blog city

fresh from my vacation.

i'm going to attempt to blog more in the future, but the problem is that i'm really bad at it due to my debilitating facebook addiction.

a rundown of my miserable life, which blew up my newsfeed, but didn't get blogged:

spent the weekend being driven insane, not studying, and eating the best crap whole foods has to offer.

baked delicious twix brownies, shotgunned beers in my roommate's bathtub like i did back when it was still socially acceptable, watched an embarrassing amount of wife swap.

listened to mike mix and master the same song for 1,135 hours.

tried not to lose it.

killed numerous braincells.

and that's it for now. at least it should be. so much of my brain has turned to mush that it seems improbable that anything i say is correct.

all that's left is studying for who-even-knows-anymore and writing a 10 page paper. no problem. reasonable.

the costumes are off limits until further notice.

how i went vegan...

I have been spending a larger amount of time on The Kind Life than usual lately, mainly, I think, because I desperately miss my pure vegan lifestyle. 


As impossible as it seems here in Paris, I can't find anything to eat and my body is just miserable all the time. I'm tired. I'm cranky. I'm hungry. I miss my nutritional yeast and veggie burgers. 

My vision is going and there isn't a single muscle anywhere on my body. 

But -- I'm kicking myself into high gear this week (starting Monday, since I'll be out of the country and the kitchen until then) and hopefully I wont drop dead before my flight back to the US. 


(what a waste of a plane ticket.)


So, I wanted to post my response to one of the new bloggers on the Kind Life Forum here. Partly for you, but partly for myself as well. Going vegan holds some great memories for me, like a graduation ceremony or a first communion. It was the culmination of a lot of hard work, and I overcame many small challenges throughout the first few weeks and months of my veganism -- making me enormously proud of myself and my ability to embody my beliefs. 


So here it is: How I went Vegan: 


"I just gave myself a timeline first. I told myself that I was going vegan for 1 month completely, with no cheats or off days or any of that stuff. 

I decided that at the end of the 30 days, if I didn't like being vegan, or really missed my old foods, I would go back to my regular eating habits. It was much easier than just going 100% vegan forever cold turkey, because in my moments of desperation I could tell myself "just 17 more days and I can have (insert cheese filled item or some other non-vegan food here) again!" 

However -- by the time the month came around, I found that I wasn't missing a single thing and that I felt happier, healthier, and more complete inside and out. The real trick is to not just ELIMINATE foods, but to find vegan substitutes for what you like, and try new things as much as possible. No one is going to like going vegan just to eat lettuce every day, but in my 30 days I discovered that I love Thai and Indian food, and that vegan desserts are 100% more delicious than the regular kind! Give yourself options and a "trial period" to reduce stress and make the transition easier for you and your body! Love yourself and Love your Food!"

<3 


brynn

Discovering the Invisible Abroad

Hello again, friends.

Quite honestly, i have been going out of my mind in Paris.

It's strange to be so conflicted about something so enriching. I'm finally here, living my dreams and studying abroad in France. Everywhere i look, French. French people, French food, French language, French French French. It's wonderful, to an extent. I feel bad complaining about something so wonderful, but being so thoroughly disconnected from my normal, day-to-day life has been a sharp adjustment.

Yes, Paris is fantastic. Paris is beautiful, amazing, exciting, and more intensely amorous than i ever could have anticipated. And yet -- being here in this beautiful, whimsical place, makes me feel... well... lazy. I feel guilty about all the things i am not doing, about all the things i am not achieving, and more specifically, all of the causes i am not fighting for at home because of my current geographical location.

The more i try to tell myself to just relax and enjoy the experience, the more irritated i become at myself for treating study abroad as a vacation instead of a calling. Yes, i want to immerse myself in language, culture, and history. But i have always been proud of my activism at home, and i'm feeling a bit... confused about my inability to reach out while abroad.

 To help hush this internal dialogue, i've started a fundraising page for Invisible Children, which is (thanks to the marvels of the 21st century) just as easily accessed here in Paris as in the US.  

Invisible Children is an amazing organization which uses social media, global outreach, national campaigning, and sustainable industry to end human rights violations in Uganda. More specifically, it seeks to end the conflict in Uganda by stopping the abduction, murder, and exploitation of children as child soldiers and cannon fodder.

If you would like to learn more about this wonderful organization, visit their website, where you can watch documentary footage, learn about their bracelet campaign, and find out the details of their protection plan.

If you've already been exposed to the kind of hope and opportunity that is created by Invisible Children, or you are moved by the links above, please consider Supporting the Invisible Children through my donations page.

The world is an amazing place, full of opportunity, joy, love, and compassion. i have made it a priority in my life to never let a day be wasted, and my experience abroad has helped to solidify that truth in my heart. Our lives get busy, we put things off and mean to get to them later, our days become hectic with personal worries, fears, and aspirations. And sometimes, even our goals, chores, and personal aspirations block our conscious abilities to reach out to one another. So please, take a moment, take a breath, and take account of those invisible children in the world who desperately need your help today. $1 or $100 can make the difference in the lives of thousands today, if we only make the decision to care.

All my Love and Thanks,
brynn

bonjour from Paris

Bon soir, actually. If i'm shooting for some degree of accuracy. It's about 12:30am here in the glorious city of lights, and I am celebrating my newfound French-ness by sitting at home on a Thursday, sipping a glass of red wine, and finding some time not to study. Instead, i have opted to rediscover my long lost blog. After a brief interlude on the pages of wordpress, i found my way back to this blog, like an old pair of comfortable shoes in the back of my closet.

i have been in Paris for a little over two months now, and although i can't yet call myself a proper Parisian, i am definitely better acclimated than the my first few weeks here. i wandered off the plane bleary eyed, lost, and completely alone. Today, i find myself more aware of what it means to be a global citizen, a wanderer abroad, and a part of something greater than myself.

It has been far from easy, and it is far from over, but so far i congratulate myself on the process of trying, failing, and trying again. 

i will most likely re-post some of my wordpress wording here, reworded to read worldly thoughts, which is not to be repetitive, but more for myself to rethink and rework the previous experiences of my journey. Maybe i'll gain something from it, maybe i'll bore you, maybe i'll save myself a few more moments away from the repulsive "Grammaire de la Sorbonne" book that mocks me from my desk. 

Either way, i'm happy. 

more to come tomorrow!

A demain!

a sweet collection

exercising my sweet tooth

i call it "secret hippie"

arts and cetaceans

Merry Whalemas!

OH, BLOG.

we meet again. 

not that i mind, of course. 

sadly, i don't have much to report these days. but then again that's sort of the point of this rambling excuse for a communication device. and so, i'll share some plans instead. 

i'm currently on break from school (a delightfully long one at that) and i've been using some of my free time to put the pieces of my life together. don't get me wrong, i haven't spent nearly enough time being constructive. most of it has been spent watching The Amazing Race or some zombie movie or other. but every once in awhile i remember that life is short, and the majority of it should be spent in even semi-constructive ways. 

so i've started painting again. which is nice, because it comes with a free (and necessary) boost of stress relief. i'm still no Van Gogh, but progress is progress. most recently i started working on a mural. well, a mock up for a mural. i don't have the spare change for such an enormous canvas, just to waste it on a random assortment of "maybe"s -- so i'm working on a smaller scale version. 

i'm crossing my fingers that it turns out half as exciting as it is in my head, but we'll just have to see. it's sort of an homage to the whales, and maybe some anti-whaling propaganda... but my brain isn't there just yet. 

other than that, still not much to report. i've registered for classes next trimester. (insert enormous sigh of relief here) hopefully it will be an incredibly productive one, because i've got quite the full plate: more French, chemistry of atoms and molecules, science of archaeology (+ lab), microeconomics, and history of Europe 1438-1778. i'm wait-listed for history of ancient Egypt, and a seminar on multi-multiculturalism -- but either way i'm looking at 5 classes next trimester and i'm hoping that my brain is ready for it. (WAKE UP BRAIN WAKE UP)

hopefully, if i stock-pile my classes for the next few trimesters, i'll be done a bit sooner. (good for everyone) and start studying for my LSATS and/or filling out applications for grad school. 

ah, the paradox. 

and so, i've completely filled my holiday from school rant with... talking about school. excellent. 

let's talk about anything else. 

i think now that my brain has had some time to cool down since leaving greenpeace, i'm tentatively considering creating a student activist group at school. key word tentatively. i have an awful lot to deal with already, and i don't know how prepared i am to go down that road again. 

nothing against the environment, of course. but i sometimes forget that passion needs boundaries. and that people need to sleep, eat, and light some candles every once in awhile. especially when you're working for an organization that doesn't seem to care half as much as you do. (not anti-gp, really. just a difference of opinion in some areas that's a little hard to overlook when their environmental activism is your 9-5.)  

regardless, i still need to be more involved for my buddies the whales and the polar bears. 

and i need to start taking better care of myself. because my body is my temple and blah blah blah. so my meanderings in constructibility have left me with a three part plan to a better me.

step 1: my HEALTH. (because dead people are less effective.)

being a vegan is awesome. being vegan makes me feel good, wholesome, and not at all like a rapist and murderer. those are nice feelings. my body giving up on itself and plain refusing to work... is not one of those nice feelings. i'm sure my body's breakdown wasn't 100% diet related, but it sure as hell was a catalyst, and i have to start seriously considering my nutrition. a lot of this HEALTH related plan has to do with supporting my body through relaxation and exercise. (and by exercise i obviously don't mean cardio.) and so, i've pledged to myself that i will plan my meals for the week ahead, stock up on groceries, and not live out of hotels. also, i'm waking up to yoga and/or pilates four days a week, and some weight lifting TBD when i can handle it. 

step 2: is school, and that's kind of a duh. i need to seriously concentrate this trimester because 5 classes in a trimester will kick my ass if i let it. this balancing act needs to be circus quality, because i don't have the time or energy to bullshit around with things and/or people that don't matter.    

 

step 3: my buddies the whales and the polar bears. (etc) because that's why i'm doing any of this, after all. so it wouldn't make sense not to include them here. putting them at number 3 on the list almost makes my skin crawl, but then i have to remind myself that that's how i got into this mess in the first place. i will put myself first because i want the best for my environment, and i can't give back to it if i can't take care of myself. 

in the meantime, i'm thinking of making a short film, or a photobook -- but i haven't really gotten there yet. the whole "put my life in order" business took up a little time. 

and so -- DECEMBER 1st seems like a pretty exceptional starting point, and i would really like to be able to return to this post in a year and be satisfied with my progress. 

see you then, bloggy mcbloggosphere!