With the transition of seasons, the weather has gotten warmer and days longer. I found it gradually easier to slow down and live in the present. For the past few months, I’ve been constantly stressing about the future. I was uncertain as to how I would move out of Pittsburgh, sell my furniture, and find roommates for post-grad living. But as April progressed, my problems started solving themselves one by one. It was as if life was telling me to stop fixating on the future and that somehow it would all work out. Maybe it isn’t just the coming of Spring that makes April such a refreshing month, maybe it’s because I chose to experience the present.

April started strong with Spring carnival. Carnival at CMU is a widely anticipated event for all students. Students get a couple of days off to enjoy various foods and amusement rides on campus and to participate in social events.

A large part of carnival is booth, a themed house-building competition between student organizations. While carnival is in mid-April, booth planning usually starts months before. A lot of prep goes into ideating the design, painting panels, crafting props, building structures, etc. While I didn’t participate regularly during the semester, I tried to go as often as I could during build week to help out with ASA (Asian Student Association).

The theme for ASA’s booth this year was Everything Everywhere All At Once. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I highly recommend that you do! The pictures above show us moving the pre-built structures onto midway for build week. We had to get creative about how we transported things since not everything fitted inside the U-haul. During build week, it wasn’t uncommon for students to work on booth all day and night. A lot of people worked an all-nighter the day before Carnival started (I tried to stay but was quite tired).

I helped out with painting panels and other parts of the booth. I am a bit low-skilled with a paint brush so I was told to help paint backgrounds. I definitely don’t have the talent or skill to paint figures or objects 😭. A memorable part of painting was working with the UV paint (rightmost image above). It looks really cool when you shine it with a black light. Kinda like laser tag vibes 😎.

This year, ASA went for a two-story booth. It was considerably more work but a lot cooler experience for those who built it and those who visited it.

^ more pictures of the panels inside the booth.

I’m really impressed with the quality and quantity of work ASA was able to pull off this semester. Hopefully, I’ll be able to come back next year for Carnival and help out at booth!

^ photo credit to ASA

Because I’m leaving Pittsburgh soon, I’ve been trying to eat out more at different restaurants. At the beginning of this semester, I cut down on eating out a lot because it was eating away at my wallet (haha). I think a good middle ground is to be intentional with my dining location and to scout out interesting experiences rather than eating out just because I’m lazy.

One of the first places I visited was Tako Torta, a taqueria. It’s like a sister restaurant to Tako in downtown Pittsburgh. We went during trivia night and it lasted around an hour and a half. I won’t lie, I didn’t really participate and instead went to Trader Joe’s to buy groceries 😅. The food is pretty similar to Tako, just slightly less expensive. The guac and chips were really good though.

I also went to Ineffable Ca Phe, my favorite banh mi spot in Pittsburgh. It gives cute, cozy cafe vibes and their banh mi is to die for. They also serve a variety of pho, rice bowls, and coffee. Definitely worth a visit if you haven’t gone before!

Then there was Nanban, an Asian soul food restaurant that serves a variety of fried chicken, ramen, empanadas, and more. This place caught my eye on Instagram because their noodles looked so good.

The space is smaller and the service is very casual. I think the food looks better than it tastes but I would still give it a solid 7/10 overall. Plus, the restaurant is located in Lawrenceville so there is plenty to do after your meal!

I’ve been spending a lot of time in Lawrenceville and the Strip District this month. While it’s a bit of a hassle to get to, the area has plenty of restaurants, shops, and things to do. My 2 top mentions of the month go to Soluna and La Gourmandine Bakery.

Soluna is a cafe/bar/coffee shop/bakery spot in the Strip District. The decor is so nice with plenty of leather seats and an exposed brick-styled interior. Their menu is quite extensive, ranging from coffees to bakery goods to brunch foods.

I know the picture doesn’t do it justice (sorry!) but this was the best panini I’ve had in Pittsburgh. I got the Ciao Bella which is like a Caprese panini. I’m not sure what kind of sauce they put in it but it was so flavorful. The iced latte was also quite good.

Definitely, a place you could go to grab a coffee and do some work or just a casual brunch spot.

There isn’t much for me to say about La Gourmandine Bakery except that it’s probably my favorite bakery in Pittsburgh. All their pastries and dessert selections are so good and reasonably priced compared to cafes.

My favorite pastry is the almond croissant but I know a lot of people like the choco almond croissant too. Honestly, all their croissants are amazing. I must have gone like 3 times in the past week or so 😅.

Make sure to go earlier in the day before all their popular items sell out (haven’t been able to get the almond croissant in a while 🥲).

I can’t end this blog post without photo-dumping this charming Spring weather. It’s nice being outside and soaking in the sunlight.

You know Spring is here when you see all sorts of flowers blooming on the streets (surprisingly Pittsburgh has a lot of tulips). I’ve continued to enjoy taking my routine walks, slowly exploring Pittsburgh step-by-step.

If you have some free time, consider going outside for a walk. Try to put your worries aside and just focus on living in the present. Life is so beautiful if we can just learn to appreciate the small things.

“There are many more ordinary hours in life than extraordinary ones. We wait in line at the supermarket. We spend hours commuting to work. We water our plants and feed our pets. Happiness means finding a moment of joy in those ordinary hours.”

– Haemin Sunim, The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down: How to Be Calm in a Busy World

Thanks for staying with me to the end. That’s April and see you next month!