random things i´ve noticed

i´ve been keeping a list of all the weird things i´ve noticed while over here. here are a few:

so we landed in paris what seems like forever ago, but really it has only been about 2 weeks. when we got there, i had all sorts of pre-conceived ideas of what paris and parisians would be like. garrett gave me the idea that we would be living on baguettes, cheese, and olives the whole time. while we did have an awful lot of those delectable food items, i have to say that the overwhelming food item in paris is the turkish meat cone. as we were wandering the streets of paris, i kept wondering, wtf is that meat cone thing? a quick google of "turkish meat cone" and there you have it.

also, my ideas that parisian women would be very thin and very beautiful was completely verified and then some. although? the women there didn´t seem to be thin by any healthy means as every single gaunt woman we passed on the street had the ever-present cigarette dangling from her fingers. speaking of thin beautiful parisian women, just about the STRANGEST thing i saw was these totally put-together turned-out women put on motorcycle helmets and throw their dainty right foot over the seat of a motorcycle and motor off to their destination. yes, motorcycles are riden in paris by everyone. not just a "type" of person - everyone. even women who look like they could be fashion models.

the women in barcelona are pretty different from the women in paris. they are WAY edgier. every girl younger than 25 seems to have their upper lip pierced, i think to give the appearance of having a marilyn monroe mole.

also, their hairstyles are out there. the fashion mullet is in barcelona with a VENGENCE.

spanish people really do have later hours. this is also no exaggeration. it was not at all uncommon for garrett and i to be having dinner at 11:30pm and the dining area would be filled with spaniards of all ages - yes even children - happily chattering away over their dinner and a glass (or four) of wine. the ramblas in barcelona was always so crowded that would have to dodge, weave, and manuever our way through even at 2am. men would stand around on the ramblas offering to sell a can of beer.

finally, this trip has made me realize how much all of my various anxieties are probably based on nothing real. i have anxiety about: flying, crowds, people bumping me, walking on sidewalk grates, using public restrooms. as we have been over here, i´ve had to fly over a giant ocean (i didn´t die), elbowed my way through crowds (without losing my cool), walked on sidewalk grates (without falling into a hole in the ground), used a very large number of public restrooms (without catching any discernible communicative disease).