Fresh from my semester exploring Europe, I vowed to make the most of my final months on the east coast by taking full advantage of the city. In the the last three weeks I’ve left the comforts of Comm Ave and ventured into new parts of Boston. Here are some of my favorite gems I’ve discovered:

Deep Ellum: I discovered this romantic and quaint speakeasy bar and have been back three times since. I fell in love with the classy interior design, friendly and knowledgable staff and nice variety of students and 20-somethings. Ordering new (and tasty) foods I splurged on the pork belly, duck confit, gorgonzola fries and hot buttered rum. The hot buttered rum (Santa Teresa Reserva rum, Butter, brown sugar) was the closest thing to butter beer and I was instantly transported into JK Rowling’s imagination. 

Ariana Restaurant: Instead of my usual Thai food favorites, I ventured to try Afghanistan cuisine. I ordered the Kofta Challow (beef meatballs with sun dried tomatoes) and Kaddo (baked pumpkin with garlic yogurt and ground beef sauce). The indulgent meal was hearty, wonderfully comforting and the savory flavors stayed in my mind hours after the meal was over. 

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: My friends and I decided to check out the new wing in this museum and instead spent a few hours wandering the halls and garden of the museum. While sipping on free hot coco, we ignored the howling snowstorm and lazily walked around the lush greenery and admired Isabella’s art collection.

Aquarium and Legal Seafood: Pretending to hide among the hundreds of toddlers who pressed their noses to the glass fish tanks, Steph and I shelled out the money to spent a few hours at the Aquarium. We  loved seeing the colorful jelly fish and 90-year-old turtle. We finished our afternoon by splitting Clam Chowder and Lobster Bisque at Legal Seafood.

Museum of Science: Undiscovered Worlds Nighttime Planetarium: My friend surprised me and got us tickets to see the 8:30pm showing of Undiscovered Worlds: The Search For Our Sun. Laying back on comfy chairs, we faced the circular celling and watched the stars expand and contract. I was transported out of Boston’s smoggy skies into a foreign universe full of stars and planets. Definitely one of the best museum exhibits I’ve seen in Boston (runner-up is Chihuly Glass Exhibit last year at MFA).

Short-term 6-month goals for Boston:

• Language: learn code (javascript, HTML), strengthen Spanish on BU Rosetta stone (2x a week)
• Media: Blog once a week, allocate reading the news into 15 min periods, don’t keep Twitter open all-day
• Health: get to 7:30min mile, remove bread from diet
• Music: Learn 1 new secular song each week on the guitar, learn 3 new finger picking patterns, develop stronger fingers so I can remove my capo, attend four concerts per month 
• Judaism: attend 2 Meor/Hillel lectures per month, go to Rabbi Loketch’s dinner once a month

Long-term Goals:

• Associate more songs with moments. Keep my music personal to me
• Become more detail-oriented
• Manage time efficiently / Don’t over-commit
• Utilize 4-day weekend by exploring the east coast (visit Miami, NYC)
• Strengthen friendships
• Show appreciation for little things
• Look for every opportunity to make a new connection and friend
• Display less sheer enthusiasm and become more business-friendly

Thought Catalog: 20 New Year’s Resolutions For 20-Somethings

“Find a way to save approximately 300 dollars and spend it on a flight to see a friend or family member who lives far away.”

AV Club: New Year’s pop-culture resolutions 2010  (Nathan Rabin)

“I’d like to be unplugged a whole lot more. I spend way too much of my time online, indulging my compulsions, so I think it would be lovely, if quixotic, to try to spend as much time away from my Apple Overlord as possible. Also, I’d like to fill in some of my pop-culture blind spots, namely reading fiction, going to plays and reading poetry.”

Next I enjoyed a delicious coffee in a small cafe off a cobbled street. As we explored the small side-streets of Paris I helped myself to a delicious chocolate crepe.

Next we walked over to Notre Dame. The gorgeous cathedral was juxtaposed by the scary gargoyles. Nothing like the cute characters from the Disney movie.

After a delicious dinner of french onion soup and creme bulee…

As the sky dimmed, the city came alive. After a romantic ferris wheel ride, we walked to the Eiffel Tower. For the first time in my life, I saw why Paris comes alive in the evening – the dim lighting set against historic landmarks, romantic couples strolling around eating baguettes – I was breathless.

The next morning, we awoke very early to get in line at the Lourve. While the Mona Lisa was nice to see, it was a little underwhelming. We spent around three hours in the Lourve, I wish we could have spent the day wandering around looking at all the ancient portraits and artifacts.

Next we walked along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées filled with lots of high-end designer shops. While window shopping I carefully listened to the variety of international accents and dialects. At the end of the street towered the Arc de Triomphe which honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. All the names of all French victories and generals were inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces.

That night for our final meal, while I ordered delicious mozzarella pasta, Christina ordered tartare raw beef!

Christina and I arrived at Tasmin’s late Friday night. After dropping our bags, Tasmin shared delicious Manchego cheese and bread. Using this rare opportunity to catch up face to face with one of my closest friends, we reminisced on our incredible summer at Yahoo! and recent tech news. Once we got it out of our systems, I took pleasure in purging myself from all work related topics for the remainder of the weekend-fully embracing the city and Spanish culture. Contrasted to London’s fast-pace business and theatre culture I’ve been surrounded by lately, Madrid was a healthy dose of relaxation and warm weather.

Friday night Tasmin invited us to an apartment party with some of her Spanish friends. Upon entering the apartment, I was greeted by 8 Spanish boys kissing me on both cheeks and speaking animatedly in Spanish. I suddenly realized for the 100th time this semester – America is not the center of the world and it is my duty to become a knowledgable global citizen, continuing to learn and interact with the world around me.

Straight out of one of my Menlo Spanish class assignments, attending this party forced me to brush up on my Spanish skills.  I was surprised how much Spanish I accurately remembered. Asking questions like “what TV shows do you watch?” “what are your favorite Spanish foods?” “what are you studying in university?” seemed to dominate our conversations. Ironically, the boys seemed eager to try out their sparse English with Christina and me. But by using hand motions and exaggerated faces, we discovered a humorous mix of our conversation topics.

The next morning, Tasmin took us to a local coffee shop to try a typical Spanish tortilla and coffee. I was skeptical to enter this run-down shop, but instantly changed my mind after digging into delicious potatoes and eggs covered in  two types of salsa.

Next, we took the metro to the center of the city and leisurely walked around for a few hours. Taking advantage of the warm Spanish sunshine, we stayed outdoors while my happiness continued to escalate.

All the while, I noticed a slight change in Tasmin’s demeanor. In the summer months at Yahoo!, we ran around Sunnyvale, inhaling coffee, attending meetings and constantly chatting about the future of technology. But in Madrid, Tasmin easily fell into the relaxed pulse of the city. I watched her casually mimic everyone around her; strolling around Madrid, sitting and smiling. Even our customer service was laxidazical and calm. No one seemed to be in a rush to get anywhere or do anything for that matter. Some small part of me realized that life in London and Boston’s quick paced city has changed me –  and maybe I could use a dose of warm weather living.

While continuing to be a perfect tour guide and translator, Tasmin brought us to the most amazing market. Indulging ourselves, we slowly devoured creamy salmon and caviar, red wine, and 8 different types of cheeses. turning to the sweets section, we split a rich macaroon, chocolate cake and caramelized pine nuts. Continuing to people watch and stroll around the small side streets and cobble stones, we ended the afternoon by enjoying ice-cold glasses of Sangria.

That night we went to a “posh club” in the center of Madrid. We left Tasmin’s apartment at 1am and didn’t return until 5:30am!

On Sunday we walked around a huge outdoor flea market “El Rastro”. Then we had a delicious tapas lunch. Shrimp, mushrooms, foi gras, duck, vegetables, jam, carmelized onions all covered in cheese on toasted bread. Next, slowly dipped sugared churros in liquid chocolate. (Photos speak for themselves) Finally, we concluded our perfect weekend by walking through the El Retiro park, gazing at the lakes sparkling reflection and breathing in the warm air.

Much thanks to Tasmin for sharing her abroad world.

But I immediately discovered, I was rusty. My fingers fumbled. My hand cramped. The lag time between thinking a note and playing it dragged on an extra second. Surprised, I realized that in this last month of starting my internship, traveling foreign countries and studying for my PoliSci class, I had pushed aside one of my favorite activities and lost some of my treasured skills. Loud and clear, this was a physical indicator that I need to slow down and take some time to myself to rediscover my passions. Exiting my browser’s TedTalks and SlideShare, I spent last night learning an old-time favorite: Regina Spektor’s classic “Us”.

On Saturday I visited the famous James Joyce bridge and the actual Guinness factory. The entire factory store was structured around a six-layer glass beer mug. Learning about the beer creation process, we made our way up to the Millenium Bar on the top level, drinking a pint while gazing into the 360-degree surreal view over-looking the entire city of Dublin.

After the Guinness factory, my friends and I went on a Halloween pub crawl around Dublin.  As typical Americans, we dressed in cute outfits (Hadley and I were bunnies). Thinking we had the perfect costumes, we were surprised to see that everyone in Dublin (and Europe I soon learned) did not have the same idea of  a Halloween costume. Blood-soaked monsters, knives in skulls, skin falling off mummies bodies and horrifying makeup. No “Mean Girl” cats or bunnies to be seen. A few times I glanced around the street in pure shock, clearly mistaken I was in some sort of Euro-trip horror movie! I didn’t take any photos but here are similar images.

{taken by Christina’s amazing high-resolution camera]

At one of the Irish pubs, I filmed a classic Irish folk-tune “Molly Molone.” notice the leader of the band is a flutist!

The next morning we took a short trip to Howth, Ireland; a small fishing village. The moment we stepped off the bus, a the sharp sea air washed over me. Since it was my first time seeing the ocean in months, I’ll admit I was a little homesick for my Bay Area summers in Half Moon Bay and Pacifica. We leisurely walked around the ocean shore, admiring the splashing waves and small sailboats. It was one of the first times I was happy I didn’t have 3G on my phone, completely at peace with my surroundings and unattached from the world.

{taken by Christina’s amazing high-resolution camera]

The first two days were spent showing them my favorite London spots: The Museum of Natural History, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Hyde Park, Harrods, St. James Park, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Soho.

We saw two theatre shows: Backbeat and Legally Blonde. I love Backbeat - the story of the Beatles before they were famous. Backbeat focused on the tragic story of 5th Beatles musician before his eventual exit from the band. My Dad and I enthusiastically sang along to early Beatles songs and took pleasure in watching John Lennon and Paul McCartney brainstorm lyrics to “Love Me Do.” 

Next, my parents and I boarded a two hour train to Bath. The ancient city boasted gorgeous curved buildings and historic Roman Baths emitting scalding water from the Earth. We took advantage of the peaceful town, touring the Bath Abbey church, ancient baths and a two-hour outdoor bath and spa treatment. Especially since my family was disconnected from our 3G internet on our mobile phones, I felt especially engaged with our surroundings and was able to fully embrace the culture.

Finally, my family and I traveled to Stonehenge! While I understood that I was in the presence of a historic monument, in reality, it was just rocks.

Here’s what my sister emailed me from her Global Architecture class in India: “okay this has been my favorite of all the buildings we studied! im so jealous u get to go! its made entirely out of megalith rocks, MASSIVE stones that are impossible to move. they stones took months to move and they dragged them to the building site just by tons of men pushing together for months. each one is a ton or half a ton i cant remember.

its the most famous of the neolithic monuments. it has these aubrey holes on the inside which show that there was once proof of cremation burials.
its an example of trabeated architecture which means it has a vertical post on the top supporting a lentin. it has an extremely low tensil strength- meaning a low capacity to ben without breaking. made in 2700 — 1500 BC. the people of salsbury plains in england felt that is was their axis mundi or “center of the world”

Check out our video at Stonehenge:

Overall: it was an incredible week and I am so fortunate my parents were able to visit!

Making my final rounds scrolling Twitter at 1am Wednesday night in my London dorm room, I stared at my dimly lit MacBook screen, stunned as the Steve Jobs tweets started pouring in. I quickly glanced at my sleeping roommate then outside to the Kensington Streets in London, expecting riots to disrupt the quiet suburb. But life remained still and I felt an urgency to tell someone in London, talk to someone, to communicate and make sense of the chaos. But I couldn’t – everyone was asleep. So I opened my MacBook, iPhone3Gs and reached out to my friends and family in California and Boston.

I wondered why Steve’s passing affected me so directly. When I moved 3,000 miles from California to Boston and now another 3,000 miles to London, I deeply relied on Apple products to keep me in touch with my loved ones and the communities I’ve built for myself. Remembering my early freshman days of the first Boston snowfall, I missed San Francisco more than I ever have before. Laying in bed, I turned my iPhone over and read “Designed in California,” soon calming my nerves that a little bit of home was with me wherever I went.

This week was a harsh reminder that bad things happen to good people. At age 56, Steve’s losing battle with cancer sharply ended his young life. As I reflected on Steve’s accomplishments across Apple and Pixar, I combined my grief for Steve’s passing and the approaching Yom Kippur fast in a few hours. How did Steve inspire others? How did Steve build relationships and understand the human need? How have I positively impacted others? Teaching guitar lessons to a friend? Opening doors for people? Performing well in my classes and internships to make my family proud? How have I failed? How can I improve for this next year? What do I really want after graduation?

As I begin the next 24 hours of soul searching and meditation, I am fortunate to see an outpour of Steve Jobs inspirational quotes and videos to encourage and motivate me to have an easy fast and a meaningful upcoming year.

Thanks Steve, for connecting me to my loved ones when I needed it the most.

But what about that helpful cashier at the supermarket missing his teeth? Yes, yes he’s definitely sophisticated. Or that boy in the bar that told me I was a gorgeous lass?  Yes, must be a Oxford grad. Or that women that bumped into me, “watch out, love.” What a sweet lady.

Wait, what? Missing teeth? Creepy pick-up lines? I need to train myself how to separate dreamy accents from actual meaning.

Now that I’ve lived in London for a month, I’m starting to pick up on physical cues and decipher British dialogue appropriately to situational factors, not the dreamy accents. When I begin interning with Yahoo! UK, I imagine my supervisors will assign me tasks or provide constructive criticism and I need to be prepared to interpret the accents and extract true meaning.

In my Global Promotional Strategies class, we watched six different business people attempt to work together to solve a problem for their brand. The different ethnicities and customs of the six global employees emphasized the value of understanding other cultures. Hopefully I can continue to pursue a career in global communications; perhaps working with European media to attain top tier media coverage across international publications or developing social media strategies in an Asian country.

The more I expose myself to British and international cultures, the more I learn. In addition to going out to pubs, where it’s often hard to hold a coherent conversations, I find myself drawn to wandering around the Museum of Natural History in the afternoons, or walking around the Financial District post 5pm.

This past week I celebrated Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, at Imperial College, a local British University. Chatting with Jews from Brazil, Russia, Paris, Germany and dozens of other regions inspired me to become a global citizen. Even though we spoke different languages, we all sang the same Jewish melodies and prayers. Smiling at each other, we were happy to come together as a religious community for a few hours, speaking the same universal language.