Tag: free people

February 21, 2020 – Venetian Carnevale (OOTD #614)

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Sciences Po winter break: day 7

On my final day with my Sciences Po travel crew, we woke up in an AirBnB apartment in Venice, Italy during Carnevale season.

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Of all the places I visited on our week-long whirlwind tour of Central Europe, Venice was easily the most visually unique. I mean, it’s arguably one of the most visually unique cities in the world — there’s a reason it’s a popular tourist destination. Each city we visited had its own style in some way — for example, Frankfurt had the charm of both old town Germany and a modern city of skyscrapers and Ljubljana had the most beautiful scenery with mountains in the distance. But at the same time, to some extent, they all ran together in my mind.

Venice, on the other hand, was completely different. You could never confuse Venice for Budapest or Prague or Vienna.

I think being there during Carnevale season also helped its case. Not that I’ve ever been to Venice at any other time of the year, but if I had to suggest a time to visit, I would definitely suggest Carnevale. The weather is perfect, for one: Italy during the wintertime is still fairly mild, and there are fewer tourists than there are in the summer. Apparently the canals can get somewhat smelly in the summer as well, which was not an issue I noticed at all when I was there in February.

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Carnevale season is meant for partying — and even if you’re not a party person (or, if you were like my friends and me, you were too tired for partying after six days of night buses and walking tours), you can enjoy watching the partygoers in their elaborate costumes and masks.

I did my best to replicate the Carnevale style of fashion with my purchased masquerade mask and my vintage velvet coat, but what I was wearing was nothing in comparison to the elaborate ball gowns and hats and coats that I saw people wearing. If our only destination was Venice, and if I’d been planning this trip for more than a few weeks, I would’ve bought myself a costume.

I suppose the elephant in the room is that while we were there, Carnevale weekend, was when the first COVID-19 outbreak in Europe occurred. We left on Saturday, just a few days before the first cases began being reported, so we had no clue what was ahead of us in the coming weeks and months. At that time, COVID-19 was still a news story for Asia, not Europe. That was probably one of the last times I was in a large crowd with strangers, and one of the last times I existed in a world where COVID-19 wasn’t on my mind.

I had one more destination ahead of me than my friends, so I bid them all farewell in the afternoon to catch a plain off to Madrid, Spain. Madrid, however, wasn’t actually my actual destination: Toledo, a smaller town about an hour bus ride away from Madrid, was. Toledo was where my friend, Emma, was studying abroad and living with a host family.

I left Venice shortly after lunch, and I ended up getting into Madrid past sundown. From there, I had to take the metro for an hour, from essentially one end of the city to another. Then, it was another hour to find my bus and wait for it to arrive, and then yet another hour to actually get into Toledo.

Emma and one of her friends met me there, and we walked back to her host family’s house. It was dark, about 10 pm, so I couldn’t see clearly, but even in the dark I got the sense that Toledo was yet another visually distinct town. For one, there were more hills than I had seen in any of the other cities I’d visited in the past week. It was quite a hike.

At that point, I wouldn’t have minded to have just taken a shower and gone to bed, but Emma had made plans with some of her Notre Dame friends to go bar hopping, and I couldn’t resist the invitation to go out in a new country.

I thought 11pm-ish was somewhat late to be heading out for the night, but according to Emma, for Spanish people, it was early. She and some of her friends remarked that one of the clubs we went to wasn’t as energetic as it usually was, which they figured was due to it being too early.

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For me though, by around 1am, I was feeling dead on my feet, and I suppose Emma was starting to notice, so we said our goodbyes to her friends and headed home. At that point, I’d been backpacking for a whole week, sleeping on buses and walking all day, and within 24 hours I’d celebrated Carnevale in Italy, flown to Spain, rode a train from one end of Madrid to another, and taken a bus to Toledo. With one mixed drink and a shot of vodka in my system, my body was ready to sleep.

Dress: Express

Turtleneck: FreePeople

Coat: A vintage shop in Budapest  (thrifted)

February 19, 2020 – My Heart’s (Still) in Budapest (OOTD #612)

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Sciences Po winter break: day 5

If it were entirely up to me, I might not have gone back to Budapest. I might’ve stayed another day in Vienna or tried to visit another Central European city that I’ve never seen, like Bratislava. It was really my friends’ interest that brought me back to Budapest rather than mine.

It’s not that I didn’t love Budapest — it’s a really lovely city with some absolutely fascinating history, and I’ve written and done research on it before. I spent a whole week there my previous summer visiting my friend, Bilal, who had been studying at Central European University. That’s part of the reason why I didn’t really want to stay. I figured I’d already seen everything there was to see, and there wasn’t any sense in going back so soon.

But ultimately, I think I was wrong. Budapest was really quite wonderful to see again — I think especially so soon. I was able to act like something of a tour guide to my friends, most of whom had never visited or never spent a significant amount of time there. I was familiar with the public transport system, I knew the major sites worth seeing, and, to my surprise, I even remembered some of the walking directions, especially on the Buda side, where I had spent a whole afternoon exploring by myself during my previous trip.

I took my friends to see the Parliament Building, St. Stephen’s Cathedral (where we even got to meet Jesus himself (?)), the Holocaust memorial on the Danube River, Fisherman’s Bastion, and Buda Castle, which I’d really only walked past before. I think my favorite stop on our tour was Freedom Square, where I got to recount my research project on their eclectic collection of statues and the significance of each statue’s presence (or absence), including Ronald Reagan, the Soviet Union’s Red Army, Hungary’s Jewish population, and (not) Imre Nagy, who, since my visit in summer 2019, has now been replaced with an ugly anti-communist statue of a muscular figure strangling a snake.

There are many reasons why I think Nagy’s absence from Freedom Square is tragic, the most pressing of which is that it seems to represent Viktor Orbán’s overarching attempts to revise Hungary’s history and remove insurgent figures from their collective memory. His replacement with the anti-communist statue as well is just weird. For one, it seems odd to me in 2020 to imply that the entire philosophy of communism needs to be strangled out of existence. Also, it’s ugly and completely lacks the beautiful symbolism of the Nagy statue that gazed contemplatively towards the Parliament building atop a bridge.

Apparently, there’s now a George H.W. Bush statue next to the Ronald Reagan one, though we didn’t get to see that while we were there. I guess that gives me yet another reason to go back.

In the evening, after the sun went down, we went to the first site that I had never been to during my previous week in Budapest — one of the famous thermal bathhouses. We didn’t go to Széchenyi, which is perhaps the most famous of the baths, but instead, a smaller place on the banks of the Danube called Rudas.

I’d never been to a thermal bath house, but it was an experience like no other. For one, the actual complex was huge — I thought maybe there’d be one or two pools, and that’d be it, but there were literally three or four floors plus a rooftop tub. It was massive. We didn’t even get to go to some of the pools that night because they were closed to men only (I guess they switch out different days that different groups of people can use which pools?).

The most unique pool I tried was the hot-cold contrast bath, which involved sitting for a minute in cold water, followed by a minute in hot water, followed by several minutes in warm water, followed by a shower before you repeat it all over again. I almost didn’t do it because the cold water was so cold and the hot water was so hot. I’m normally not afraid of new experiences, but this one had me psyched out. Ultimately, we all went through the process a few times — and I think it was worth it? I felt refreshed and tingly afterwards, and I do think it helped to relax my muscles after several nights of sleeping on buses. I’m not certain I feel like I need to do it again any time soon — but then again, that’s what I’d said about visiting Budapest to begin with, and I was proven wrong about that.

For dinner, we got — you guessed it — more Asian food. I guess we were all just kind of tired of variations on beef and potato stews. From there, we hiked back to the bus station to await our next night bus on to Ljubljana.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life during my semester abroad in the Paris, France. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest,Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Turtleneck: FreePeople

Skirt: Pull & Bear

Coat: A vintage shop in Budapest  (thrifted)

February 16, 2020 – Czech It Off the List (OOTD #609)

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Sciences Po winter break: day 2

I think Prague was honestly my favorite city that I visited during my week-long backpacking trip through Europe. And that’s saying something, seeing as there was some pretty stiff competition from cities like Venice and Budapest, which were also captivating in their own right.

I think perhaps part of the reason why I remember Prague so fondly (apart from its beautiful architecture and colorful rainbow buildings) is that it was the first night I got to sleep in a real bed after two nights of sleeping on buses. We did the whole night bus gig thing on purpose in order to save time and money, but it certainly took a toll, and by the time we hit Prague, we could really feel the fatigue setting in. I think I was holding up better than most of my friends, partially because I think I was able to sleep the most comfortably on the buses on account of being the smallest, and partially because I think I’m just a generally resilient person.

We arrived too early in the morning to check in to our AirBnB, so we started the day in the train station café for about an hour before calling what was possibly the cheapest Uber I’ve ever taken in my life to get to our apartment. From there, we freshened up, enjoyed the experience of laying in a real bed, and then headed out for another long day of walking.

The one thing I was absolutely certain I wanted to see in Prague was the famous John Lennon Wall. It was on our way to the Old Town Square plaza, which was the starting place of the walking tour we booked, so it ended up being one of the first things we saw.

I guess I was spoilt on the graffiti of the West Bank Border, which is huge and sprawling and stretches all along the checkpoint between Israel and Palestine, because I wasn’t hugely impressed by the John Lennon Wall. Apart from the portrait of John Lennon at the center, there weren’t really any other major works. I did think it was cool how contemporary and diverse the issues represented in the graffiti were though — in comparison to the West Bank Border graffiti, which really only covers the injustice in Palestine, the John Lennon Wall depicted political struggles all over the world. The most recent one I remembered seeing in February was the Free Hong Kong slogan. I wonder what has been added since I was there earlier this year.

Though the landscape of Toledo, Spain perhaps gives it some competition, I think Prague’s Old Town Square and Charles Bridge that leads to it was perhaps my favorite sight of the whole trip. I wish I had photos that did it justice, but I was honestly so in awe of it that I forgot to take pictures. What I’ve included here are actually some of my friend, Ebba’s, photos.

In Old Town Square, we saw the Prague Astronomical Clock, famous for being on the list of the top 3 most disappointing tourist sites in the world. Comment down below what you think the other two on the list might be. I’ll give you a hint — I’ve seen them and have even posted about them on this blog before!

While I generally hate tours for the way that a big group of people speaking different languages following a conspicuous leader carrying an umbrella or a flag immediately gives you away as a tourist, I will say, I appreciate actually getting to learn about the various buildings I see when I travel. I think if you can stomach the mild discomfort you feel when a local glares at your group for standing around and clogging traffic, it’s worth it. I’ve done them in Jerusalem and Bordeaux. If you’re a solo traveler (which in this case, I was not) they’re particularly valuable as a way to meet people and make friends.

Our last stop after our walking tour concluded was to cross the bridge and hike our way up to St. Vitus Cathedral. Because a trip to a European city wouldn’t be complete without a visit to a church, right?

Honestly, even more spectacular than the church itself was the view from the top of the hill where the church is located. And that’s quite a statement for me to make, as the St. Vitus Cathedral is perhaps the most spectacular church I’ve ever seen, at least from the outside — and that includes the Notre Dame (though perhaps it’s unfair to judge that one, as I saw it from behind a construction fence), the Sacré Coeur, St. Peter’s in Rome, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

That evening, we tried to go out to an ice bar, where the entire room is supposed to made of ice, but the ice room ended up being closed. We instead headed to a different cocktail bar, which was motorcycle themed, though that wasn’t really any of our styles. I enjoyed my martini though.

Finally, after a long day, we headed home and slept possibly as well as I ever have in my entire life in a foreign country in a bed that’s not my own.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life during my semester abroad in the Paris, France. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest,Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Blouse: H&M

Turtleneck: FreePeople

Jeans: Hollister

Coat: A vintage shop in Budapest  (thrifted)

January 22, 2020 – Parisian Uniform (OOTD #599)

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I wish I had worn this blazer more while I was in Paris.

Okay, there are a lot of things I wish I had done more of while I was in Paris. I’ll try not to harp on that too much. But after I’ve had a look through the photos on my phone, I believe this is the only set of pictures I have in which I’m wearing this beautiful yellow blazer — and that’s really quite a crime.

I also don’t think I wore this scarf much while I was in Paris either — another terrible offense. It was a Christmas gift from my Uncle Tim (yes, the one who has gotten referenced a few times before in this blog — for example, as my tour guide on my day-long layover in Philadelphia before I headed off to Rome last summer or as the giver of some of my name tag shirts), and I’m very fond of it. I also think its well-suited to France — the scarf is a depiction of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and, while Van Gogh isn’t French and while The Starry Night is housed in the MOMA rather than the Louvre, the painting itself depicts Van Gogh’s view from his asylum room in the South of France. Plus, the painting is pretty heavily inspired by the Impressionists, a movement which began in France.

This outfit is a pretty good example of what my day-to-day uniform in Paris was like. These pictures are from pretty early on in my semester, long before I had fully masted of the “Parisian look” (if I ever really did master it) but I was beginning to get a grasp of it.

Here’s the formula: Blazer or jacket of some kind, turtleneck sweater, trousers (see, the jeans here are much too casual for a French woman — especially with the tears, which are a dead giveaway that I’m American), and round wire-frame glasses. A cigarette à la main can’t hurt your chances of being mistaken for an authentic Parisian either.

I wore this outfit out to a club after the Welcome Programme activities at Sciences Po were over for the day, and I think it held up pretty well. This was actually one of my only nights out properly clubbing — as you’ll find out later, I spend most of my subsequent weekends traveling out of the city (and sometimes out of the country) so I really didn’t to go out dancing much.

(Don’t worry — I’ll stop myself before I end that paragraph with “I wish I had”).

Still, I think this night was one of the best ones I spent in Paris. The club, a place called La Rive Gauche, was pretty small, and the only people there were other Sciences Po exchange students. The DJ played a mix of international music because of the diverse crowd — I think they even played “Party in the USA” once.

I think one of the reasons why this night stands out so much in my mind as well as that it ended up being some of my first meaningful encounters with the people who became my closest friends over the course of the semester. I’d been getting to know them a little during our Welcome Programme activities, but it’s hard to really get to know anyone until you interact with them outside of the formal classroom setting. I was hesitant about the Welcome Programme at first — I thought it was silly to show up literally 2-3 weeks earlier than the first day of classes just to go through orientation — but I’m so glad I did it. It helped me make friends beyond the few Notre Dame girls I shared an apartment with, and making friends outside of that bubble was what really made the whole “study abroad” semester special to me. Wherever I go, I want to feel as much as I can like a true local, like someone who’s at home in the city she’s in — and you can’t feel at home in a city without friends who live there too.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life this semester abroad in the Paris, France. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Jacket: Express

Top: FreePeople

Jeans: Hollister

Scarf: My Uncle Tim

 

July 15, 2019 – London Layover (OOTD #533)

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Best. Layover. Ever.

Here it is — the last blog from my summer European adventure. And what an adventure it was. Fitting that it should end with one last big adventure, right?

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another day, another airport

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Croatia was not actually the last country I visited on this trip — it was actually England. After departing the Zagreb airport at around 1pm in the afternoon (though I’ll mention I arrived at like 7am, on account of my friend’s flight departing earlier than mine), I made it to London Heathrow a little over an hour later.

And then I sat and waited.

My next flight, the one that would take me to Chicago, wasn’t going to leave until the following day at 7am. I had a 16-hour layover to wait out. Thankfully, if my traveling has taught me anything, it’s how to handle long layovers in the airport — and the best way to handle a long layover in the airport is to leave.

And how do you leave London Heathrow? Why, you take the Underground of course!  If the tube was already my favorite public transit system in the entire world, it just got even better when I realized it was directly connected to the airport. I love metros that connect directly to airport terminals, like Copenhagen or Chicago. Having to take a bus to the nearest metro station — or worse, having to take a separate metro and pay an additional fee on top of your regular metro ticket like you have to do in New York JFK — sucks.

It certainly wasn’t a short ride, but it was much cheaper than taking the fast train, the Heathrow Express. And it got me where I wanted to go — the Westminster tube station.

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eye see what you did there

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best 16 hour layover ever

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I don’t really know what I was looking for out of this stopover. I mean, I’ve already been to London and I’ve seen the majority of the tourist sites that one can see in an afternoon while waiting for a connecting flight. I’ve seen Big Ben and the London Eye and Westminster and all of the major sites that were in this particular area. I just wanted to go again, to feel what it felt like to look across the bridge and see all of the tourists clamoring to get photos with the ferris wheel. I even joined some of the tourists and got a few photos of my own.

From there, I went to see something I hadn’t actually seen on my 2017 London trip: Hyde Park. Amanda and I had originally had this on our to-do list, but it got cut for time and because everything we read online suggested that it wasn’t really that spectacular of a park.

And to be honest, from what I saw on this tour, I agree. I think perhaps, I just went at a bad time, as it looked like whole sections of the park were closed off for a music festival that was about to park. I also didn’t have enough time to walk the whole thing.  I did get to glimpse some of the gardens, which were lovely while they were in bloom. It was no botanic conservatory, but for a free place to walk around for an hour and get some pictures in the fading light for my blog, it was perfect.

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london bridge is falling down 🎶

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My last stop before heading back to Heathrow to spend the night sleeping on a bench was Tower Bridge herself. This was another site that I think I may have glimpsed in passing during my 2017 trip, but I never got around to paying a proper visit to. I don’t know if walking across the modern London Bridge and snapping some pictures as the sun set counts as a “proper visit,” but it was very pleasant nonetheless.

And even if it doesn’t count, I guess that just means I have all the more reason to go back to London one day. Oh well. You don’t have to ask me twice.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life in Europe this summer. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Coat:Vintage (thrifted, Ecseri Bazaar in Budapest)

Top: FreePeople

Jeans: Hollister

May 30, 2019 – Vineyards and Vino (OOTD #510)

Published on by lensembledujour5 Comments

I never expected to see the day when Notre Dame would pay for me to taste wine.

While in Rome for my internship, another Notre Dame study abroad program was going on. I actually lived really close to the Notre Dame building — like within a five minute walking distance — but I didn’t interact with the other ND kids much. They had their classes, and I had my work, so there wasn’t necessarily a lot of opportunity for us to overlap.

On some afternoons though, the ND study abroad program would have extracurricular, “cultural enrichment” activities, which interns like me were invited to participate in for free.

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take me home, country roads

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Most of the time, these were short classes, such as a crash course Italian lesson or a brief lecture on Italian politics, but sometimes, they’d be actual field trips. One day, we visited the Jewish ghetto, and another, we visited Cinecittà Studios. And one day, probably the most exciting of our field trips, we visited a winery in Frascati.

Up until I went to Italy, I wasn’t a huge wine person. In fact, I wasn’t a huge drinking person in general (and I’m still not). With the exception of the time that I attended a New Year’s Eve party at my host family’s home in France , I’d never really had more than one drink at a time. Rome changed that.

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For one, every night at dinner, I was offered wine, whether I wanted it or not. To be honest, most of the time, I did not  — but I took it more often than I wanted because it seemed that everyone around me, especially the Italians, were drinking. It seemed rude not to. I was there for a cultural experience, and drinking is inextricably woven into the Italian culture.

And over time, I found that I liked it. Does anyone really like alcohol the first time they try it? I’m inclined to say no. It’s not really the taste you’re after; it’s the effect.

Though at the wine tasting in Frascati, I have to say, I found myself going after the taste more than I ever had bothered to before. I can’t describe it to you; I don’t know enough about wine to discuss flavors. One tasted like “red” and the other tasted like “white.” They tasted a lot better than any of the other reds or whites I’d ever had before, however — not that I have much to compare them to. An authentic Italian winery’s own homemade wine isn’t really on the same level as something out of a box at a dorm party. Maybe that’s why I’d never liked wine before; I had never had good wine.

But when in Rome, do as the Romans do, as they say. And the Romans like to drink.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life in Europe this summer. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Top: FreePeople

Skirt: Express (thrifted)

May 17, 2019 – Roman Holiday (OOTD #502)

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I’ve actually never seen Roman Holiday.

I’ve actually never seen a lot of classic films, as I’m not a big movie-goer. I don’t like sitting in place for so long focused on a single thing; I guess it’s the Gez Z kid in me. Movie theaters are the worst. Siting in a dark room for three hours without your room and nothing to do but watch a screen? No thanks.

I do wish I’d studied up a little more on Italian cinema (or Hollywood cinema that depicts Italy) before I came here, because now I’m realizing that I don’t know all of the cultural references that I should. Everything I know about Italy in movies comes from The Lizzie McGuire Movie. Paolo and Lizzie driving around the Colosseum on a Vespa? An iconic moment in cinematic history. “This Is What Dreams Are Made Of?” Anthem of a generation.

Prepare for more interesting Roman backgrounds for my OOTD blogs in later posts, but this was just a single day after I’d arrived. I hadn’t even unpacked all of my clothes yet, let alone wandered around the city looking for good photography locations. These shots were just from the garden at the student center where I stayed. A judgmental nun might have watched me set up and balance my iPhone on a bench and pose for the camera, but I’m pretty shameless about it at this point.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life this summer. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Top: Free People

Jeans: American Eagle

April 8, 2019 – Arts and Crafts (OOTD #490)

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I don’t know what this room is.

Sometimes, I wind up wandering around classroom buildings at night. Normally, it’s because I happened to be in the building before night fell, and then by the time it starts to get dark and empty, I just decide to hang around. Maybe it’s too cold outside to justify walking all the way back to my dorm. Maybe I know my roommates will be around, and I just want some silence to do some work.

Regardless of what the reason is for me being there, once the building in question clears, I like to wander around. There’s no one to tell me I can’t and no one to judge me when I try to open a locked door.

Sometimes, I bump into weird rooms like this. Like…what is this? An elementary school art studio?

You can’t see everything here, but this was a truly bizarre room. It had standard classroom fare — tables, chairs, computers. It also had slightly unconventional classroom fare — bean bags and white boards on wheels. Then, it had really unconventional classroom fare —  like enough Play-Dough, Post-It notes, and Legos to supply an army.

And I have no idea what they’re for! It’s not like it’s a classroom meant for aspiring elementary school teachers, it’s not an art studio, and it’s not even for engineers who are trying to think creatively with Play-Dough and Legos. It’s just…there.

I’m not convinced I didn’t stumble into the Room of Requirement. It gave me what I required, right? I got a place to take some pictures, which is all I really want in life.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life at Notre Dame. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com.

Jacket: AMIClubwear

Dress: Urban Outfitters

Turtleneck: Free People

March 27, 2019 – Pink and Red (OOTD #483)

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A few years ago, I never would have tried to mix pink and red.

It’s one of those color combinations that can go really horribly wrong if you don’t do it well — think a bad homemade Valentine’s card crafted by a seven year-old. It has a tendency to look overly-girly and juvenile.

But if there’s anything I’ve learned over the last two years of keeping a fashion blog and trying to come up with new and creative outfits each day, it’s that rules are ridiculous and meant to be broken. Or rather, they’re decent guidelines, but they shouldn’t be held to all of the time.

Just like my recent realization that I can wear yellow despite being Asian and believing for years that yellow would never work with my skin tone, I’ve also realized that I can do whatever I want with what I wear. You shouldn’t wear black and brown together? Watch me. You can’t have a round face and get a pixie cut? Sounds fake. 

It doesn’t always work though — there’s been a handful of fashion choices that I’ve made and then published blogs on that I realize now were mistakes. So um…don’t always follow the rules kids, but sometimes do.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life at Notre Dame. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com

Sweater: Thrifted (Goodwill)

Top: FreePeople

Trousers: J. Crew

March 18, 2019 – Archie (OOTD #475)

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“Archie” (pronounced Ark-KEE)  is the Notre Dame nickname for architecture students.

Notre Dame’s got four major colleges for its undergraduates — Arts and Letters (the best college, hands-down), Science, Engineering, and Architecture. Architecture is by far the smallest program, and as a consequence, they’re also a very closely-knit community. Their degree actually takes five years instead of the normal four, and one of their five years is spent abroad in Rome. Because of how close the architecture students are and because of how few of them there are, they’ve got their own name — the archies.

The reason I’ve named this blog post after the archies is because these pictures were taken in the new architecture building. Bond Hall, the old architecture building, is being repurposed for offices, and the architecture students now have this new one for their classes and studio space.

The new building has gotten mixed reviews, at least as I’ve heard from the architecture students. It’s kind of got a weird shape that doesn’t really fit in with the rest of ND’s gothic style. It’s also way off on a somewhat distant part of campus, which I imagine is pretty annoying since they have to take all of their classes there. For reference, it took me a solid 15 minutes (and probably more like 20 if it were icy or I had a lot of books to carry) to walk there from my dorm, which is fairly centrally-located.

I see why there are complaints, but I do rather like the inside. There’s a lot of natural light, which not every building has (I’m looking at you, O’Shag), and I think they did a good job of mixing the austerity of an academic building a warm, homey color palette.

That’s coming from me, though, a person who knows nothing about architecture or interior design. To my untrained eye, it’s a nice building to be in. And good for pictures, which is what’s important to me.

Jacket: Thrifted (Goodwill)

Top: Free People

Skirt: J. Crew (thrifted)