What I Received For Christmas *2018*

Hey everyone! Happy Holidays! I've never done a "What I got for Christmas" blog post before, but I do love to watch Youtube videos of what people received for the holidays (my particular favorite is watching Olivia Jade's luxury Christmas present videos). Since I find these types of posts interesting and fun to read; I wanted to also share what I bought or was gifted. I am not trying to brag about the presents I received, I just wanted to share (since I post so much about my life on here). Also, these are just the main gifts I received for Christmas because my stocking was mostly socks, lip balms, and scrunchies.

Green Hunter Rainboots

I've wanted Hunter Rain boots forever, and when my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas, my immediate thought was... Hunter rain boots! I've never owned rain boots before and that became a problem because I would wear my sneakers or booties in the pouring rain. Also, it rains SO MUCH in Rhode Island, so rain boots are definitely a necessity. Also, they're kind of stylish? Of course, I wouldn't aim to wear them when it wasn't raining, but how cute would they look paired with black legging!?

 Rose Gold "Love" Bracelet

I am absolutely obsessed with this bracelet. I went into a boutique in my neighborhood and saw these bracelets for $40 and begged my mom to buy it. This bracelet is based on the Cartier 'Love' Bracelet which ranges in price between $2,000 - $10,000 based on which color and style you buy. Until one day I can afford that bracelet, I am happy with my own version of it.

 Pink Handbag from Fossil 

My aunt surprised me with this Fossil light pink handbag that I absolutely adore. About two years ago, she bought me a turquoise coach bag ( as seen here ), which I use all the time. She always buys me colored handbags because I just love bright accessories. Light pink has been a staple to my wardrobe lately because since I now own Adidas pink sneakers, which a switch from my usual Stan Smith sneakers. Light pink was my grade in high school's color (class of 2018), so it's followed me to college evidently. I forgot most of my handbags in my dorm room (cons of taking public transportation home) so I will be getting a lot of use out of this bag.

AsaVea Hair Straightener

I have never been able to flat iron my own hair, and that really needed to change, so I finally invested in a straightener. My friend had recommended this straightener, so I ordered it off of Amazon for Christmas. I am super excited to try it/learn how to straighten my hair. It seems easy to use and will be great for me to keep and use at school or at home.

Beautiful Boy

My friend, Nicole, and I went shopping in downtown Manhattan at the Union Square Christmas Market to buy gifts for our parents, but afterward we decided to go to 'The Strand' bookstore. I love that bookstore and of course, I ended up buying a book. Beautiful Boy by David Sheff just became a movie starring Timothee Chalamet and Steve Carell, and now I want to read the book before seeing the movie. Funny enough, this is now the second book I have that has Timothee Chalamet's face on it since I own Call Me By Your Name (a book that I love and will talk about soon). A review on Beautiful Boy will be up once I finish reading it!

Smashbox Palette

My cousin gave me bought me a Smashbox Contour Palette, which I am super excited about! I don't know how to contour my face, but I have watched so many videos on how to do it. I have quite a few Sephora Giftcards and will probably buy some brushes for this palette.

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If you celebrate Christmas (or any other holiday!), what did you get? Comment below!!

xx

Christina Madeleine

Two Coffee Shops in Providence & A New Blogger

Hey everyone! In the typical blogger fashion, I went to some cafes in Providence to do some studying with my friend Colleen. I had principles of marketing final earlier that day and my brain was absolutely fried, and so I needed to leave campus for a bit.

Around 1:30pm, we went to the Nitro Cart - Nitro Bar ( https://www.thenitrocart.com/ ), which is a Rhode Island coffee shop that has portable carts that come to Providence College and Brown University when it's nice out. They have nitro coffee (which is all the craze now!) on tap, and I might have a small obsession with it.

So, the Nitro-Bar is located inside the DASH bicycle store. I was able to hear the founders of the NitroCart speak at my college, and they said that the reasons were for 1) it's hard to find space 2) the bicycle store had the customer demographics they wanted to reach.

The bicycle store is technically next to the coffee bar, but some of the bikes line the walls and they sell merch as well. 

We ended up sitting at this cafe (in a different seat than where this photo was taken) for about 2.5 maybe 3 hours. What started as Colleen planning out her English final, and myself working on making a study guide for Macroeconomics ended with us drinking copious amounts of coffee and blogging! Which brings me to this... Colleen made a blog and it's really good!

 I was obviously ecstatic because I haven't met that many people in real life that blog or want to. Also, the demographics of bloggers are usually older than me and in the United Kingdom (which I absolutely love, but also means I haven't met them).

Nitro Bar closes around 5pm, so around 4, we decided to leave, as to not overstay since at that point we had been there since 1:30. We really didn't want to go back to campus yet, so we just looked up another cafe to go to!

Before we started the ten-minute walk to another shop, we just had to take a photo of this sign. I am a fan of cute signs like this!

Okay! Next, we went to White Electric Coffee (http://whiteelectriccoffee.com/#thebestcoffee), where we proceeded to both get another coffee and camp out.

The aesthetics of the two coffee shops are a bit different. Nitro-Bar has more of a clean and minimalist aesthetic, while White Electric's is warmer and crowded with lots of browns, reds, and LED lights. White Electric Coffee reminds me of a store I would find in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; so I was a fan of that. I am going back to both places definitely!

I have yet to try to food at White Electric Coffee, but it's on my to-do list for the second semester.

Above is a photo that I took of my cappuccino, but Colleen's blog is up on the screen.  next to I am literally so proud that Colleen made a blog (so catch me promoting it a bunch), but she's one of my closest friends here. So please check it out! Her link is: http://stainedpetals.blogspot.com/

We left the cafe around 6pm to come back go back to campus. It's so dark and cold out now; so it was a tad depressing to go back to the dorm, but it was time to. We were completely bundled up in our big blanket scarves and winter coats. 

I hope you liked this post! Check out about the time I went to a different cafe in Providence called Sydney (it's Australia inspired) here. My last post is about what music I've been listening to, and I actually wrote that while sitting in NitroBar (don't forget to comment what you've been listening to on it). 

If you have finals, good luck! See you in my next post!

xx

Christina Madeleine

What I've Been Listening to *December 2018*

Hey everyone! I've been listening to a lot of music lately (the only way to get through finals week) and I wanted to share my top tens songs from my different playlists. I will also add some pics of what my covers for each playlist are (or maybe a photo that sets the vibe).

My First Semester College 

(I titled it 'Off the Rails' because college is so crazy)

1. All in White by The Vaccines

2. D'You Have A Car? by SWMRS

3. You're Going to Hate This by The Frights

4. Inside Your Mind by The 1975

5. Television / So Far So Good by Rex Orange County

6. Clean by The Japanese House

7. Lethal Combination by The Wombats 

8. I Like America & America Likes Me by The 1975

9. Your Graduation by Modern Baseball

10. Orpheus Under the Influence by The Buttertones

Study Study Study

(Can you guess what this playlist is for?)

         

This is my school's humanities building where I spend a good portion of my time

1. Visions of Gideon by Sufjan Stevens

2. Elegia by New Order

3. LostMyHead by The 1975

4. The Theory of Everything by Jóhann Johannsson

5. Hedwig's Theme by John Williams

6. The Call by Regina Spektor

7. The Night We Met by Lord Huron

8. The Funeral by Band of Horses

9. You're Not Good Enough by Blood Orange

10. Mystery of Love  by Sufjan Stevens

Oldies, Throwbacks, and Memories

Photo from Tumblr

(My Playlist of all throwbacks, Disney, and Broadway songs)

1. Stockholm Syndrome by One Direction 

2. The Club from the 'In the Heights' Soundtrack

3. 'Who Am I?' from the Les Miserables Soundtrack

4. Where You Are from the Moana Soundtrack

5. Champagne from the 'In the Heights' Soundtrack

6. I've Been Waiting For You by ABBA

7. A Girl Worth Fighting For from Mulan

8. Fathoms Below from 'The Little Mermaid' Broadway Soundtrack

9. Baba O'Riley by the Who 

10. I'll Always Remember You from Hannah Montana

Question: What songs have you been listening to?

xx

Christina Madeleine

Thoughts and Ramblings of a First Semester College Freshman

So...it's been a month since my last update. To me, it's very strange that I haven't updated in that long because I am constantly talking about my blog and thinking of ideas, yet don't write anything. I've decided instead of apologizing in every post, that I will make 2019 my year with 'This Fashion Girl' because, at this point, this blog is part of me.

What's this post about? Well, I have learned a lot in the last 3.5 months of being in college, and have some thoughts and experiences I want to write about.

1. The first two weeks are the absolute worst

In all the movies and stories, you hear about how college is such a magical time from the point of moving into your dorm to graduation. My first day was so stressful starting with finding a bug into my desk to not being able to find half my items. Also, there was a pressure to "go out" that night, and I was so exhausted I just went to bed. My orientation group was not very friendly, and it's funny now because I am very good friends with my leader for activities, but not close with all the initial people I met. I also cried so much during the first two weeks because it felt that everyone found friends so quickly, which is absolutely not the case. There is also a jump from taking high school classes to college classes (different times, and time management), which is hard at first.

2. It's 100% okay to not feel like you fit in 

I say this all the time to my friends here, but I don't feel like I fit a type of mold that the people at my school are. I stand out in different ways (for example I am one of the only people that come from New York City in my grade) or I will wear some eccentric pieces that no one would care about at home, but here people will stare. I also try my hardest in classes (even ones that are slightly boring), and I am very eager to learn, and sometimes it feels like everyone around me hates being in classes. There are times where I feel like I stand out for negative reasons, but I've also met people that like to be creative, and talk about intellectual things, and those people who are "your people" come in time. As long as you love the college you go to, fitting in should never be a worry. People are drawn to those who stand out than those who blend with the crowd.

3. Everyone is struggling, it just might not seem like it 

The worst part of the beginning of college was looking at the social media of my friends from home, and feeling like they are having so much fun...and I wasn't. Everyone posts on social media their new friends, and all the parties they go to, but no one will post all the times they cried, stressed, or homesick.

4.  Some friendships from home are just "high school friendships"

My best friend from home, Bree, said this to me a few weeks ago when I was very upset about how a friend of ours had been treating me since they stepped into college and before. I am not saying ditch your friends from home as soon as you get to college (those are some of the worst types of people), but if a friend from home isn't treating you right; it's okay to let go of them and just keep the memories.

5. You meet people in the weirdest ways

My friend group in college was formed by a bunch of coincidences, and honestly, I can't picture life at PC without them. My childhood friend from pre-school and I reunited this year, and through her, I met two girls who happened to live two dorms down from me (and I didn't even know that until three weeks into the school year), and our group grew to six people. These girls have been my rock for the last few months, and we have gone through some whacky adventures in Rhode Island. I've also met people through getting ready on the floor bathroom, filming videos, and going to Bingo.

6. Taking part in activities that YOU enjoy is a saving grace

The first club I joined when I got to college is a choir. As you know, I sang in my high school choir for four years, and I decided to continue in college. Singing is very important to me, and to have a small community of people I spent two hours a week with sounded like the thing I needed to not be so sad at school. I also joined PCTV (you can check out the tab to see the videos that feature me), and I did that because that's what I wanted to do and be part of. In the next semester, I plan on joining more activities in order to meet more people, and further develop my interests. '

7. Working hard is SO IMPORTANT

College is no time to slack off. In most of my classes, our homework counted for very little and our grades were solely based on group projects and tests. In group projects, you need to pull your wait or your group will be penalized and everyone knows the person in the group that is doing nothing. If you don't understand something, the professor moves on and you need to go to tutoring or office hours. A few posts ago, I talked about how much I didn't like my classes, but when I worked so hard this semester to understand and honestly it hasn't been that bad. Two of my best classes were Macroeconomics and Math when I really thought it would be Western Civ. I felt so defeated in high school and felt as if so many people were smarter than me, but at PC I feel so smart and accomplished. Professors will recognize hard-working students and be more thankful and nice towards the students that seem interested than the ones who look bored.

8. I definitely need to take better care of myself

There were times when I would go to bed at 2am and wake up at 9am for my 10am class, and I honestly hated going to bed that late. I wasn't doing work. I was on my phone. Next semester, I need to go to bed early, eat better, and go to the gym. It's so easy not to workout and makes excuses, but I would waste so much time on my phone when I could've gone to a yoga or Zumba class. I would find excuses to eat dessert at every meal and feel gross later in the day. I have found errors in my ways, and honestly, it's hard to not eat badly when everyone around you is. Also, colleges give out so much free food that might not be the healthiest but is so good (i.e Insomnia cookies and chicken wings).

9. Continue following your passions

I have so many career goals that I want to achieve in my life, but I also have passions outside of my major. I plan on pursuing a writing minor (and possibly economics) with my Marketing major because I love English (can't you tell?). I am working next semester to take classes that not only fulfill my core requirements but also make me want to go to them. I plan on sticking with blogging and posting more because that's what I like to do, and in the long run I know will be worth it.


Thank you so much for following me along this journey of self-growth and education.

Here's a picture of me in Haven Brothers diner at 12:30am.

My outfit:

Skirt- TopShop

Black Tights- H&M

Black Bodysuit - Forever 21

Christmas Hawaiian Shirt- H&M Men

Here's a picture of me and Ailish on our last "free" night before the rest of finals week

xx

Christina Madeleine

Brunch at Sydney Providence

Hey everyone! As you know, I go to school in Providence, Rhode Island; and thus I really want to spend time going around the city and exploring. My friend, Becca, took me on a walking tour of Providence yesterday (she's from Providence, so she knew exactly where to go), and I decided to take photos of everything because it was such a cute day.

 First, we went to Sydney Providence

This cafe is Australia inspired but located in Providence. We took the RIPTA (the bus system in Rhode Island that college students that go to school in the state can go on for free) to the cafe from our school. 

 As someone who is unfortunately used to going to overpriced cafes in New York, I was really impressed with the prices at Sydney Providence. I really only ended up spending $15 the whole time we were off campus.

I ordered a large iced macchiato, and an avocado smash. There was the option to get it with prosciutto (one of my favorite foods/ the reason that I stopped being vegetarian when I was in Portugal), but I went with the original order. At home, I had an obsession with Avocado Toast, so I am really glad I could find a place in Providence that made it even better than Le Pain Quotidien. 

The cafe also had kombucha on tap which I thought was pretty cool. I have heard of many companies having iced coffee (particularly nitro coffee or cold brew) on tap, so I get excited when I see other "trendy" drinks on tap. I am not really a fan of kombucha, but it's an interesting idea to sell it off the tap in glass jars.

Later that day...

 Becca took me around Providence, and the more I see the city; the more I adore it. Living on campus is nice and all but on the weekends and during the week I try to make trips off campus (even to just get coffee).

 There's a river walk that goes through Providence, and during the Summer and on special events, there are fire pits that are lit up. I went to Waterfire in September, and it's definitely a fun thing to go to.

This sign was outside of a coffee bar called Nitro bar located on the west side of Providence. When the weather is nice there are Nitro carts that serve coffee on tap right by Providence College and Brown campuses. Nitro bar also collaborated with a lot of other local businesses and stores. 

There's a mix of pretty old buildings in Providence with different restaurants and stores in them. My favorite is a bookstore that sells vinyl records that's also in a vintage building. 

xx

Christina Madeleine

Question: do you want to see more posts of where I go and what I do on the daily or weekly?

Halloweekend 2018

The holiday known as Halloween has turned into Halloweekend for me the last few years. Especially in college, Halloween can last anytime from the week before to the weekend after. For my fourth consecutive year, here's what I was for Halloween! (Check out 2015, 2016, and  2017 ). I have to say that this year wasn't my most creative year when it came to costumes, but I definitely had a good time.

The weekend before Halloween!

As you know, I went to high school in a 'Gossip Girl' like school located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, so for Halloween, I decided to play it up a bit more. I was wearing my high school skirt but I matched it was a fuzzy white jacket I bought in Portugal. 

 Of course, I had to take the "typical" college photos in my dorm hall (there's a possibility I might be giving a room tour soon...).

Halloween

 For Halloween, my friends and I dressed up as Greek Goddesses altogether. My dress was from Forever 21 for $12. We all ran around campus together and even took some photos with two boys dressed up as a horse (get it because of the Trojan horse).

I feel like Halloween is taken a lot more seriously on college campuses than I had previously thought. I think for next year I am going to go all out on a costume because this year I saw so many people dressed as characters from Stranger Things, Riverdale, and even Back to the Future. I had never been into going all out on a costume, but I've been inspired for next year. Especially since Halloween isn't just one day anymore like when I was a little, but at some colleges is a whole week celebration of wearing costumes.

I have an array of more posts coming up this month! 

Comment what you were for Halloween!

xx

Christina Madeleine

Apple Picking in North Kingstown, RI

Hey everyone! About a month ago, my aunt took me to her house in North Kingstown, Rhode Island (about a half hour from Providence), so that I could get off campus (and take a shower that didn't involve wearing flip-flops).

When I pictured going to school in Rhode Island, I thought that I would be able to see the water from my dorm, despite the fact my school is a campus in a city. Three of my cousins have gone to other colleges in Rhode Island, and two of them were on sailing teams so my thoughts of Rhode Island was always the ocean. As nice as my college is, there is no water view from my dorm or from any part of campus, so it was super exciting to go to my aunt's house and literally be on the water.

 During this weekend, we were celebrating a birthday; so we took a boat to the restaurant (and I ate real food, hence not from a dining hall).

 The next morning, we went apple-picking at Narrow Lane Orchard. I had never been apple-picking before (the closest one near me are probably an hour away in New York).

 Sometimes it's hard to eat fresh fruit in college, which I know sounds crazy but is kind of true. My room is stocked with microwavable mac-and-cheese and bagels, and I definitely needed to bring some fresh fruit in there.

 On our way back to campus, we stopped at a pumpkin farm shop. It was completely stocked with gourds and fall decorations.

 I am not allowed to have real pumpkins in my dorm, so it was sad to not buy any, but when my parents come up for parents-weekend maybe they'll get some. My dorm room has fake pumpkins in order to have fall vibes.

When I got back to campus later in the day, the sky was so beautiful at sunset. Definitely, one of the perks of my school is how pretty the sky looks in the evenings. This photo was taken by our soccer field and hockey complex. 

How is Autumn going for you? Have you ever gone apple-picking?

xx

Christina Madeleine