It’s been a crazy month of travels! I’ve been giving little updates throughout July and I’ll be sharing more about it throughout August, so I won’t be going into too much detail about that in this blog post. Whilst traveling in Europe, I found time in the evenings to catch up with the blogosphere, read your lovely comments, and reply to them. Now I’m back in Beijing, so once again I’ll be sparse with my replies (forgive me!), but I’ll still be reading all your comments via email notifications! By mid-August I’ll be back in Philly and have a few weeks to myself before school starts at the beginning of September. Eeek!
Books
Every Word Is a Bird We Teach to Sing by Daniel Tammet | ★★★★☆
Adorkable by Cookie O’Gorman | ★★★★☆
Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker | ★★★★☆
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll | ★★★★☆
The Memory Agent by Matthew B.J. Delaney | DNF
Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed | ★★★★☆
An Uncertain Grace by Krissy Kneen | DNF
180 Seconds by Jessica Park | ★★★☆☆
Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang | ★★★★★
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer | ★★★★☆ (reread)
Movies & TV shows
This Is Us | Binged with the family. Rooting for Kevin and Sophie! Also how does Jack die??
Game of Thrones | Watched this video on Youtube to freshen up on season 6 before I started the new season.
Amelie | Watched to prep for Paris! Not gonna lie, I thought this film was a little weird haha. It’ll probably be more endearing when I rewatch it, kinda like how Moulin Rouge was for me.
Passengers | Meh. Not bad, not great. The ship was really pretty at the end though.
Doctor Strange | Tilda ): Could have been so cool for an Asian/Asian-American to play… Also not sure how I feel about Benedict Cumberbatch with an American accent??
Gifted | Mckenna Grace as Mary Adler! Cutest! I love her angry face. My mom says it’s like me.
Life | The end tho.
Edge of Seventeen | I really enjoyed this! Also I love how Erwin was portrayed?? Like a normal teen?? Asian-Americans in media! ♡
Music
I got my little brother hooked on Oh Wonder! We’ve been playing them a lot at home and in the car (:
Praying – Kesha · The Little Things – Carlos Bertonatti · Weekend – Louis The Child, Icona Pop · Lifetimes – Oh Wonder · Stones – Emmit Fenn · Your Mother Was Cheaper – Two Feet · The Morning – Valleyz, DVWEZ, Olukara · Someone To You (Acoustic) – Banners
Cafes/Eats
Beijing | Maan Coffee – iced hazelnut caramel latte, chocolate waffle · Tomacado – summer breeze sparkling water, cheesecake
Shanghai | Nana’s Green Tea – matcha latte topped with whipped cream, mochi, and red bean paste
Cambridge | Nando’s – full platter, wing platter · Espresso Library – chicken, spinach, mozzarella, and sundried tomato sandwich, latte · Cambridge Chop Shop – butler steak · Fitzbillies – chelsea bun · The Orchard Tea Garden – scone, cranberry and raspberry tea · Pint Shop – cheeseburger · Jack’s Gelato – raspberry sorbet · Indigo Coffee House – caffe mocha · Bread and Meat – sausage roll · Wasabi – Japanese curry over rice · Chill#2 – latte
London | Crosstown Doughnuts – banana cream doughnut, creme brulee doughnut, vanilla bean doughnut, coffee doughnut · Ottolenghi – rose pistachio cake, apricot cardamom tart · Timberyard – latte · Pizza Pilgrims – margherita pizza, truffle pizza · Camden Market · Joe & The Juice – immunity juice · The Breakfast Club – kale, sweet potato, feta tacos
Paris | Laduree · Angelina · La Butte Glacee – banana gelato · Chamie – Jasmine bubble tea · Hubsy – mocha, matcha latte
Shopping haul
Bershka oversized denim jacket, blue | my first denim jacket!
United Colors of Benetton blouse, white | on sale
Hermés Halzan bag, bleu paon | gifted by my mom who went a little ham in Paris (different colour pictured)
Wishlist
Cambridge Satchel Company traveller bag, oxblood | the small size is cuter than the larger size but too small to carry what I need
Oak + Fort jacket, beige | I really don’t need another coat, though I don’t have a long coat like this…
Sister Jane Aragon tent dress, white | I never wear white dresses so I probably shouldn’t buy this but I will admire it
ASOS SALON sequin mesh fit and flare midi dress | I was obsessed with this look ever since seeing Aimee x Song of Style wear something similar (a more glam and more expensive version lol)
Happy Moments
My brothers taught me how to game! I mean, I’ve only learned how to play Super Smash Bros, but I think that’s a fairly popular game, so that’s enough for me. I suckkk at it, but it’s still a little fun; not sure how fun it is for my brothers to play with someone who sucks so much though haha. I have no coordination. The photo above is one of them playing Super Smash Bros on our flight from Beijing to London Heathrow.
My brothers got Snapchat! My youngest brother Danny is a natural omg :’)
My mom and I are about the same size feet-wise and height-wise, which means that we can share shoes and some clothes, which came in handy when packing for Cambridge, London, and Paris, because I didn’t bring any nice clothes with me back for the summer. I mean, who can stand wearing clothes in the summer?? So hooooot. Anways, my mom is always super eager to share her clothes with me because she doesn’t like my clothes and says I’ll never get a boyfriend (:
When Danny asks me what song I’m playing :’) (because that means he likes the song and wants to add it to his own music library) (honoured)
When dad gets me Starbucks on his way to work. And if I wake up too late and don’t have enough time to get ready before he needs to leave for work, or if I’m just too lazy to get ready before he needs to leave for work, he’ll do a personal delivery and make a trip to Starbucks and back home for me.
Lately
Lots of traveling around and seeing friends: Sheena and Grace in Shanghai, Poonie and Mira in London, and Ariane in Paris! Hanging out with friends has saved me from being home with my family all the time, but my travels have come to an end. I think my family is making me lose my mind. Post-travels, I’ve actually been feeling quite miserable. But enough of that. I’m counting down the days until I’m back in Philly!
Goals
I’m freaking out because there’s only one month of summer break left!! So at least for this month, I’m sharing my goals for the next month:
- Prep for senior year (come up with senior thesis/theses topic/s, get the club I’m relaunching up and running, draft weeks of posts for school blog, etc.)
- Draft all my summer travel blog posts
- Schedule enough blog posts to last me through September
- Study for the driver’s written test
- And if I remember to exercise, that’d be a plus too
In other news, I am psyched for autumn and psyched for Christmas.
How was your July, and what are you planning for August?