Gabrielle Lamontagne
I love to write and share my opinions and life experiences. Hope you find my insights amusing and useful!
Freckles Abroad
Pubs are open! It's outdoor seating only for 6 or fewer for now, but it's a start! I finally got a chance to spend time with 5 other people from my writing course in person and eat and drink and chat together for several hours, all at the same time!
Gabrielle LamontagnePublished 29 days ago in Wander
Freckles Abroad
My Lenten promise this year has been to go for a walk outdoors every day. Walking around parkland areas so often this year has taught me how much I love being in nature and how much it helps to center me in the moment and help me to understand what's going on in my head and emotions. Most of the time it's a wonderful, calming, peaceful feeling. However, a few days ago, a close family friend passed away. I still love my outdoors walks, but I don't love the feelings of pain and grief that I recognize in myself when I take them. I know, of course, how important it is to let myself grieve and feel this pain, logically, but I also have always hated discomfort of any kind. I feel like Willow in the “Something Blue” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer – I wish I could will my pain to end.
Gabrielle LamontagnePublished 2 months ago in Wander
Freckles Abroad
It's Spring! Spring is coming to London at a brisk pace. Flowers are popping up everywhere, mostly daffodils and little purple blossoms. The quacking and crawling critters are out in full force all over campus, and particularly by Froebel Lake.
Gabrielle LamontagnePublished 3 months ago in Wander
Freckles Abroad
It's been a while, folks! My 2021 has been pretty slow getting started, so far. Mostly I'm working on my second semester of classwork and reading and writing and exercising and keeping to myself in my flat, so as not to spread germs or catch any.
Gabrielle LamontagnePublished 3 months ago in MotivationFinally Farewell
Dear Donald Trump, As a modern pop-culture icon, you disappointed me in how you represented our "Great" nation. Growing up, I learned that America was Beautiful because it was the land of the free and the home of the brave. Not just the brave soldiers who fight to keep us free, but the home of the many different shades of bravery - from the LGBTQ+ community to those still suffering from the lasting effects of outdated prejudices. The way you abused your freedom of speech to cause dissention and revel in hatred between the many different peoples pursuing happiness in America causes me pain. I am angry.
Gabrielle LamontagnePublished 4 months ago in The Swamp
Freckles Abroad
It has been a weirdly eventful year, considering all the quarantines. For me, the most exciting half has been this last one. True, I haven't left my “flat” much in the past few months, but I've made a slew of new friends and I've already seen more of London than I knew existed.
Gabrielle LamontagnePublished 5 months ago in Wander
Freckles Abroad
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere I go! Especially on campus. Not the white kind, though, as it rarely snows here. One of my friends told me that “a lot” of snow here is about an inch of accumulation. That made me laugh, thinking back to winters in New Hampshire.
Gabrielle LamontagnePublished 5 months ago in Wander
Freckles Abroad
Lately, I've been taking time each day to count my blessings. Not only do I have an amazing support network of family and friends, but I have been blessed with this opportunity to live and study so far from home – especially during a global pandemic. Each day in London is beautiful in a new way – even when I don't leave my room for more than a half hour walk. Being here and spending so much time reading and writing truly makes me feel happy.
Gabrielle LamontagnePublished 6 months ago in Wander
