Sunday afternoon, I was working on my PolEthics essay. Then I looked out my window and realized it was beautiful outside and the sun was setting. A little thought crept in my ear. I grabbed it and ran… literally. I dropped my book, grabbed my coat, and ran out the door. I was fighting the sunset! Booked it to the metro and then to station St. Lazare to catch Bus no. 29. Why? I heard that Bus 29 from St. Lazare had the most beautiful bus route in all of Paris. I also heard that this would be the sunniest day in weeks. I somehow had forgotten about both of those things and remembered them at that moment, which was why I had to drop my books and chase the sunset.

I just sat on the bus on the gorgeous fall evening, looking out the window, to see where in Paris it would take me. I soon noticed that the inside of the bus was just as interesting as the outside… in a good way. Here is my jotted-down list of the things I saw:

1. Resto: Pharaon (a really cool-looking French diner)
2. Musée: Fragonard (a perfume museum – my mother would get a headache)
3. Resto: Café de la Paix (swanky)
4. A monument
5. Winding streets
6. Librairie: de la Mode (ooh)
7. Magasin: Y’s (really cool coats)
8. Dépot Ceramique
9. The staple fashionista stores: Cop-copine, Naf Naf, some Shoebizz store… all that jazz
10. Magasin: Kabuko (very cool-looking coats)
11. L’ethnospecialiste (huh?)
12. Resto: Madame Tomate (nice couches)
13. A random office that looked like it was from the future. I think there was an architect working on a blueprint inside. It looked like the guy’s desk was on a second floor with the glass showing both the first and second floor, but it was the size of a room with the bottom floor completely empty.
14. Behind me: ”Il bosse. Il bosse pas énorme, mais il bosse.” ”Hmm.”
15. A young woman sitting beside us: Short brown shiny bob with bangs. Big black scarf wrapped around forever, until just below her lips. Dark eyeshadow, shiny levres. Leather jacket, of course.
16. A tiny girl schoolgirl with an amelie haircut, cute black-red plaid jacket, black boots tied up, and little black socks. Adorbz. I think she was playing musical chairs
17. Magasin: Antoine et Lili. I’d seen it before. LOVE. so bright, so colorful!
18. Magasin: Tepetto? Repetto? Lepetto? I don’t know, but a cool-looking store. The first letter of its name was a little too cool-looking, though
19. Sandro. Nice stuff. Maaaaan.
20. Musée Picasso. (ooh)
21. Another monument. Oh, at the Bastille!
22. A philosopher’s bookstore (I stopped by after getting off. So cute.)

23. No inhibitions, naked curiosity, a beautiful city.

Raha loves being the only tourist on free bus tours.

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Raha Francis is a an economics and philosophy undergraduate at the University of Toronto. She is spending her third year abroad, studying in Paris. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact her at raha.francis@utoronto.ca.

Definition: GLHP= Girls Leaving the House Pantless

It is getting cold. It is cold. Yet strangely the levels of GLHP have (as it seems to me) increased over the last month. So I feel the need to state my opinion that:

• Leggings ≠ pants
• Tights ≠ pants
• Pantyhose ≠ pants

But seriously, I’m not about to write a post detailing what clothing choices are appropriate.  If you feel like leggings are more comfy than jeans, well, it’s your life. But I would strongly encourage you to watch out for just how revealing these non-pant things are.

Ever seen those guys who wear extremely loose pants? Good for them, they have their own fashion. But if you’re wandering around a respectable university campus like that… well… I think it just seems a bit inappropriate.

Also: IT’S WINTER (or will soon be winter)! Time to grab scarves and mittens and hats and coats and earmuffs and down-filled jackets and snow pants and self-heating gloves! IT’S A CANADIAN WINTER PEOPLE!

But I exaggerate, according to the weather network’s 14 day trend for Toronto (as of Nov. 5), in the next 2 weeks the lowest temperature will not go below zero… yet. According to experts we are also predicted to have a generally mild winter, similar to the one last year… Global warming?

And with that cheery note I’ll leave you with a wonderfully helpful diagram on how to avoid GLHP syndrome!

Photo copyright of gawker.com

This week on the web: The Twittersphere is buzzing about Hart House’s Craft Beer Festival, students take time to cherish the beauty of U of T, and Rob Ford gets a taste of U of T  at the Toronto Council Meeting. (more…)

On February 17, join fellow U of T students in participating in the new World Wildlife Fund Canada initiative, National Sweater Day. Similar to WWF’s Earth Hour campaign, National Sweater Day is a Canadian initiative which hopes to bring all our nation’s citizens together for one day of unified action, promoting the universal goal of year-round energy-conservation. The project asks participants to turn down their thermostats by 3 degrees and wear a sweater. This simple task, when performed collectively, allows for a significant reduction in energy usage.

If you wish to go above and beyond wearing a sweater and turning down your thermostat for this initiative, get others involved by organizing your own ugly sweater party on National Sweater Day. You may also speak to your professor, department head, or residence don about programming opportunities surrounding the day.

National Sweater Day is a chance for you to make a meaningful difference for the environment on an individual scale, and to contribute to the success of the initiative on a society-wide scale. Participate on February 17, 2011 and practice energy conservation with all of Canada.

For more information or to “sweater” your profile picture, check out facebook.com/wwfcanada

Additional information is also available at http://wwf.ca/takeaction/sweater_day/

During my first year at U of T I learned a lot. I learned that if P then Q, and I also learned to never wear sweatpants on Bloor Street West. People always associate U of T with stress and Starbucks. The new “s” in town should be STYLE. U of T has such a diverse array of fashion hotspots that you get a different vibe from East to West.

Before coming to this school I was like “OMG I so need to buy adult clothes” … so I went to H&M and bought anything that screamed “I listen to obscure bands and don’t eat meat.” That was my first impression of U of T students (I’m from New College, which is at the heart of hipster central). However, after the first semester, I realized that there were SO many different environments here and there is still room for my own style. So I thought it would be fun to put to test the critical reasoning skills I gained in my first year and use them to map out 5 fashion hot-spots on campus.

Methodology: I don’t intend to stereotype by localizing the styles. Rather I created outfits based on observation, empiricism. I have established the following dichotomies according to my observations:

Victoria College (plaid skirt on map) : Rugby-inspired looks. Oxford meets Robert Pattinson. Hey, I ain’t complain’. The highlight of my day is bumping into a Vic boy with Raybans and a classic blazer. It gives me hope that one day I will find my very own Nick Jonas. Vic looks often include Keds, Boyfriend Blazers, Raybans, crests, Rugby stripes and a coffee mug, of course.

(more…)

When I woke up on the first day of March, the sun was aggravatingly bright and then it hit me: the Olympics were over. I recalled hazily the train wreck of giant beavers and mounties with Avril Lavigne and Simple Plan singing songs I liked when I was an angsty pre-teen and shuddered as I tried to bury that image in the graveyard of forgetfulness. True, the Olympics and the figure skating that I so eagerly awaited was gone, but I could still enjoy my pretty red Vancouver 2010 mittens as I rolled snow into a ball and threw it at my darling friend and fellow blogUT writer, Julia. Speaking of Olympic attire, here are a few fashion highlights and splats of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. (more…)