The Holidays are upon us and it’s time for the fall scented candles and oversized sweaters to come out from hiding and to slowly take over our lovely abodes. Rummage through your drawers to find your favorite pair of fuzzy socks that you can cuddle your toes up in, as you warm your hands with an enticing cup of hot cocoa. Look on the TV rack for those classic movies that you can watch all season, while you eat a bowl full of melting fudge brownies with vanilla ice cream. I know Summer, and the thought of laying on a beach and having your skin sizzling with the sun’s love is the last thing on your mind, but before you know it, it will be nipping at your heels, and you will be asking yourself the question, “How do I spend my summer?”

College years are a time for exploration. Four years of your life where you can step out of you comfort zone and try new things, without feeling too much responsibility just yet. It’s during the off season, aka summer where you can truly go places and have an adventure far from home. A European getaway (from my personal experience) is one of the best ways to step out of your comfort zone, as you adapt to staying in a foreign place where people don’t speak the same language and where the culture and overall lifestyle is drastically different. Of course, since we’re in college, we are the typical broke college students, so we’ll be on a budget, but that doesn’t mean you can’t act like you’re Kendall Jenner or Gigi Hadid in the Ritz Hotel (one of the most luxurious and expensive hotels in the world). You can easily live an adventurous and spontaneous life style without the money and clothes like the models of our generation all act like you need to have. All you need is yourself and your creative mind.

Do you ever flip through VOGUE and see those candid black and white photos of models walking the streets of Paris or London that make you just what to step inside the magazine? Well I do all the time, and I can say, my friend and I have many photos like that from our adventure. We stayed in Paris, the city of love. A once hidden world to me that I have given my heart to. No, we didn’t stay in the Ritz, and no we didn’t (at first) have the ideal view of the Eiffel tower, but the point is that we lived an adventure every second of every day and made memories that will last forever. We created a scrapbook of memories that could easily be published in an edition of VOGUE because of their authenticity and natural style, which I believe are key factors in getting the best photos. The list I’m about to throw at you is a “How to list” perfectly suitable for an adventure in any European city, however mine is a little more directed towards Paris, but still has many great pointers of where you can start your adventure and how to document it. So, grab your suitcase and stuff in as much as you can. Bring a camera and a friend and live on the spontaneity of the moment.

1) Even after a 12-hour flight, with lack of sleep, explore the city you’re in.

We were both exhausted after our flight, and our hotel wouldn’t let us check in till 4 in the afternoon, and it was 9 in the morning when we got there. But even with our tired selves we sought out to explore the early mornings of Paris. I truly advise doing this, because if the first thing you do is go sleep in your hotel room not only will you suffer more from jet lag, but you will be missing out of hilarious photo ops, like the one of me above, still clearly in my airplane attire and acting completely delirious. This is how you get lost in the city you are in, but is bound to be a fun start to your adventure.

2) Find a café.

No matter what city in Europe you are in, find a café. A café is the social center of European cities. They are the best place to visit to start becoming part of the lifestyle there. Cafés are images of the city that they are in. They reflect what the city means to its people, the atmosphere they enjoy being in, and the food they love to eat. Visiting a café will open you to the way people live. The first café we visited was this “secret café” hidden in a maze of Parisian buildings. As we sat down, sipping lighting on cups of hot chocolate, we watched Parisians open their stores and clean the streets, in preparation for the day’s events. A moment in time that I will never forget.

3) Walk the streets.

The best way to explore is to walk. Just walk everywhere. Only get a cab when you get lost to the point that you have been walking around in circles and everything looks the same to you. Indulge yourself in the European atmosphere and walk the streets like you’re a model in VOGUE.

4) Find a window and take modelesque photos.

Our hotel room wasn’t the nicest, I must admit, but it had the most beautiful natural light, which is a fantastic factor in creating that ideal VOGUE photo. Our window was literally a view of the back of a building, but it let in this heavenly light that infused that space and glistened on the skin. To take VOGUE photographs, literally never stop clicking. Take photos all the time. The best photos are always the ones unplanned, and taken as the model is fixing their hair, closing their eyes, or fixing their outfit. Own the moment, be the moment. Confidence shows in photos. Wherever you are in Europe find an obscure place that has great light (be creative) and take that VOGUE cover photo!

5) live the Parisian lifestyle.

After you have explored the city for the most part, become a part of it. Disappear into the seams of the city. Try to avoid doing the typical tourist things (there is always time for that) and go with the flow of the people.

6) Get lost and wear shoes that hopefully won’t fall apart as your walking.

I thought I wore good walking shoes for this trip. Even though I thought I did, I had to resort myself to walking barefoot one afternoon because my shoes little broke in half, but this lead to some great laughs and know I can say, “I have walked the streets of Paris barefoot.”

7) Have a picnic.

It is typical in Europe to have picnics all the time. The weather is always delightful and the scenery breathtaking. I recommend finding a park all the locals go to and having a lavish picnic there with your friends or family. My friend and I went to a market and bought fresh fruits, cheese, and of course, my favorite macarons, earlier that day. For our picnic blanket we found this tarp at some random paint store that we thought would be perfect to sit on since it was huge and surprisingly comfortable. Spending the whole day at the park, nibbling on cheese and taking sips of wine, was a day spent well. I highly advise doing this, and don’t forget to take pictures of all your food!

8) Go for a walk in the countryside.

The Parisian countryside is truly romantic, like all places in Europe. Go explore it.

9) Look at the architecture.

One thing that I appreciated about Paris immensely, and why I consider it to be the most beautiful city in the world is because of its architecture. The city is covered with a blanket of cream and white washed buildings, that carry with it the age of time and beauty. Some of the buildings are beautifully decorated in art nouveau (sculpted leaves and branches delineating the sides and windows), while others in an art deco style (very Gatsbyesque) and some even further back from the medieval era. Observe the accents of the buildings, because in Europe the buildings have this liveliness to them that ones in America don’t have. They have this enduring vitality that lets them speak for themselves.

10)Treat yourself at a beautiful restaurant with delicious and aesthetically pleasing food and wine.

You deserve at least one trip to a nice restaurant to be treated like a famous celebrity, and in Europe they do exactly that. Even if you can’t afford the meal, get some appetizers or just walk around the restaurant or hotel. We did both.

11) Go look at the city from a different perspective.

After looking up at the spectacles of the city, trying look down at it. Find a place up high, whether it is a tower, a hill, or in this case a Ferris wheel, look down at the city you have been exploring and soak in the image.

12) Visit a garden.

You can’t go any place in Europe without finding a garden. Paris specializes in the romancing image of French gardens. They are always apart from the bustling streets of Champs-Elysees, and are an oasis in the city for people to fly off to. Smell the flowers and lie in the grass.

13) Become a sculpture in the sculpture garden at the Louvre.

The Louvre was first a fortress, then it became a palace, and is now the most visited museum in the world. One of the golden centers of the museum, other than the Mona Lisa, is the sculpture garden. The room is encased in white marble, and is flooded with natural light, pouring down from the glass ceiling. Spaciously placed inside are serenely molded sculptures that embody this aliveness that makes you think they move every time you gaze away. We decided to take a photoshoot here, because nothing is cooler when art and fashion cross paths. It becomes a must documented moment.

14) Come back to the hotel and have a spa night.

After a long day of walking, taking pictures, and being simply in awe of where you are, come back to the hotel, order room service, put a honey-milk facial mask on, and ice your feet. I also would advise taking a bubble bath. However, the thing about Europe, is that everything is much smaller due to less space, so we didn’t have a bath, only a tiny shower that I could barely fit in, but we made it work. Buy candles and sweet smelling things (shouldn’t be hard in Europe) and create your own spa!

15) No matter where you are, just go to Versailles.

July 16, 2016 was one of the best days of my life, because I want to Versailles for the second time. My friend and I took a train from Paris to Versailles, stopped by the market to buy food, then walked throughout the town till we arrived to the grand palace. We walked through the gardens to the grand canal, and walked far down so there was less people. We had a picnic, swam in the grand canal, went row boating, and finished the day off with ice cream. It was simply the best day. Our first trip there we went inside the palace to the extravagant Hall of Mirrors and walked around the gardens. Just trust me when I say this, no matter where you are in Europe try to go to Versailles. You can’t leave without getting the best photos.

16) If you see anything green and leafy, take pictures in front of it

17) Have another picnic.

18) Be a typical tourist.

You can’t avoid being a typical tourist and taking typical tourist photos, so have fun while at it!

19) Make a crown out of golden grass and leaves, while soaking in the ambiance of the day.

This wasn’t in Paris where we visited this field of gold, but was in fact Kensington Park in London. Another perfect getaway to immerse yourself into nature. When I caught sight of this beautiful field with towering tall grasses that enwrap you in a sweet embrace, I couldn’t resist on staying there all day and taking photos.

Hope you have some ideas for your next European getaway!

XOXO

Rach