Barcelona Day 2

Well jet lag officially caught up with me and I literally saw the clock change every hour last night. Needless to say, when I received my wake-up call this morning I couldn’t have been more shocked if I woke up in Morocco. I literally had no idea where I was or why this lady was talking to me in Spanish, for a good 30 seconds. After I realized where I was I decided to go down stairs for the complimentary breakfast, which I noticed was quite a spread for free. (Later I realized that ish was in fact not free and cost 15 Euros which is about 22 dollars) Guess the word "free" doesn't translate well...

So I go back to room and get dressed. Now what I read on websites was that the Spanish, particularly Barcelonans wear a rather formal dress attire to work, so I decided to go with a suit. I don’t know what whack job blogs I was reading because I didn’t encounter anyone who had a suit on today. Maybe that happens in the financial world here, but I’d say as a general rule of thumb that people dressed business casual. Definitely wearing pants and a sweater combo tomorrow!

So I get to the customer's office and I think my guide thought I spoke more Spanish than I actually did today because during out customer visits we spoke only in Spanish. I tried to gather what I could, but dude…I told you I wasn’t fluent. The worst is when you can tell, simply because of the inflection in someone’s voice, that they asked you a question that they expect an answer to and you have no idea what they said. That happened to me at least 20 times today. I was like dammit…I need a translator for my translator! So I managed to get through the visits and ended up picking up a lot of information after I focused a little bit more.

At the end of our visits we had a late lunch by the water, which was really nice. I thought he was going to take me to a traditional Catalan/Barcelonan restaurant but we had Thai haha. It was good but I definitely don’t know what the meat was that I ate. I didn’t want to be rude though so I ate it, but I definitely would not have eaten that if he were not present. I almost hurled as the fatty meat slid down my throat, but I am a professional dammit so I pulled it together!

So I wanted to go out tonight to walk around again but my manager informed me that he was at dinner now and that he would call me in an hour. So unfortunately I have to stay here and wait on his call. Doesn’t he know that there is a TopShop across the street calling my name!?

First Leg of European Adventure...Spain!

So the trip started off fabulous. I called for a cab and they sent a black town car. Secretly inside I was more excited than I probably should have been. I know that sounds a bit snobby but I felt ultra important when I rolled my stuff out to the car this morning in front of my neighbor. So I get on my first connection and I look at the guy loading the bags and instantly think that’s I’d rather someone else do his job for various reasons. I shook it off though because I agreed that I will be” go with the flow Elle” for the entire trip.

The second connection, from Detroit to Amsterdam, was pretty good as well. The flight was connected to Mumbai though so you know people bought their dinners on the flight and everything smelled like it had a bottle full of curry in it. I want to know how they even got that ish through check-in when I have a bottle of liquid hair spray that is 3.6oz that wasn’t accepted?

I get off the plane and am in Spain! I’ve never been anywhere in Europe before, so this trip is very momentous to me. The airport is rather easy to navigate though and I found baggage claim pretty effortlessly. 5 minutes rolls by , 10 minutes, 30 minutes…still no luggage. I forget all about the new “go with the flow Elle” and immediately begin to panic and think about the 7 pairs of shoes that might be lost in oblivion! This is exactly why I didn’t pack certain items that would cause my world to come crashing down if they were lost. ..i.e. my tall brown boots that make me feel like a “Who-gonna-check-me-boo” kinda girl. (That last comment was lost on any of you who don’t watch real housewives of Atlanta)

I manage to find the lost and found and don’t even try to speak Spanish…I just told the receptionist that she will have to understand English today because I was entirely too frustrated and angry to try to formulate Spanish sentences. Lucky for her and me that she didn’t counter my blatant disregard for the fact that I was in a Spanish speaking country with flippancy. She just smiled and tapped her keyboard until she responded with “Oh…I found your bag!” A sense of relief overcame me and I asked her where I could go pick it up. The relief didn’t last long …she told me my crap was still in Amsterdam and that it would be here tonight at 11pm. FML. Did the airline not know that I had a Flamengo dance/dinner planned for tonight that I now can’t go to because I only have the clothes on my back?

Well, I decided that I was not going to let it ruin my day, so I find my hotel and sign up to go on this tour bus. Barcelona really is gorgeous and the buildings are architecturally exquisite. The only down side was that everyone was coupled off and I felt like they were looking at me like I was a societal reject without friends or boyfriend. Okay, so they were right about the latter, but friends…no, friends I got. I only wish Terry and Vanilla Bean (Margarita’s new nickname) could have been here too. A margarita just won’t be the same without them

I'm going to Europe!

Okay, so I know I've been MIA for a lonnnnng time. I'm going to Europe though and I do plan to blog about it on a daily basis if possible. I'm sure it will be a comical disaster (thanks Margarita) so I'm sure it will at least give you a laugh for the day :) Stay tuned!

The Gym = Hell

This morning I woke up with an urge to go running. Anyone who knows me, knows that this is extremely atypical. I'm slightly embarrassed to say that I haven't stepped in the gym since early November...yikes! I know what you're thinking, you must be a fat beast by this point. Instead of going to the gym though, I decided to just go on this healthy eating kick that inadvertently caused me to lose more weight than I ever could have at the gym.

However, considering summer is approaching, I did notice that I was not as tone as I would like. I wouldn't put a bikini on for a million dollars right now. Hmm..ok so who am I kidding. I'm a broke b-school student...I'd probably put one on for $25 right now.

Anyway, so I decided to finally return to the gym and as soon as I got there, I regretted it. This influx of laughing skinny girls walked by me as soon as I passed the entrance and I immediately felt sub par. Why are they even here and why are they happy?! If I looked like them, I guarantee I would have been sitting on my couch shoveling in the ice cream. God knew not to make me skinny because I'm sure I'd have high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes by the age of 30 if I knew I could eat whatever I wanted without gaining a pound.

So I find a treadmill, put in my ipod and start to run. I'm noticing that I'm feeling surprisingly well! Hmm...4.50 mins in, I'm realizing that my chest is burning. I decide to push through it and at 7mins I have no choice but to stop. I'm breathing like a 200lb woman and there is only one word to describe my performance: pathetic. I think I'll go back tomorrow and try again though...operative word is think.

You want to come over when?...

Yesterday my friend and I were trying to make plans for the evening and it made me question things. I hadn’t seen him in a while, but I didn’t have anything in particular that I wanted to do. As such, I told him to give me a call if he thought of anything fun. He texts me to let me know he is going to a bar in Boston and if I wanna come, just let him know. At this point it was 10pm and that’s actually pretty late to decide to go somewhere when everything shuts down at 2am. (Oh how I miss New York at times like this). 10 minutes pass and he texts me back saying after he leaves the bar he plans to come through, if that’s cool. Hmm…come through…what does that mean?! Come through for what??...2 words: umm no.

As a little back story, this friend has never been to my place, which isn’t rare since it’s all of 400 square feet. If I invite people over, I immediately begin to feel claustrophobic. He has tried to invite himself up on another occasion, but I promptly told him I don’t do ‘pop-ins’ because my apartment wasn’t up to my cleanliness standards for a guest. I really didn’t think anything of it, considering we just left a bar and went dutch for the drinks. (I take this as a sign that the encounter was platonic, which I wanted)

Anyways, nervously I told him that I plan to just go grab a drink with a friend at a bar down the street instead. What was he thinking…I am a lady…a jewel that should be viewed in the highest regard! Okay well maybe that’s a bit much, but I do think there are actions that are either acceptable or unacceptable in dealing with platonic relationships. I am certainly not letting a guy friend come over, who I barely hang out with, that late! A few issues…

1. If we’re just friends, which I thought we were…you are not coming over my apartment at 11 or 12am. I have nothing to say or do with a guy friend in that time block that would fall under the platonic umbrella. Now, I have made exceptions for extremely close guy friends who: have been kicked out of their apartments by significant others or need a place to crash if they’re out of town.

2. If you want to be more than friends, which I subconsciously suspected on more than one occasion from the guy aforementioned, coming over to my apartment is not acceptable you cheap bastard. I require to be taken on dates before that can happen…and 12 am is really unacceptable! A girl needs to be wined and dined and let me say that this girl likes Cabernet Sauvignon and crab cakes.

Recession Tip

I was watching the Today show and Kathy Lee and Hoda suggested using Vanilla extract as a perfume LOL.  They said men typically love the smell of vanilla during studies.  I  actually want to see if this works so I'm going to try it.  I guess the way to a man's heart really might be through his stomach.  I wonder if anyone else has tried this... 

I'll keep you posted with the results though!

Wedding Proposal on the Horizon...

So I had this conversation with a guy friend and thought because of its comical nature I would share hehe...

Me: So, what are you doing?
Dante: Sewing
Me: What?! You sew? Maybe I will propose to you.
Dante: So what's this about you proposing?
Me: Well you can sew, cook and do laundry. I'm assuming you can do yard stuff and kill bugs too.
Dante: Yup
Me: And you're 'kinda' cute. What else do you need in a man?
Dante: Sexual Prowess?
Me: I think you'd be okay in that too. Got anything else?
Dante: Honor. Loyalty.
Me: Ehh, not as important as that other stuff. Anything else that's tangible? Like Napoleon Dyanmite, "skills"?
Dante: lol...I see
Me: Oh u also know martial arts and can use a gun, so u can protect me. Done! When is a good day for the proposal? haha