When I imagined this American trip, I imagined myself blogging a hell of a lot more than I have done. I mean, what a writing opportunity. Travelling The United States. I imagined myself writing something in the vein of the documentary which inspired this trip in the first place; Stephen Fry in America.

That didn’t happen. But I would like to begin by saying that I am not disappointed with myself. I mean yeah, a part of me wishes I had, I’m not going to lie. If I wanted to, I could beat myself up about it. I’m choosing not to because I recognise the uniqueness of the situation I find myself in.

What is probably going to be one of the biggest things that’s ever going to happen to me(at least in a personal sense) JUST happened. I mean, it’s been less than 4 months. That’s the blink of an eye. Particularly when we’re talking about a context of four years. For those of you who haven’t been reading, my boyfriend (who I was pretty sure was going to be my husband one day) broke up with me. After four years. So I travelled America with him (as you do). See blog below for details.

Between the time we broke up and the time we left for America I focused all my energies on myself, and on having a good time. I figured I needed to do the first part purely and simply for the good of my mental health; and the second because I figured regardless of how good I felt (and I did, surprisingly so) it was always going to take time. And in that time I wasn’t going to sit around and mope- I was going to go out and make the most of it (once again see below).

I guess in my head America would be different. I’d go straight into tourist/journalist mode and see and experience everything possible; recording and analysing every minute of it as I went. Once again, great and all as that would’ve been, it wasn’t very realistic. Sure, if Rudi and I were still together and nothing had ever happened I’m pretty sure that would’ve been my trip. There would’ve been ten times more photos and ten times more updates. But what my trip actually became was what I needed. This trip was in large part down to wonderful people I met as a result of one fateful night in Stockholm. The section below details this, but do feel free to skip onto the next one!

When Brendan (and Mercedes) met Trudi (Triona and Rudi)

Let’s rewind. 7 months ago (I know what you’re thinking, where on earth is she going with this, but hold tight) I was staying in a hostel in Stockholm with members of DCU Fotosoc. One night, Rudi, Rowan (a friend we made on the trip) and I knocked on a door to the common room, which was then answered by an american who said ‘sure, I’ll let you in if you lend me a pen’. So we did. In the meantime Rudi, Rowan and I got into a huge conversation all about relationships. Brendan the american reappeared with our pen so we asked what he had been writing about. It was none other than an article all about his most recent break up.  We welcomed Brendan (who it turned out was also a media student) into our conversation with open arms and had a great night, talking about everything from politics to relationships to music. What a fateful night. Oh and there were some drunken austrians and angry shouting balding men in there somewhere too but that’s a story for another blog. So toward the end of the night Brendan mentions he’ll be in Ireland for Paddy’s Day. Naturally I say ‘add me on Facebook!! We’ll meet up!’. Which he did. And we did. So Brendan and his friend Mercedes come out to me and Rudi’s apartment and we have yet another great night of chats involving pizza and some movie starring Matt Dillon as a psychopathic killer in Philadelphia, which is, coincidentally enough, where Brendan’s from. Toward the end of this night I notice Brendan and Mercedes looking tired so I say ‘hey Ru we should probably drop these guys home, do you guys have an early flight in the morning?’ to which they say ‘oh no we’re getting the train to London’……… Yup. A train to London. We have Irish Rail’s slightly misleading site to blame for this. So Rudi and I spend the next two hours finding the cheapest possible way to get these guys back to Holland, where they’re studying for a semester. Eventually we find a way and drop them to their hostel. ‘THANK you guys SOOOOO much!! Oh my god you’re LIFESAVERS!! If you’re EVER in Boston and need accommodation just let us know!!!!’ to which we think ‘yeah, when are we ever gonna be in Boston!’ and laugh to ourselves thinking of it as a good deed done and nothing more. Laugh we did again a mere few weeks later upon the discovery that number 1: we’d gotten a job in the states, based in Boston and number 2: we needed to stay in Boston for two weeks before starting our job due to J1 Visa restrictions. So we sent Brendan and Mercedes a very tentative email along the lines of ‘any way we could stay with you a little while?’ thinking something like a few days to a week. To which we received a reply from Mercedes stating she had a futon we were welcome to for as long as we wanted, and instructed us to merely let her know when we’d be arriving. Heartwarming or what. And that was just the beginning.

Home in America

That first night we arrived in Boston Mercedes met us in Boston City, gave us passes to a whole bunch of attractions and found us a lift to her apartment with a friend of hers, Nato (whose home in Connecticut we recently spent a weekend at, more later). Upon our arrival at her apartment, we met her flatmate, Sam and their friends Brian and Rob. These people are some of the nicest people I have ever met and may never know how much their friendship meant to me at the time.

I am a very strong person. I have gone through some very hard times in my life. I’m not saying I’m any less well off than anyone else. In so many ways I have been blessed; beginning and ending with the unending source of love that is my family (once again, for another blog) but I have also gone through some tough times, on more than one occasion. It’s only as a result of all this that I am strong, and independent- I had to be. But when the man I thought my entire future was with ended our relationship, pretty much out of the blue, my world crashed around me. I know I stayed strong, I know I stayed much more positive than most people expected, but Rudi and I got together when I was 18. When I was just becoming the adult I am today. He was my boyfriend and best friend throughout my entire degree. The foundations of who I am, or at least who I considered myself to be, and where my life was going, were shaken. After the experiences I’ve had in the past, at the risk of sounding negative or morbid (neither of which I am) I’ve come to truly understand the statement that the only thing we’re assured of in life is death. The fact that Rudi would always be by my side, whatever shape my life took, eventually came to be one of the only things I considered even close to that. All those times that expectations and reality didn’t match up; that people let me down or even disappeared from my life completely; the thought of having a constant (yes, Lost reference for those who have watched the show) became more and more of a comfort. And then just one day, on a bus to Carlow, all that changed.

I’ve never found friendship to come easy to me. I’ve always found it relatively difficult to find people I click with, at least in any deep or meaningful way. Sometimes even in a basic way. And yet in Boston I found myself in a whole group of people just like that. For that reason I’ve never found myself to be much of a group person.  Aside from the odd exception I generally find my closest friends are odd, random people from different circles; never one tight knit group. And yet here I found myself, comfortably slotting into a circle. One group of people who barely knew me, had no vested interest or reason to be particularly nice, and yet were. People that went out of their way to show interest, ensure I felt at home, had a good time and made the most of my time in the states.

What I like about U.(S.A)

When Rudi and I broke up, this whole trip was thrown into question. Many around me advised against going. Really, it could’ve gone either way. But I put one of the biggest lessons I have learned in the last year to use and trusted my gut instinct. And thank god I did because coming here was one of the best decisions I ever made. It may sound funny to describe travelling with your recent ex as a fresh start, but it really, really was. Getting out of Ireland was exactly what I needed. Don’t get me wrong, for the first while after the break up, I needed my friends big time, and boy did they come through. But after that, fresh experience, something and somewhere completely different was what I really needed. I think before I could even articulate it, I have never felt like I fit in Ireland. Something never quite felt right. I am still young, I still have much to learn and if watching older people has taught me anything it is that people are generally like boomerangs and generally tend to come back around. So in all likeliness I will probably come to find myself settled in Ireland in years to come and eating these words. But there are certain aspects of Irish culture that just do not mix with my personality. I am not going to get into every single one of them right now as it would take forever and probably come off sounding bitter. But I am an extremely open (just in case you haven’t noticed), honest individual who doesn’t delight in gossip, doesn’t find comfort in knowing everyone around her, delights more in coffee culture than alcoholic pursuits and who will always choose optimism over pessimism. These things I find, just clash with the general Irish population. And for me that is the most important aspect of where I find myself. Not weather, not how much money I earn or how ‘successful’ I am, not familiarity, not where’s convenient; culture, people.

Here in America (and this, of course, could change drastically if I lived here for an actual period of time) I do not feel that way. I do not feel like an outsider. I do not constantly feel like me and the people around me are on completely different wavelengths. And that was exactly what I needed to feel after the person I considered most on my wavelength severed a tie. I stress the singularity of that tie, because as I was about to discuss in my next point, although we are no longer in a relationship, he is still my best friend. To conclude my point about how funny a fresh start with your recent ex sounds; the reason having Rudi here has had little to no effect on the fresh experience that was this trip is that, in case you haven’t read the blog all about it, our relationship ended very lovingly; funny as that sounds. It was a mutually reached decision for the benefit of both of us. We dismantled our relationship together, supported each other at every turn and have been supporting each other ever since. This extends to my American experience, as well as his. I have discussed every single thing I’ve mentioned here with him, and at every turn he could; he has tried his best to make this the best experience it could be for me- he even pretty much acted as my wing man on one occasion. I am not going to lie- We’re not some weird super ex couple. Spending pretty much 24/7 together (particularly in the travelling part of the trip) has not always been easy. There have been times we’ve been more on the couple side of the boundary than the friendship one. Times we’ve just wanted to be together again. Times we’ve wanted to be apart. Times we didn’t know what we wanted. I could go on, but my point is both that these times were in the severe minority and all that makes us different is how we dealt with it. We dealt with it in the way we’ve always dealt with everything: as a team and with the utmost consideration and respect for each other.

To conclude, although this trip has been a cultural experience (one which I will write more about later) more than anything it has been a personal journey. One I am very glad to have taken.

The Flight

Flying with British airways was a good experience overall but this blog post would have a very different tone had the following story had a different ending. We arrived in Heathrow airport for our connecting flight (hours early I might add) only to be told they didn’t currently have seats for us on the plane and we may have to spend the night in London and get a flight the next morning. How in an age of computing an airline overbooks a plane, I’ll never know. Their only advice was to go to the gate about an hour before the flight and speak to the flight attendants when they arrived. Luckily when we did, they said they did have seats for us. Emergency over. Why it happened in the first place I don’t know.

Have to say I didn’t find the flight over long or boring at all. Of course number one reason being I had my best friend with me, but British Airways made it quite the pleasant experience with the blanket, the pillow, the good movies and loads and loads of food. Literally, about once an hour!

No Strings Attached/My own unusual relationship

I surprised myself by watching ‘No Strings Attached’. When I saw the ad for that movie I thought it looked shockingly bad. But I thought; hey, I want to watch something easy to watch, and who knows, maybe it’ll be so bad it’ll be hilarious. Also I’m newly single, maybe it’ll teach me about how non-long-term-I-want-to-marry-you-and-have-your-babies relationships work. Surprisingly good! I mean yeah, it was complete chewing gum for the brain, pretty predictable and won’t be winning any oscars anytime soon but it had some pure gold moments. I mean, he made her a PERIOD PLAYLIST! Red red wine, bleeding love, Sunday Bloody Sunday….. how magnificent is that. Not only is he not weirded out by her special womanly time (yes I’m being deliberately cringey by using that term), he makes her a playlist about it. Entertaining and sweet at the same time. In short, a keeper. Also as with many movie trailers I found the film to be quite different to the impression I got from the trailer. The impression I got from the trailer was that the main protagonists had been friends for years, decided to have sex one time, had a good time and decided to keep doing it thinking that it would be that simple only to find themselves falling in love *swoon*. In reality the main protagonists vaguely knew each other for years, always had a bit of chemistry, found themselves half naked together and ended up having sex. From the get go Ashton Kutcher liked Natalie Portman and wanted more, but she was having none of it. Partly down to a purely hectic schedule as a med student, which is kind of understandable.

I had my own touching moment in my own unusual relationship soon after watching ‘No Strings Attached’. In case you haven’t been keeping updated on my blog (or life), Rudi (the guy I’m travelling the states with) is the guy I once considered the love of my life. We were together for almost four years and only broke up this summer (see ‘The only love we ever keep is the love we give away’ below) but have remained the best of friends. So on the plane over we got chatting about how things were going between us and various other related topics such as the guy I had recently been seeing and what Rudi thought of the whole situation. And we just had the most wonderful conversation. It wasn’t really anything new or different to my blog post, just really reconfirmed how wonderful our relationship was, what a wonderful friendship came out of it and how much he supports me. He basically made me feel really special by talking about the effect I had on him as a girlfriend; how it doesn’t surprise him in the slightest that I’ve already had a similar effect on one or two other guys and why that concerns him slightly because he doesn’t want to see me end up in the same situation a few years down the line. Swept up in romance, mad about each other, oblivious to the fact (or ignoring the fact) that it’s really not the right time for me to get into a relationship. Not that that’s exactly what happened with me and Rudi (once again, see earlier blog) but I’m sure you know what I mean.

Arriving in America

When we got there we had some more American bureaucracy to deal with before we could officially arrive in Boston. There is a LOT of bureaucracy involved in getting to the States. So much so it’s almost off-putting. Lucky for me, Rudi took it upon himself to be in the know about all the different pieces of paperwork we needed and has taken care of that ever since. Bless his cotton socks! When we finally did get through all the checks we began trying to call Mercedes (the girl we’re staying with in Boston). We had much confusion with phones and area codes ending with the help of a very friendly and helpful woman at the information desk; who, by the way was indicative of the Boston people in general. I have felt very welcome here. Something in large part felt because of the aforementioned, wonderful Mercedes and her equally wonderful friends. From the moment we got there she handed us city passes for Boston, got us a lift home from a friend and was ever so helpful when travel mishap number 2 happened: Rudi realised he picked the wrong bag off the carousel when picking up mine. Her friend Nato (who drove the car that first night) drove us all the way out to the airport the next morning only to find out the British Airways desk didn’t open till four. Rather than get bogged down about this minor detail, Mercedes and Nato instead drove us a few towns across for the simple pleasure of visiting a Denny’s. Denny’s is a chain American diner which does the trademark humungous american breakfast. The kind of place you leave wanting to sleep for four days. Awesome.

Everything’s big in America

Which brings me onto my main observation about the states so far. You know the way they say everything is big in America? Well it’s a stereotype because it’s true. Food wise, I cannot get over what they call a size medium, and how large portions go. The buildings are huge. As I was telling one of my new found american friends, I remember as a child knowing New York was a huge city with big sky scrapers. Then I remember getting older and seeing a picture of Chicago and being mind blown at the idea that this country has more than one city like that. Boston is no different. In terms of American cities it’s actually pretty small but a dental school still looks like this:

What I like about Boston

For the first few days I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the place. But on the Monday evening after I arrived I really came to appreciate it when we sat in the commons at night. The commons are just so beautiful and the weather (amazingly sunny in case you haven’t heard) meant it was 11pm and we were able to just sit by a lake looking out at the beautiful city in summer clothes. Not on the warmest day in Ireland…..

Most of my other likings for this country so far have been food related. My god the food…. the choice! Back in Ireland, I love to take a good wander around Tesco (no I’m not joking). American shopping is ten times better! There’s 15 varieties of everything. All the different levels of fat milk, chocolate milk, almond milk? And there’s cheese on EVERYTHING. Which makes me very happy. If there’s not cheese on it you can buy some in a can to spray on it.

Last night I got another insight into why I’d love to live here. We went on the duck tour and while on it, we were pointed toward a restaurant called The Finale, a restaurant which ‘creates sensational dessert experiences’. It was exactly my kinda place. It was more of a cafe atmosphere than a restaurant (as in the kinda place you could go in and buy a cup of tea and scone and not be stared at) and yet it was open late. Tea was made with real tea leaves and served in proper tea pots and the desserts were just amazing. Rudi and I got a selection plate and were fit to die afterward but, like Denny’s it was completely worth it. The kind of place I think I would meet people for tea ALL the time if I lived in Boston.

It is because of this love that we shared that I realise I need to let him go. We have been together since we were eighteen years old. When we first met, Rudi was someone who didn’t know much about himself. He didn’t know who he was or what he wanted to do with his life. I helped him figure a lot of this out and get to where he is today but now he needs to explore more on his own. Without the crutch of my constant love, affection and advice; without thinking for two. And I understand that. And while of course it broke my heart, I knew I had to let him go, and I wanted to. Because I love him. Loving someone means you want them to be the most them they can be. To shine, to be happy, to enjoy themselves. I wanted to because our relationship was wonderful and to continue when his heart wasn’t in it would be a disservice to everything we ever shared. I wanted to because I would never stay with someone who wasn’t sure that I was what they wanted. I wanted to because I deserve love.

Although the relationship that in part defined my life for my formative years (and I thought would define the rest of my life) was ending, and my heart was breaking, I remained strong. I remained strong in part because I am not losing him. He is still my best friend and we did this whole thing together. We explored every option before deciding that splitting up was the best one for both of us. We spoke about every last emotion we experienced. We discussed every fine detail of how we were going to do it and what arrangements we would come to. If one of us was feeling sad, we would turn to the other. We did it slowly. We spent a lot of time together but also a lot of time apart. Bit by bit we let go of defining characteristics of our relationship and slipped smoothly into a great friendship dynamic. Our break up remained true to our relationship: it was based on the values of love and true friendship.

Rudi was not the only one who showed his friendship and love in this difficult time. What this experience has taught me the most is how unbelievably lucky I am to have met and become friends with the people who surround me today. Whether it was responding to each and every one of my real time updates, giving me the most wonderfully comforting hug and words of reassurance when I broke down, having hours of Skype dates, inviting me for a girly day or even being the first boy I kissed post-Rudi (and reacting like a trooper when I freaked out because it was too soon…..) it would’ve been quite a different experience if not for these people. Having just come out the other side of a time when I really questioned what exactly friendship meant to me and who exactly my friends were, the confirmation of the fact that I have made all the right choices when it comes to the people I surround myself with was overwhelming. It showed me that this time needn’t be dark. It showed me that this break up leaves me anything but alone. It showed me that there is life and love after Rudi.

Of course I’m not going to sit here and claim that I have felt this good all the time. This is making the best of what is a bad situation. There are times I literally just want to curl up in a ball and cry (and did, once or twice). Times I wake up feeling alone. Times I just feel so lost and adrift. Times I just want someone to hold me and tell me everything’s going to be alright. But there’s nothing I can do about it. Because we discussed everything, I understand him, I want him to be happy and I know this is what he needs to make that happen. As always with life changing situations, the old clichéd sayings always apply and although at times I feel on top of the world and like this isn’t so bad, I am always aware that my heart will just take time to heal. So while my heart is healing, I am not going to sit around and concentrate on it. I am going to go and enjoy myself; and make the best of it. All I can do is believe this is happening for a reason and search for what that reason is for me. That’s why I surround myself with the positivity I spoke about above. That’s why I invest in the friends I adore. Why I invest in things that made me happy as an individual and things I missed about being single. Why whenever he calls me ‘Something Good Can Work’ by Two Door Cinema Club plays.

Will we get back together? Ya, maybe we will. And maybe this break will do nothing but benefit the both of us as individuals, benefit our relationship and make for an even stronger marriage. But maybe we won’t. And if not then it’s just not meant to be and it’s better we found out now, rather than later. If not I guess, it just means he’ll be sitting in one of the pews at my wedding rather than standing at the altar.

I have made a youtube playlist which contains all the songs that really helped me understand and get through this. The first is heart songs by Weeezer simply because it encapsulates what these songs have been to me. They go in order of which are the most fitting, in terms of how both of us felt at the start, during and how we might feel in the future. For me they are relics of moments in time. When I look back on some of them I already feel so differently.

But I love valentines day. There. I said it. I will not be a sheep and nay say it for the sake of it. I will not complain about things that are within my control. The reason always given for ‘I am not a valentines day person’ is ‘it’s too commercial’. Ya. Sure it is if you go with the grain and don’t see the point in creatively making things your own. Who says valentines day must involve flowers, chocolates, jewellery, wine and general expense? No one! Considering you don’t allow the general population or corporations dictate how you live any other day, why let it for valentines day?

Valentines day is about love. Pure an simple. Whether you choose to read that as platonic or romantic is up to you. Valentines day is about a man who in the face of war, allowed love to flourish. Valentines day is the day Rudi and I put time aside to celebrate our relationship. To forget about the rest of the world and just have fun together. Do we feel under pressure to do all the cheesy established stuff? Eh, no. This year we went to the wax museum and went home and watched ‘house of wax’ afterward. In between we got food in mcdonalds because we’re budgeting right now. And it was awesome! A few years ago my present to him was a trip on the ghostbus tour in Dublin. Which was also awesome. I don’t think flowers or chocolates have ever been the presents we’ve exchanged either. This year I got him tickets to see ‘Jeckyll and Hyde the musical’ and he got me primer.

So basically, treat Valentines day as a day to have quality time with the people you love and it’ll be awesome

I love having my hair curly. And whenever I do, I get numerous compliments as well as questions on how I do it. So I decided to share in the form of this blog. I would advise anyone to try but it must be said that it may not work for those with no natural volume or curl.

Below I will outline the steps I take to curl my hair:

1. Wash your hair

2. Vigorously towel dry your hair for a few minutes

3. Scrunch your hair up from tip to root using your fingers. Do this to each section of your hair around 10 times.

4. If your hair is still almost straight repeat steps 2 and 3 before moussing

5. Squeeze about an apple sized amount of mousse into your hand. Spread it evenly between both hands. Flick your hair over your head as shown in the picture below and scrunch as before, covering as much of your hair as you can.

6. Repeat maybe 2-3 times until you have covered your hair in mousse and it feels wavy.

7. At this point you can either dry your hair using a hairdryer or leave it dry naturally, scrunching every so often. Personally I find the second usually results in more volume and more defined curls, although the first option is fine for when I’m in a rush.

As a side note, as regards brand, I personally find little to no difference between all of them so I always buy Boots brand mousse which is great value.

Aaaand most importantly, the end result:

What I will do, is say no. What I will do is look at who I AM. Look at everything I HAVE done and HAVE achieved and see its value. What I will do is look at what I am and remember I’m that way for a reason. Remember the fact that every piece of who I am is something I chose. To look at the fact that these choices have brought me love, joy and happiness; even if it was painful to get there.

Today I will look at life and realise there is no point in looking back and instead choose to look forward. Today I will look at all the time I have, and not the time that has gone by. I will look at the fact that I am just beginning. That in May I will leave the comfort of the college and go into the working world and realise how exciting that is. Decide that, as the DCU slogan goes ‘I can go anywhere from here’. Decide that I am the maker of my own destiny and that whatever I choose, those who truly love me will stand by me and support me no matter what. That if some I believed would be there choose otherwise, it’s best they do so now. That even if I fall flat on my face and make silly mistakes, those who love me will be there to remind me that I’m young and I will make mistakes. That it’s all a learning experience and I will be a more rounded person for it.

Today I will decide to look at life and appreciate how multi-dimensional it is. If come May I find myself unemployed or in a job I don’t enjoy; that’s ok. I have a lot more going for me than my ability to work. I have the ability to love. I have the ability to brighten a day with the smallest of actions, just as anyone with good will does. I have the ability to be content in myself. I have chosen

every one of these things. I smile and feel affectionate when I see how enthusiastic he feels about games he loves; how he will sit down and say “ya, gonna play this for a few minutes and see how it goes” and 3 hours later is in the same spot. I love how the same man could go days without a moment to himself and utter not a word of complaint. How in the duration of our relationship he has worked 3 very testing jobs to support himself through college. To spoil me and to make something of himself.

I love to think of the evolution of our relationship. Those nights that we would talk till it was nighttime no more. Uttering the words; “I’ve never told anyone that before”. Not a moment of silence; not a moment of awkwardness. A harmony felt with no one else.

The trial run of living together; a summer in Bulgaria; the best of my life. The most relaxing time in the world; a time to be myself completely. No pressure from anyone else; only love from the man who loves me exactly as I am. With all the eccentricities; the occasional airheadedness; the rants; the emotional times; the mad worries and the tears. The enthusiasm; zest and positive outlook. The blunt honesty. The eagle eye; the impatience; the intolerance.

Then one September those seemingly far away thoughts we dreamt up all the way back in Bulgaria suddenly became a reality. Our own place. All ours, no one else’s. A cosy little one bed apartment for us to customise as our own. To choose when we wanted to share with our nearest and dearest; to choose our romantic nights in. To put up book shelves full of treasured books and dvd’s; to fill with cook books and cooking utensils; to adopt a tiny hamster; to put up christmas decorations; to be well, to be sick; to be good; to be bad.

Days spent walking home from college discussing our days; laughing away and empathizing completely. Wearing his ring, his watch and his key necklace each with their own story to tell. Missing each other when we were apart for just a day. Baking him cookies for when he gets home; getting home to a sparkling clean apartment filled with Yankee candles and a boiled kettle with a man waiting to make my perfect tea.

The perfect tea, from my teenage dream.

This was the cover I designed for a photography assignment in the second year of my degree. The brief was documentary photography for a spread in a magazine. I chose to photograph my niece for a photo documentary on Baby Life and chose The Irish Times Magazine as my magazine

This was part of the ‘Baby Life’ project I outlined earlier in my description of the cover image.

This was one of five images I created as part of an advertising campaign project in my final year of Communications. I created my own tea brand, ‘Tri’s Tea’ and created five images with captions which all started with ‘Because’, eg: ‘Because it’s been a long day’, ‘Because it’s cold outside’

This is an image I created as part of a Darkroom Photography Project inspired by the Eavan Boland Poem ‘The Black Lace Fan My Mother Gave Me’