i wade myself into the not so crowded market casting my eyes at the newarrival dresses and jackets through the window huddled in my heavy jackets warmers gloves caps alone i neither find the determination nor interest to go through the ordeal alone yes shopping the word that never fails to uplift a girl in her worst of moods now seems tiring and difficult someone who feels that shopping abroad is classy straight out of fashion tv designs and better than india is surely living in a fools paradise most of my friends who happen to get all green eyed at my frilly dresses flamboyant jackets and classy jeans dont know that they are result of excessive shop hunting running amok in the rain snow and freezing in minus degrees from one shop to another to top it all it included fighting the urge to buy the otherwise expensive jackets or dresses while waiting ardently for the season sale to set in in short shopping abroad is not as fun as it appears to be while i can hardly complain much it varies hugely compared to when you shopped back home while you start to think that this can be a trivial topic think again for my last year abroad has not exactly been a joy ride as far as shopping is concerned sounds familiar read on 1 lack of company for the damsel in distress nothing is compared to a helpful friend tagging along with you to shop together especially during those times when you have to shop for an office party date or an anniversary gift your girlfriends are always at your rescue one reason shopping is no more fun is the absence of some real good friends who were always at my beck and call when the damsel in distress needed help 2 difficult to get the right sizes unlike india where my height and body type is considered to be fairly okay and fit here i feel like anorexic majority of the clothes shoes and accessories of various brands here are huge loose and illfitted when i wear them even if at times they are of the small or extra small size the dresses and long jackets that somehow are in vogue are meant for tall statured girls i get to wear the smallest possible sizes in shoes too and to my embarrassment i need to take a peek at the kids section sometimes 3 weather blues the weather appears to be quite a spoilsport whenever you plan shopping especially the winters here are fierce rainy and windy and snowladen clearly the beautiful and large malls attract you to come and visit them but the mere thought of being clad with heavy jackets scarves mufflers boots and storming into the malls make you feel you are trapped under the weight the feeling of heavy shopping bags wading through the cold is so uninviting the dark clouds nosun for days and the massive snow do not help