.  Then finals hit, and I had almost no time for fun activities, period! This past weekend, however, as I started nearing the end of craziness, I did get to do a few fun New York springtime things.

Saturday, Caroline and I took a study break and walked from our apartment, past the Festival of Ideas by the New Museum to the Hester Street Fair.

Knitted Bike outside the Festival of Ideas. As a knitter and bike-appreciator, I was quite impressed.

Swedish Meatball Slider at the Hester Street Market in the Lower East Side

Caroline with her Veggie Meatball hero

Hester Street Market

Photo c/o Caroline. Me with Red Velvet Ice Cream Sammy

april come she will

..and she went. Honestly, I've spent a huge chunk of the past month focusing on schoolwork almost exclusively. But I did have some time for fun/exciting things in between. Here are some highlights in photo-form. Special thanks to Joe for letting me try out his SLR, and he gets photo credit for any photos of me.

At the library. At least the views nice.

Snapping a shot in the bathroom with my Staff pass when I worked the Wynton Marsalis/Eric Clapton show at my internship

My boy visits again. We had delicious East Village brunch at Cafe Orlin

A trip to the Doughnut Plant in the Chelsea Hotel