Happy Birthday, Alexandra!

Dearest Alexandra,
Today is your birthday!  You are NINETEEN!
Thanks so much for our month-long Europe trip and all the stories and laughs.  Thanks for becoming one of my truly great friends and sharing so much of yourself with me.  Thank you for laughing in Vienna, for climbing on statues in Budapest, for getting lost in Venice and eating gelato in Florence.  Thank you for climbing towers everywhere we went, for picnicking in Prague, for all the overnight trains, for the roller coasters in Copenhagen.
Thank you for Oxford (my God, thank you SO MUCH for Oxford) and thank you for being home when I eventually get there.
I miss you, my twin friend, my sunshine girl!
Love,
Bronwyn

Birthdays Coming Up and Other Things

Yesterday I had a chance to talk to the ever-lovely Alexandra, whose birthday is tomorrow!  It's weird how much I miss her since our trip, but we'll see each other in August (right???)
Anyways, it's not only her birthday tomorrow, but the super-awesome Kuzu's birthday the day after!
They will get their own posts about this, but Happy Birthday, my two best girlfriends!  You two both make everything so much better and have both taught me so much.  I miss you guys!!!

PS Stay tuned for the first Europe story later today!

An Idea

The ever-lovely Alexandra recently sent me an email in which she asked me to write down some of our travelling stories - stories of eating dinner with strangers and overnight trains and watching people in love greet each other after a long time.  I said yes, but I was wondering - would you guys like to see some?  I don't have that many, but there are some stories, and this past month has been so incredible for me that I'd really like to have something to remember it by.
Let me know!

French

To say the least, my French has deteriorated in the month that I've been travelling.   True, the lovely Alexandra and I occasionally spoke French to each other and once we carried on an entire conversation with another couple in French (we were very proud), but it's not as good as it once was - a month ago.
To rectify this before I get to college and get put in a French class that's too easy, I'm going to do what Alexandra's friend J did to learn Italian (and now Japanese): get a grammar, read through it, and then start learning lists of words.  If he can read "Harry Potter" and pass his A-levels in Italian by doing that, then I can do the same with French, right?  AND I've got a head start with the French I've already had....
Any tips for learning a language on your own?

Alexandra's Mixtape

Here is the lineup from the mixtape I gave Alex, if you would like to see....
I have included justification for each of the songs I put on here....
Thank you for your help, Mike and Daddy!

I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
I just like this song.  We listened to it basically on repeat when we went driving through Greece when I was twelve...
Alex - Punch Brothers
Obvious choice, no?  A song about a girl named Alexandra.  Plus it's the Punch Brothers, so it's really good.
Space Oddity - David Bowie
Um, my favourite David Bowie song. And that's saying something.  One day I will write about David Bowie and you will understand.
Southern Cross - Crosby, Stills & Nash
Not my favourite CSN song, but it made sense with all the wanderlust-ey music I was putting in here. 
I'm A Cuckoo - Belle & Sebastian
Also somewhat wanderlust-ey.  Also, I just like it.
We Work The Black Seam - Sting
This is in here entirely because of the line "Your dark satanic mills have made redundant all our mining skills."  It's not every day that pop music references Blake.
I Know You Rider - Grateful Dead
Again, somewhat wanderlust-ey. And it fits between these two...
What Am I To You? - Norah Jones
I like this song, and I needed some melancholic slower songs in here
Graceland - Paul Simon
Again, it's about travel, and that was a vague theme tying this whole mixtape together.
Mercedes Benz - Janis Joplin
I ask you: why not?  Also, when we lived in Rwanda, there was a woman named Cheryl who sang this incredibly well.
Third World Child - Johnny Clegg & Savuka
I like this song, and it ties the other two together a little.
What About Everything? - Carbon Leaf
This was a suggestion of Mike's.  He likes this song too, so if you're going to judge my musical tastes, you have to judge his, too.  Yes, I'm that insecure.
Carolina In My Mind - James Taylor
Again, wanderlust and travel - AND slow and melancholic. 
Spanish Bombs - The Clash
Wanderlust and travel - though I'm not sure anyone goes "hey, I really want to go to Spain" after hearing this song....
Love and Some Verses - Iron & Wine
Slow and melancholic.  Alexandra likes the Weepies, so I figured she would like this.
Asleep - The Smiths
One of my favourite songs in the world.  Also slow and melancholic.  Also something that I just think everyone should know.
Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
Well, I'm going to hazard a guess that you know why this one is here.  It's about just driving and driving and "city lights [laid] out before us."
Amelia - Joni Mitchell
Specifically the line "I slept on pillows of my wanderlust."  Also I adore Amelia Earheart.  
And She Was - Talking Heads.
This seems like a good song to end on.  Alexandra is always happy and excited, and this is a happy (ish) song.  And it ties things together.


So, um, there you go - a mixtape I made Alexandra....
Should I have put other things on there?

Alexandra!

Today Alexandra has made the trek over from snowy Boston (well, Concord) to come and see me in Paris!
I've finally made her mixtape (with help from my father, who was really lovely and offered advice on the order of songs) and though I have classes in the middle of the afternoon, we have a lovely day planned!  She's been to Paris before, so I want to do things that aren't so touristed - the things that I love.  I'm thinking Shakespeare & Company, Le Loir Dans Le Théière, walks in the flowering trees in the Jardin du Luxembourg, the winding streets of the Quartier Latin, ostentatious lions on bridges, the gargoyle collection at St-Severin.... is there anything I'm missing?  Alex?
The mixtape I made has an awful lot of songs that are really wanderlust-y (that's usual, I promise) and a bunch that I just like, the kind that are melancholic and lovely.  There's overlap there - I've also given her my favourite Bowie song, so I hope she likes it!  If you want, I'll post the list after I've given it to her....
Happy Monday, blog readers!  How was your weekend?

Mixtapes and Alexandra

Today my friend Alex stopped by to drop me off a mixtape (really, a mix CD) of songs for my trip.   We promised that we'd trade CDs a couple of days ago, and I still have to make her one!  She's also going on the Eurail trip with me, so I have to think of something really, really good... anyone have any ideas?
I don't often make CDs like this.  For one thing, I think that sharing music is one of the greatest gifts you can give someone, so I try and choose carefully.  I also think a lot about how the album progresses from one song to the next - is there a story or decent flow?  Are they all in similar keys or tempos or something, or are these just songs that they would like?  I know my father used to make mixtapes (actual mixtapes, with cassettes and everything) for my mother when they were dating.  For a while, my friend Mike and I used to trade song lists (something that I almost forgot about).  Those were, at the time, just lists of songs I liked or was listening to, but I think that if I made him a CD, I would put way more thought into it.  So I have to think of something great for Alexandra...
Do you guys make mixtapes for your friends?  Do you just put a lot of songs together that they would like or do you think about a concept or the flow from song to song?  Do you make them for everyone or are they only for special occasions?