i'm alone in paris so i took myself on a date🌹

Auto-captioned from the film, lightly cleaned. Elena's words, not edited prose.

just putting on a little bit of makeup because today I'm taking myself on a date hello I'm in Paris and today I'm going to take myself on a little date so I actually made one of these videos maybe a year and some change ago in New York and I figured what a fun concept to do here in Paris such a good way to see a city and just spend some time with yourself learn to be comfortable yourself I've been here for a little while and it's been lonely to be honest and I spend a lot of my days just the first half of the day going to class and the rest of the day just working for stay tuned just speak to me really slowly and I really haven't gone and explored as much of Paris as I'd like to so I figured why not make a little day enjoying my own presence and explore Paris I get messages from people quite often about like how do you become independent it's such a journey to be comfortable with your own presence and I've always been someone that's a huge proponent of being in dependent rather than settling for the wrong circumstances so I'm learning French while I'm here through a variety of different methods I'm taking some classes I've also been using Rosetta Stone who I'm super excited to today's sponsor but more on that later it's been so gloomy and gray since I've been in Paris it's just been consistent rain emojis on the weather app for like weeks and today is one of the few days has releast not like completely gray rainy Skies so we're taking advantage of this let's get out there first things first before we get out there coffee and also a little bit of French practice say I've been trying to incorporate a little bit of French practice into my daily routine some days it's better than others I'm sometimes attending a school which is more intensive but then in the days when I'm not going to school I was trying to practice on my own and I've been really loving Rosetta Stone so I'm so excited to be partnering with them what's cool about it is that it doesn't just rely on memorizing you know like vocab and grammar Etc but it kind of unleashes your language learning abilities by teaching in a very intuitive way like the way you would learn as a kid growing up if you can't come all the way to the country of the language you're trying to learn how to speak like me which is a bit extreme it feels very immersive through the app it also really prioritizes conversation practice it really incorporates important phrases that you're going to use naturally when you're just out and about going to different restaurants or cafes or whatever the case is has this really cool audio recognition tool so matches your audio to that of a native speaker so you can really hone in on making sure that you're getting that pronunciation right and you can do as a little or as much as you want they have 10-minute lessons which can be perfect when it feels overwhelming to try to incorporate into your routine but I feel like the primary way to actually pick up a new skill like this is trying to make it daily they have it on desktop as well as the app I'm a huge fan of the app because then I can just do it wherever I am and just do a little bit here or there on the go so there's no excuses they have a lifetime subscription which is on sale right now discounted from $399 to 149 which is over 60% off you can purchase this and you have access to it for a lifetime just pay the fee once and you're good to go and you can learn multiple languages so you know I'm learning French right now but there's also Spanish and Japanese and Dutch and lots of other languages I could learn from and so of course everything will be linked down below and you can check it out for yourself I'm going to finish up and get my 10 minutes in and then finish getting ready to go and have a little date in Paris hello the intention was to show you guys my fit but this is kind of the most boring fit you could wear but you know what it's classic I'm feeling comfortable I've actually wor in this top a lot ofer state so why not wear I on my own first date I need a jacket okay we're just going to wear my favorite big boy that I wear every winter all the time because then I don't have to worry about multiple layers and this is what we're going with and then let me show you guys what's in my taking myself on a date bag I picked up this Deborah Levy August Blue Book I've been wanting to read her and honestly this cover got to me I cannot lie and then my camcorder I recently was influenced by my friend Joanna to just finally pick one up so I'm excited to use her obviously a journal and my airpods for roaming around the museum but I also want to attempt to just sit with my thoughts so here's your taking yourself on a date starter back I want to make most of the day cuz I did have class this morning so I'm kind of starting halfway through the day and I really want my like third coffee of the day and to do a little journaling and walk along the sun go to m see if anything else catches my eye I'm excited let's go to the beginning hold on to nothing there's nothing with go up and down let this is hello I am in Jon with my tiny little mic I'm having the best time I had a really good Journal I forced myself to journal something uncomfortable for me and that was a list of things I love about myself cheesy I know we're on a self- love Journey it's just it's a valuable exercise I probably saw somebody say that on like Tik Tok there are days when I do this kind of stuff and I feel lonely as and there's other days where I'm like I feel great I love my company I'm vibing I got a good playlist in I think it's helpful to remind yourself too that it's like if you find it uncomfortable Pockets like this don't last forever but I'm trying really hard cuz I suck at this to just be in the present moment and to enjoy the season for what it is you don't have to be embarrassed to feel this way or to do these things it obviously helps it's a beautiful city to be in I think it's important to set aside this time for yourself Wherever You Are my favorite room I love the symbolist room and let me point it out it's on this side just one The Works in there you can stare at for like 30 minutes they're so beautiful I love that room hello from a chilly little Street Corner was amazing and now I'm going to get myself a little drink fore we're back baby okay today was lovely it was honestly just what I needed getting out and exploring a little bit of Paris I got so cold when I was getting wine now that I was like let me just get home and get cozy there we go I'm so glad I took out having myself and push through social anxiety cuz I definitely get social anxiety when I'm like eating or sitting alone but it only like takes like 3 minutes for it to pass and then you're just vibing people watching reading my little book some final thoughts I feel like this is like one of the first times in my life even though I've like talked about this kind of stuff for a while I feel like I'm truly experiencing for maybe one of the first times how important meditation is journaling is practicing gratitude is and setting aside intentional time where you're just trying to be as present as possible and enjoy and watch Life moving around you maybe you are spending a lot of time with yourself but it's not intentional like I spend a lot of time alone especially here in Paris a lot of that is not intentional time I'm I'm just like around about my phone or I'm working or I'm distracted or I'm thinking about the future not being present and so setting aside that time is so important okay that's enough rambling for me love you guys stay tuned for the next Paris video I need to go to bed cuz I have class in the morning so talk soon bu me