Friday, December 21, 2012

Newport/Narragansett/Wilton/Rowayton: A Great Beginning to the End of the World

I made it through the semester: Is this real life?!

On Monday, the day of my second to last final, I started to say goodbye to everyone before the holiday break began. One my girlfriends came to visit Newport after studying abroad in South Africa since July and we met up at our friend's apartment. Our friend and his mother took us out to lunch at Gas Lamp Grille and we ordered macaroni and cheese--the best comfort food on a rainy day before an evening exam.


Monday's Outfit--Someone at university was from Newtown, CT and affected by the events at Sandy Hook Elementary. In honor of the victims and their families, the student body was encouraged to wear green and white. 

I was freed after my last exam on Tuesday took me fifteen minutes.

After my last day of work for the year, my family and I headed back to Connecticut on Wednesday. As soon as we got back, my boyfriend and I caught a late night show to The Hobbit in SoNo (my boyfriend had not seen it yet) and then ended the night with a peppermint hot chocolate and a chocolate frosted doughnut at Dunkin Donuts.

Today was the most relaxing and rewarding day I have had in a while. My mom and I went to Starbucks before getting our nails done at Sun Spa & Nails for the holidays for the first time in a long while. The massage was enough to make me melt away the tension from exams and into the holiday break and I chose "Penny Talk" by Essie for my nail polish color for both my fingers and toes.


My boyfriend and I planned originally planned for a casual night in--maybe making tacos at his house for dinner--until his dad gave us a Groupon to The Restaurant at Rowayton Seafood.

I ran into a mini-crisis over what to wear, because I only had three options to choose from: an 80s dress with an asymmetrical hem and tulle, a 90s style prom dress, and a too-short cocktail dress. Needless to say, there is no outfit picture for this date. It turns out that Rowayton Seafood was dressy casual, not dressy-dressy, but even though my outfit was awkwardly outdated--I wore the 90s prom dress and covered myself with a black scarf--it was a great excuse to see my boyfriend in a suit.


Dinner was absolutely amazing. We ordered butternut squash tortellini with shrimp in a butter and garlic sauce for our appetizer and split the molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and strawberries for dessert. My boyfriend ordered cider salmon with roasted potatoes and I ordered linguine and clams with cherry tomatoes and feta cheese.

Before leaving for Rowayton Seafood, my boyfriend's family gave me a beautiful chunky-knit sweater for Christmas, something I really needed for my winter wardrobe. I plan on wearing it tomorrow in New York City with my boyfriend.

Now that my finals are finally over and the winter break has begun, I can look back on the semester and be fairly proud of what I have accomplished. I have never been so academically focused like this fall--living at home and commuting has attributed to that. I miss being able to see my friends 24/7 or live on campus, but I am happy to know that I have made the best effort to balance school, family, and friends.

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