What is happening to me? I can’t stop listening to Lady Gaga. She’s obnoxious, strange and increasingly over-the-top, but I can’t fight it any longer. She’s worked her way into my head, pushing aside the space reserved for respectable music like the new Fiery Furnaces or Norah Jones. Lady Gaga’s second studio album, “The Fame [...]
When I arrived in England, I breathlessly said to no one in particular, “I am never leaving here.” Instantly in love, it seemed I’d finally found where I was fated to be. Surely, there could be no more beautiful home than my little cottage house with the blue door and flowers in the windows. Then [...]
This weekend, I’ll be taking a pilgrimage to a little village in central Italy by the sea, where I will learn the proper way to make Italian food. There will be no mention of Emeril Lagasse, or even Giada De Laurentiis,. In fact, we probably won’t be speaking English at all. Luckily, I already know [...]
A Cautionary Tale This is a short story of a very unfortunate lunch. A day trip to London with a group of international students started off beautifully, visiting landmarks like Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus and Buckingham Palace. After hours of snapping photos and gasping at one beautiful monument after another, I was ravenous and ready [...]
“Come on mate, let’s go to the pub.” Noon on Sunday and I dutifully followed my new friends through heavy wooden doors into a magnificent room of plush armchairs, a long horseshoe-shaped bar and massive chandelier. Not quite the place I was expecting, and certainly not Landmark Americana. I’d stepped into my first classic British [...]
Attention passengers. We’ll be making our decent into London Heathrow Airport now. Please fasten your…The remainder of the message went unheard, as I was lost in my own thoughts, forehead pressed urgently to the little plastic oval portal, taking in the view, suddenly so grateful, so overcome. As we emerged from the clouds, I could [...]
Just as I was starting to get used to the idea of exchanging my entire wardrobe with sundresses, dreaming of al fresco dinners and camping out with my boyfriend – it’s over. Perhaps the fastest summer of my life, the past three months passed by without much fanfare. Somewhere between May and this morning, I [...]