A Shortcut to Mushrooms

The sky over Paris is a cozy shade of pastel blue, scarcely marred by grey. It was raining hard when you set out for the day, the brooding skies drenching the city with a sullen ferocity. Your feet were soaked by the time you stumbled into the falafel joint just before noon, backpack a sodden mess as you descended the steps of Saint-Paul station a few hours later. The rain had lightened up as you leaned over the edge of the Arc de Triomphe, eyes enraptured by the view down the expansive Champs-Elysées. It had stopped completely when you stepped out of a café onto a crooked back street, the taste of fromage and mushrooms lingering on your lips. But the heavens above were no less bleak than they had been all day. But that grey is but a faded memory as you sit this evening atop the hill of Belleville, a quickly receding cloudmass behind you. In its place is the azure expanse before you, a sweeping landscape dominated by two magnificent centerpieces. Above, the ...

It's been six days ( six days! ) now that I've been abroad, so now's as good a time as any for some good old reflection. From running around with my crazy cousins, visiting ancient Oxford, taking in the magnificent Kew gardens, and going indoor skydiving, it's been quite a few days. Here are 3 things I've learned: 1. Highly-developed countries are very similar Beyond the superficial differences (driving on the left, different accents, lots of roundabouts), there's not really a lot differentiating daily life in England from the one I lead back home in California. To be fair, I haven't yet seen proof that the British have ever built a quality restroom, and simple things just look...off (still haven't quite figured out how to tell the  nice cement-and-faded-brick areas from the ghetto ones). But on the whole,  Britons use most of the same brands and products as I do, spend their time enjoying themselves in much the same way I do, live and work in the ...