Summer Favorites | Honeymoon, Broken Monsters, and Lemonade

TIA HERE with my summer favorites, covering everything I've been digging from May through August. Enjoy!

MUSIC

Hayley Kiyoko is a singer and songwriter who is best known for playing Velma in the live-action Scooby Doo movie (YES, that was her). But I've also found that I really dig her EP, This Side of Paradise. Her song "Girls Like Girls" has one of the most awesome music videos I've seen in a while, too, so I hope you check it out! Gotta support my fellow half-asians.

DoubleBooked | AFTER DARK vs. KAFKA ON THE SHORE

THE DUO HERE, with something new for you! Introducing, DoubleBooked: a novel collaboration comparing our latest reads, lit-erally. Each month (hopefully), in an effort to read more, we will be reviewing two trending titles so you know what to check out next.

Review | "Jupiter Ascending" is a Beautiful Disaster in Space

TIA HERE with something a little different. You're probably wondering, why is she reviewing this movie that came out months ago? Well, this is a review I happened to write for my "Writing and Editing for Online Magazines" class that I took last semester. I didn't want my blog posts for that class to go to waste, so I figured: What better place to put them than here? I hope you enjoy these upcoming short posts, which are a bit sassier in tone (since they were written for a fictional magazine for my class), while I am currently finishing up my internships and preparing for my penultimate semester at Cornell.

Review | New York City's Cat Café: The Meow Parlour

TIA HERE and oh my god, guess who just went to another cat café. Yep. Me.

In case you've forgotten somehow, I'm currently in New York City, where there is a wonderful little cat café called the Meow Parlour, among other things. My wonderful study abroad friend Alanna and I spent the day at the Natural History Museum and had brunch at Broadway Bites and had great fun. As night fell (around 7 p.m., although we were a bit late because subways never run when you want them to), we arrived at the Meow Parlour where we had made a reservation months prior with friends Thelonia, Lea, and Winnie. This is not the first cat café Alanna and I had visited together, and it certainly will not be the last!

5 Netflix Shows You Should Be Binge-Watching Right Now

TIA HERE and now that it's finally summer, it's time to get working, sleeping, and, most importantly, binge-watching Netflix. Here are five shows that you must start watching on Netflix (with plenty of opinions):

1. Orange is the New Black (Season 3)

The most obvious, of course, is Orange is the New Black, season three. It just came out on June 11, so it's still pretty fresh for those who didn't devour it on the first weekend (as I am currently doing, writing this on the 13th). We're back following the story of Piper Chapman (who is trash this season, more than usual) and the backstories of many other interesting characters that are inmates at Litchfield Penitentiary. This show never fails to tug at heartstrings, while simultaneously bringing the laughs, so I recommend it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. While the third season isn't super life changing in the context of the whole series, it's not bad and I was really feeling Soso's vibe this season (that half-Asian thing, you know).

Review | Netflix's New Comedy: "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"

the official poster for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

TIA HERE, slipping in a blog post amidst the chaos of classes (a lot of which are requiring I write blog posts, which is why DD has been on hiatus—I'm tragically using up all of my blog ideas for class and clubs).

Review | "This Is Not A Test" & "Please Remain Calm" by Courtney Summers

TIA HERE with my first book(s) review of the year, and of Duo Diaries... ever. And there is no better way to kick off the book reviewing than with the book I just finished yesterday—Please Remain Calm, the novella sequel to This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers. Because the two go very much hand-in-hand, I thought it'd make sense to throw them all together into one nearly spoiler-less post (don't worry, there's a bold, all caps warning for when you get there).

10 Reasons Why You Should Study Abroad in Denmark (Through DIS)

copenhagen city hall

TIA HERE with my second to last post on Denmark. If you're thinking of studying abroad (or not), or thinking specifically of studying abroad in Copenhagen (or not), or are even more specifically thinking of studying abroad with DIS in Copenhagen (or not), this post is for you. Here are all of the reasons why I think you should study abroad in Denmark (through the Danish Institute for Study Abroad):

Optional Study Tour | Literary (Cultural) London

TIA HERE with one of my favorite travel videos I've done so far! This time I went to London, England, for a class trip that involved checking out all of the most interesting cultural spots and touristy areas in the city through an academic lens. Check out the video if you want to see the National Portrait Gallery, the London Eye, the Globe Theatre, the Churchill War Rooms, high tea at the Dorchester Hotel, the Victoria and Albert Museum, platform 9¾, Daunt Books, and the East End. There are also some other fun sights thrown in there, from Buckingham Palace to the London Millennium Footbridge and much, much more. Because you can see most of the trip in the video (happy viewing!), I'm going to use this post to talk more about the class for future DIS students interested in taking it.

Review | What "Mockingjay - Part 1" Got Right

TIA HERE with lots to say on The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, which came out today (Wednesday the 19th) in Europe. (To all you Americans: enjoy it on Friday, suckas!) Because I'm sure there are already countless reviews out on the web by people hired to watch movies early and write about them, I'm going to take a bit of a different approach. I'll be attempting to avoid movie spoilers, but not book spoilers, so if you're looking for basic fact appreciation without going into too much detail—I'm your girl. For all those who read the books (hopefully I remember them as well as I think I do), here's the breakdown of some of my favorite moments that they got right, or just used in fantastic ways.

Review | Tia's Trip to a Copenhagen Cat Café

inside café miao

TIA HERE with a story I never thought I'd live to tell: 1) because I didn't know there were cat cafés in places that are not Asia and 2) because I am allergic to cats (or, at least, I thought I was). But despite all odds, here in Copenhagen, Denmark, there is a cat café that is aptly called Café Miao. What's a cat café? you might be wondering. It's exactly what it sounds like: a typical café with the addition of cats roaming around at their own leisure. It's like eating in a pet shop, minus the cages, but also minus the concern that the animals will take your food--cats have more dignity than that, and they also are forbidden from eating the food so they are more used to just hanging around while people eat. If you don't want to eat anything, for just 50 DKK ($8.50) you can step inside the cat room for as long as you like and just pet cats. Or, if you're like me and my friends Alanna and Katya, you can buy some food at a minimum of 50 DKK and have a nice meal in addition to petting cats.

Review | My New Favorite Place to Eat

TIA HERE with a rave review of my new favorite place to get food in the entire world. There is a Korean bakery called The Paris Baguette (Confusing right? Is it Paris or Korea?) that you can find in Koreatown (near the Empire State Building). It is, by far, my favorite place. Have I said that yet? I'll say it again. It's the best. Starving and with Winnie, as always, we stopped at The Paris Baguette virtually at random and were entranced by the selection. The baked goods were all expertly crafted to look as beautiful and delicate as can be—and they tasted amazing. There were so many mysterious food items that I wanted to try, but (during my first visit) I settled for a brie and turkey croissant sandwich, a long bread-like pastry with chocolate chips, a very soft, strawberry-flavored cake of some kind, and a bubble tea. That was the meal that converted me to the church of Paris Baguette.

Review | The Little Owl

TIA HERE with a little review on a little restaurant called The Little Owl. My often-mentioned friend Winnie Yelped the place and she, me, and my other friend Thelonia met up there. From the outside, I was already smitten. How could I not be? It looks so charming and nice!

Review | Desserts and Discoveries

TIA HERE with the scoop on where to get a nice scoop of ice cream, a cup of crème brûlée, or some macarons. Of course, there are tons of places in the city where you can get incredible desserts, but I thought I'd offer my two cents on some of the places I stumbled across. These are, by no means, famous New York City dessert locations, but if you're looking for somewhere well-known, there are already a thousand lists all across the internet. Instead, I hope to offer a little peek at some places you may wander past on the street and not know much about. It's a very specific list of three different places I tried out while in the city, and will hopefully give you a taste of the vast variety of dessert places that may not be on any must-see lists, but are just as worthy of a try.

Review | Bedford Baking Studio

TIA HERE with the scoop on a little Brooklyn bakery called Bedford Baking Studio. I stumbled across the place while wandering Williamsburg in the hot summer month of July, and I stopped in mostly for a drink and something to eat, but also because it looked so darn cute. Although I didn't glean this information at the time, I now know that BBS is a family-run, Turkish bakery-meets-coffee-shop. When I was there, like always, I went for the cheaper menu items.

Review | Korean Pizza @ Hongdae's Dark Plant

VICTORIA HERE with deets on one the most popular pizza spots in Seoul! First I must warn you, Korean pizza is nothing like the pizza you know and love (well if you come from a Western country at least). Koreans have taken the greasy salty delight and turned it into a sweet and sugary delicacy. Even Western franchises in Korea such as Pizza Hut and Dominos have altered their usual menu to suit the locals. A typical pizza in Korea contains sweeter ingredients ranging from corn to sweet potatoes. It is a common realization between foreigners here that most Western foods (chips, bread, it goes on) are adapted into a sweeter counterpart that may be a little awkward to adjust to (because it really is weird to be honest). Though this is common, your normal pepperoni and cheese option is still available but when in Korea I suggest trying out your new options!

Review | 5 Common NYC Eateries

TIA HERE with the latest dish on some of the dishes I’ve been trying while in the Big Apple. Although you should be expecting detailed posts focused on specific restaurants and cafes in the future, I’m going to start out with the basics.