The books are starting to be packed. Well, I’m starting to pack them. Little by little I’m cleaning out my tiny studio and boxing things up. I only have about 3 and a half weeks left here in Milwaukee and only have about 4 and a half weeks before France (well it may be longer than that as I still have no word on my visa situation).

I just finished the book The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, and as I’ve mentioned in a couple of other posts, this book has inspired me to seek happiness in my own life. One of her personal resolutions was to clear the clutter in her life. I was quite inspired by her and by this particular resolution because as I was starting to clear the clutter in my head of false lies that I trained my mind to believe that were causing my depression and my anxiety, I thought it only fitting that seeking happiness in my life should also be reflected in my physical life. After all, I realized that though in general I’m not a huge fan of cleaning up my own messes, I find that I do feel happier when I do. I feel happier when my house is in less of a mess and doesn’t look overbearing with stuff. I also feel happier with less stuff. I think that in my depression, in my anxiety, and with my sentimental habits, I tend to hold onto things that I don’t use, don’t need, or think that I might possibly use someday. So, I started de-cluttering my life, mentally, emotionally, and now physically.

Continue reading “One must purge but also choose wisely.”

 

When I first moved to Milwaukee, I had all these expectations of living this over the top awesome life. I was going to be a full-time graduate student living on her own in a pretty diverse and progressive city. I thought I would have free time on the weekends with friends when I would be able to discover the different restaurants, breweries, coffee shops, and hang-out spots. I thought I would have free time period. I thought making friends here would be easy period.

However, my expectations of the city of Milwaukee failed me and led me to become depressed about my move here and actually ended up making me hate Milwaukee for the first 8 months of it.

Continue reading “Pas au revoir mais plutôt à bientôt: parting with Milwaukee”

Now that I’m preparing to move back to France for at least ten months, I can’t help but to be beaming with excitement of all the possibilities that I’ll have to explore Europe again.

For those of you whom don’t know, I’ll be moving to Paris at the end of August to teach English at Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle as well as study as a graduate student. Not only will I be getting a decent pay and the opportunity to live in one of the most glamours European cities, but I will also be getting 12 weeks paid vacation. Yes, you saw that correctly. 12. full. weeks. paid vacation. The massive travel nerd inside of me is ready to burst at the seams and has got me looking so forward to traveling again.

Continue reading “Where I’ve been and where I’m going: my dreams of exploration”

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about embarking on my own happiness project and the frustration that came with not really knowing what made me happy.

First of all, you know what makes me really happy? Sleep, uninterrupted by my fur child to feed him at 6am (the meows, the face-pawing, the face-licking, and now his new favorite thing has become the toe-biting. That little asshole) beautiful sleep. Sleep makes me really happy, especially after a 12 hour shift, however, after I realized that that was never going to happen, I had to move towards finding happiness in other ways. *note humor*

Continue reading “My happiness project part 2”