“C’mon, I know a better after-party,” Juhyun says. Leave it to her to try to top this. Of course, whatever she’s got planned for us, there’s no way I’m going to miss it.

I have a full free day in Paris before heading back to Seoul, but I spend a good few hours of the morning sleeping off the halo of last night. Luckily, my room at the Four Seasons George V overlooks a small courtyard and is blissfully quiet. My head may be aching from that last round at that last party… but when I close my eyes, Nell Kramer’s gorgeous collection marches through my memory. I am still giddy from it, taking apart each combination in my mind.

Around nine (ish) I roll out of bed and take a long shower, then throw on a giant, cozy, cable-knit cream sweater and black leather pants before wandering over to the Marais for some of my favorite coffee and a falafel from Chez Marianne. After an hour of wandering the boutiques along the crooked little streets of the Marais, I hop the metro to Montmartre. The cobblestone streets winding up the hill are filled with bursting flowers and colorful cafés, and I can see the Sacré-Cœur basilica in the distance. I post some selfies with the basilica, feeling shamelessly touristy. Normally I’m much more cautious about when and where I post pics, but I feel so relaxed today, and blissfully anonymous. Girls Forever hasn’t fully broken into the European music scene yet, so I know I’m less likely to be recognized here.

It’s about the hour when Parisians start piling into the outdoor café-brasseries for a cigarette and espresso, and I wander into one of the many that sit on every street corner, and pull out my blue notebook. It’s a brisk March day, but with the sun shining and a hot mug in my hands, I feel perfectly at ease. There’s a busker across the way, and I’m wondering if his music is going to intrude on my ability to write songs, but I find that it’s not lyrics that come out of my pen, it’s a design sketch. And then another, and another, pours out of me as a waitress comes and goes, bringing me an espresso and then a little while later, a chocolate croissant.

Away from my normal life, I’m finding it’s completely freeing to focus on something else.

I’m so absorbed in trying to get the shape of the puffed sleeves just right on a collection of blouses that I don’t even realize how much time has passed. Just as I stop to stretch out my fingers, a shadow falls over me, blocking the afternoon sunlight.

I look up expecting to see the waitress back again. But it’s a guy, grinning down at my table and looking a little bit sheepish.