my last paris vlog

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

There's about to head out to grab lunch with my friend Moya. Let's get dressed. I think I'm going to go for like a Canadian tuxedo moment. You know what I mean? There's right and there is. And I just recently got the best coat. Literally the coat of my dreams. Hold on. This coat from Sandro. So incredible. Look at her. It gets too complex. Hello. Bonjour. Bonjour. It's my first time using this camera. Especially at Back in Black. Yeah. Like we're like their goto customers at this point. No, for sure. And then we have Oh, long time.

Like literally long time to see me. There's a world in between and sometimes just stands for it gets too bonjour baddies. How we doing from potentially my last Paris vlog for a while which is crazy because my lease here is ending soon and I'm traveling quite a bit in between now and then. So I don't know if we'll be vlogging here anymore. So, we're going to make the most of this video and hopefully do some fun things in the next few days. I feel like I woke up in a good mood, feeling great, energy is good.

Obviously been vlogging for quite a long time. If you've been around on this channel, I really want to always like infuse a little bit of maybe something I've learned that hopefully can kind of like relate or connect. And something I've been thinking a lot about recently is kind of just like the concept of intellectual curiosity or what my TikTok technically call anti- mind draw learning should not stop after school and it takes a much more concerted effort once you've left the traditional academic setting cuz you really have to carve out time in a busy world with busy schedule.

There's something my dad always told me growing up that stuck with me. And that is to always be a lifelong student. And there's so much value that I think has kind of become a bit lost, especially outside academia, of doing the deep work of diving into different subjects you're interested in. I want to be able to have deep conversations in many different subjects. It's like leaning into different areas that I'm starting to find interesting and just like allowing myself to go deep on that for a while. feel like, you know, there was a season of really being interested in investing and like I learned so much and that's like completely transformed my finances or I went through a season of like really being interested in understanding neuroplasticity has been really fascinating cuz again I feel like we spend so much time in our teens and our 20s developing our sense of self, our taste, our style, our identity, what what we stand for, who we believe that we are and it's like gets more firm and concrete with time and people tend to change a lot less as they get older.

I think it's so fascinating that people continue to listen to the same music that they really love like in their teens and their 20s. And I always want to be trying out and discovering new music tastes until I'm like 60 to always kind of be challenging myself to like intake and appreciate new art. Big thing I found really helpful to take it to the next level is to make sure I'm following up with it. And I've recently started something which I've been loving is something called a common sense journal. So instead of having like a regular diary or journal where what you write you don't really look back on common sense journal is something that you use to capture different ideas or concepts or things you've learned to kind of refer back to.

Really just to compile any information you've found interesting and useful and have it in one place I think is like such a beautiful little like gift to have for yourself. It's also so fun to kind of like pack a little notebook with you on the go. So like now when I read a book, I'm really challenging myself to actually write a book report after even if it's just like three paragraphs, one page, keeping it simple because it's so easy to read so much and kind of just like have it wash over me and then like wash past me and I forget about it and just like 2 months later or what I'll do sometimes is I'll give my boyfriend book reports to see how much I retained and to be able to like reform the plot and the characters and the main messaging into something that I can then share with someone else.

else cuz I feel like when you can teach someone, it's really just like the next step in cementing something you've learned. This has been a lot of yapping. Clearly, I've had um quite a bit of caffeine. Let's get out there and actually explore Paris. Yes. Very nice. What should I order? I hope you're thirsty for nothing. This one just always is popping up in somebody in Brazil. I my last New York video. He literally is like a s like popping in a cute little night. It always takes my breath away.

It's so beautiful. She's back on the vlog. It's been a minute. Hi. Hello. I oiled my hair last night. It's why it's in a ponytail, though. So, we're just going to go with it. I know it's looking a little greasy. It's on purpose, but I want to chat just a little bit more about this being my last Paris vlog if anyone cares to watch. I also feel like, side note, my perception to like the internet and online community right now has been like so skewed and weird in the last few months.

Been recently experiencing more outside hate than I ever have in my like many many years online. Even though of course I'm subjecting myself to the opinions and the criticisms of others, as you do when you post yourself online. To me, this has always just felt like this little like beautiful safe space corner of the internet of all these cool girls who want to connect and feel like we're together on this journey of like experiencing and growing through our 20s and now like almost into my 30s as I'm 29. Bond over living a full life, pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone, books and traveling and unique experiences.

Making the most out of this season to grow and become the person that you aspire to be down the line. It's just been like such a truly truly beautiful thing to experience. anytime someone comes up to me on the street and like says hey is always so sick. I'm like we'd actually be friends in real life. So many of you guys are so cool. Like you're getting like masters, you're working these cool jobs, you're traveling, like you're living this like sick life. And anyways, I think I'm just like reflecting a lot as the year's coming to a close.

I'm just like so incredibly grateful for that and this like crazy journey online. I think in the last like few months it's felt like any of those like positive voices have been like so drowned out by like negative voices just from dating someone in the public eye. I mean I get it. Parasocial attachments are a crazy thing and it's unfortunate tales all the time. Women attacking other women. But which brings me to the book I'm reading. Book report time. So I've just been wanting to read completely on its own. It's called Girl and Girl.

How pop culture toward a generation of women against themselves. Sophie Gilbert. Really fascinating. I'm only about what is that oneird of the way through. It's like a fascinating look from basically like the 1990s roughly to today. how media and pop culture has just like perpetuated misogyny and how we are where we are today where it feels like we've made so many strides with feminism but then at the same time why do we speak about and view and critique women the way that we do I think books like this as well as invisible women beauty myth are so incredibly important incredibly eye opening to the fact that we are very much still living in a patriarchal society there are so many things ingrained within us about the way we think about ourselves our bodies our appearances the way we think about other women the way we move through the world that we've been taught to normalize, but it's simply not and it shouldn't be.

And sometimes it takes books like this to illuminate those problems. You can actually kind of see clearly what has been going on. Anyways, this is a fascinating book. This is one of the few books this year that I am reading with a pen and underlining as I go. I need to get ready here, but I said I was going to talk a little bit more about me leaving Paris, but like I said earlier, this is probably the last video I'll be filming in Paris because my time in Paris comes to an end, which is crazy.

I would love to do like a proper sit down video of like the things I learned, the tips for anyone who might want to do something similar or if there's anything you would like to know or hear about, you know, this journey. Please leave a question. I'd love to chat with you geographically where I'm headed next. I will talk about more in the new year. As I said, my time in Paris has been so beautiful and transformative and challenging, lonely and enlightening, and it's like truly shaped me into who I am today.

I think it was such a necessary uncomfortable and beautiful journey to go on. I know if I hadn't done it, I'd look back down the line in 5 10 20 years and I would have always been disappointed in myself for not having gone for it when I, you know, just had time and the opportunity and the freedom. And you know what? I'm proud of past Alena at 27 for being like, screw it. Now's the time. Like, if you're going to do this thing, you got to pull the trigger and go.

It's been such a beautiful journey and I'm so excited to see what's next. But now we're going to enjoy another beautiful day in Paris. Could be a beautiful day. I also need to wash this hair oil out. So, okay. Bye. Hello. Well, look who's here. Yay. Yay. So pretty. My loafers and socks cuz they're so Okay, this might just be my little favorite recent secret spot in Paris. It's not actually secret obviously. It's half museum which is free k which I love. It's on the history of Paris. also this insane free garden outside with a Jolie restaurant.

So like in the summer it's so nice. So you can get like a glass of wine and sit in the sun. In the winter it's really cute. It's actually raining right now, but I'm like I don't even care. I'm on my second coffee of the day. Just taking it all in because I can't believe this is here and it's only like a 15-minute walk from my home. Okay. So cool. It's like the dream pan. Yeah. Love the top. And how do you pronounce the name of your brand? Is it right?

Anal. Okay. Yeah, these are like the best pants. Dream pants. I'd love a big one. Yeah. Let's see what I can say. Anika Alena Scarst. She's Swedish designer. The stuff she makes is incredible. But the real kicker, she does custom denim. So, if you're taller like me, come here. It's a bit of a higher price point, but these are like pants you will have for your entire life. Like I just got a custom pair made and I know I'm literally going to have these in like 60. Like everything in there is so cool.

It's really cool. Supported. Hi. The girls are back and better than ever. We're trying to muster up the energy to be young. We're rounding out our 4 year anniversary of living in Paris together. It is unbelievable. I'm on the verge of 30 now. Throwback to any of you guys who remember the videos of me, Ashley and Gabby living in Paris in 2021, which doesn't feel like 4 years ago, but then at the same time, I'm like, I've lived so much has changed. So much life in between now and then. That's crazy.

I know. She's in London. I'm in Paris. As much as I talk about like making friends and putting yourself out there, those people who have just known me from the beginning, like nothing compares. And like literally we go back to like the oldest videos on YouTube. We truly do. I Well, oh, you make me emotional, but I feel I've just so proud of all the growth we've had while living in Paris and there's been some really uncomfortable seasons that have felt challenging and lonely. Doing this was not easy at all and I'm just like, it's been gorgeous to witness it.

Well, Paris, always been joking how we've become retired. We had a season at like 25, 24, maybe 26. We like to go out. like single. We'd like go out like just we love music like hot stuff. There was truly never a time either where we're like oh we shouldn't have done that. We were truly like restoring our youth. I felt like after co and everything like we've really done it wrong now like scratch the edge. We may be slightly retired but we're going we got to run it back. We're going out.

I literally texted Ashley yesterday. I was like one of my favorite techno artists. Yes, she's mainstream but we love Queen Charlotte. Charlotte Dwit. I was like we got to do it. We got a rally. Even if it's for like an hour and a half, we're going. Yeah. So, I'm proud of us. We're ready to rumble. But first, we need like Thai food and, you know, a cozy restaurant and all the things. Let's go. Go. Go.