Vintage Dior little black dress (circa 1970?)

Vintage fur jacket, earrings

Chanel inspired leather bag

Gloria Ortiz vintage shoes

Ralph Lauren coat

Leaving to Firenze tomorrow guys! I can't believe Summer is already gone, and with that, the internship at the studio, the weekends spent at the beach, the goodbyes. Oh gosh, I'm a tough girl and known to be quite reluctant to exteriorize my feelings, but I never thought it was going to be so hard to manage goodbyes to family and close friends. And I'm presumably coming back home for Christmas! Anyway, it's all fine, I'm super excited to get there, start living on my own at the rented flat downtown, finish all the paperwork that needs to be done, and start knowing more about Italian culture and lifestyle.

So, you might be wondering how the preparations for a year studying abroad have gone so far, and why I've been away from the blog (and almost all social media channels) for almost a week and a half. I landed home again after being totally away for a couple of months due to the Summer internship in town, which felt super awkward (believe me when I say I didn't remember properly where some things were stored at home) to be received by a huge empty suitcase that needed to be filled as soon as possible. Plus, dealing with another large suitcase filled with Summer work outfits and stuff that needed to be washed, organized and put back into place. Plus, paperwork and stuff that needed to be done in the city prior to leaving the country. That translates into two weeks of non-stop running from one place to another to get all done in time.

All this studying abroad craziness has led me to some interesting conclusions and tips that I needed to share with you before leaving to Italy. This is:

#1 Two hands, one luggage
Are you traveling solo, or getting to your destination by your own? If so, don't you think about embarking a huge suitcase and a taking a cabin carry-on. Will you be carrying all those things by your own, probably late in the evening, once arriving at a place you might not know at all? (Or even better when dealing with transfers). Instead, embark all your stuff in your luggage and get a cabin-sized bag which you can wear on your shoulders as a backpack.

#2 Get some info prior to your departure
Are you flying to an airport which is not in your town of destination? Are there any buses, trains or transfer at your arrival time? What do you do if your luggage gets lost or your flight delayed? Gather some information which might be useful once you arrive to your abroad destination (like complaint and information numbers, etc), and get ready for the worst situations. Even if they might not happen at all. Prevention is better than cure!

#3 Pack wisely
Back to when I went to Boston, due to flight connections in Madrid, my luggage got delayed a couple of days. Fortunately, that happened on my way back home, and not in my way to the US, as that could have caused a massive situation in my 17 year-old-self. Once that happened, I learned the hard way to always put in my cabin bag a couple of clothing changes, my most valued items (laptop, camera, tablet) and to pack inside the carry-on a little purse for the ID's, passport, money and phone.

For Firenze, I'm also carrying a set of bedsheets just in case the first night on our new home away from home things are a bit, let's say, nasty.

We arrived Mérida almost at 8 in the evening last Monday. For those of you who follow me at my recently released Instagram account you might have noticed that I've been traveling around Spain this past week. Actually, kind of returning to the origins! I've literally crossed the country on a 7 hour car trip to know more about an area I had heard about too many times on my textbooks, which is also the place where my closest forefathers used to live before heading to Valencia some decades ago.

We started our trip at Mérida to see some of the monumental roman places and some modern architecture I knew about thanks to some teachers at College. I didn't realize how much of a city girl I am until I stepped out the car and realized how different is living on the largest city of the zone, where people is used to live, eat, dress on a total different way than the one we're used to on the coast. But even with that horrible weather around us the whole week, I've to say that Mérida is a nice place to be, much quieter and way slower-living than Valencia. Not even imaging comparing it to Madrid or Barcelona!

As I usually do when I travel, my most comfortable shoes got packed to walk around the best and dressiest way possible. Being honest, wet stone street do not do well on me, but I managed to slide the less possible. Let's add that it was much cooler than I thought (thanks I picked some extra jackets and sweatshirts) so the first stop on our trip was really brief, as it was a bit late and we were exhausted. We managed to see the zone near our hotel and then go back to have some yummy supper! "Templo de Diana" is the place you're seeing on most of the pictures, which was really close Mérida Palace Hotel and which I totally fell in love with, as it mixes ancient with contemporary architecture and it's a really iconic meeting point in the city.

Have you ever visited Mérida? Or Spain? Are you more of a city person or do you prefer quieter places?

P.D: Have you noticed my haircut? :D

I don't like to wear what everybody else is wearing. Don't get me wrong, but I'm really pissed of when something becomes "trendy" and then you go out of home and you can see that item worn more than a hundred times a day. Seriously, where's the originality? I'm not going to blame on anyone, no brand or thing (aside the one you'll see below, and which is there because it's very related to today's outfit...) but I'm sure you've have spotted at least once "the piece". There's one or two almost every year or every season and you'll recognize it because as I said, everybody is wearing it.

This wrap scarf-coat-cape-blanket from Burberry made it stellar appearance back in the 2014 Fall-Winter collection (was it september 2013? I don't even know, time goes by so quick!) and suddenly, Olivia Palermo and some celebrities started wearing their sort-of-plaid capes with their initials on it. By then I don't remember exactly, but I read an article on a fashion magazine that featured some "personalized" clothing pieces as the next trend. The blanket-cape was there of course, but also there were some clutches, passport covers and some gift ideas which included your name on it. It was a nice idea to make something you were wearing really unique, but that cape and everybody wearing it just pulled me back.

So, then my mum had this amazing idea. It was in summer when we started looking for thin wool scarves as crazy as we were. Once found, we took them to the local embroider near home. I used to take there some shirts to embroider my initials or my dad's on his, but never thought of a scarf or actually anything different than shirts. It wasn't pricey and it was possible to make on the font, color and size we wanted, and here's the result of it! A Burberry inspired winter accessory different than the usual, totally unique and super cozy. This could be used as a gift too.

I paired it on a super snowball looking outfit with this Ralph Lauren white coat, which is super warm but I'm always afraid to wear it because... Well, it's so white!

What about you, do you have the blanket-poncho? What do you think of the "trendy" pieces of the year, do you agree on them?

Spring is here! ''Las fallas'' ended a few days ago, and with them winter season. However we're having a really weird weather around, with sun but a bit cold, then it's cloudy and then again sun. Now it's the moment to start with my ''onion mood'' which consists on wearing different layers of things, with really different textures, so if it's warmer I can just take off my blazer and wear only my shirt.

This two piece suit with shorts instead of pants was the perfect buy at Mango last year, and it's perfect for this time of the year when it starts to be sunny but it's not time to forget my tights yet. I think this outfit ended really lady style, with that bow blouse which adds the classy and timeless touch to the look. The suit and the colors on the bag are the eclectic side.

What do you wear when soft weather is coming? Do you also use the ''onion mood''? Short tailored suits yay or nay?

Tartan. Seems to be everywhere I go this season. Trousers, jackets, shoes... It feels absolutely crazy with this pattern and it's curious because as far as I remember, I used to wear it a lot when I was a child. Everything returns in fashion, you know. So, this tartan blazer is one of those pieces which might give your outfit a subtle print touch, but not too overdone or formal if it's for an school or College outfit. I think this piece is great to pair with a pair of jeans and a blouse or T-shirt. As weather is warm around here (believe me: November and it's still about 30ºC at noon) but a little bit colder in the mornings, taking a light jacket or blazer like this with you is a great idea.

So, while I wait for winter to arrive and my exams to end, I enjoy looking around for winter goodies such as gloves (tthe Ralph Lauren gloves below and its classy, elegant patterns and soft textures really made me fell in love with them!), hats and scarves. I love the classic and vintage style which is everywhere this season!

Finally, here you can see that not everything around me is fashion, Architecture and studying... I have fun too! Specially in our trainings, loving my super cute friends from the fencing team!