My Date with 4 Guys

Let's start with a story...

The first time we ever hung out, Jan 2009...we got a little lost on trying to
find the restaurant that the guys wanted to go to for dinner

Once upon a time, there was a girl who made a crazy decision to go live and study in Madrid, Spain for 5 months without really knowing Spanish or knowing anyone in Spain. After a week or two, she still didn't have any friends to hang out with, as most of the Americans studying abroad just went out and got drunk every night. She was feeling lonely and was praying to find some friends. (Now I'm not saying what happened next is a miracle or anything, but this was definitely an answer to my prayers, and it changed my life for the better)One day on the train back home, she saw a group of 4 guys and 2 girls that she'd seen before at school but never talked to. She gathered all her courage to introduce herself to the group of people. She spoke to the girls first and the girls introduced her to the 4 guys: Marijn, Jelmer, Jarno, & Lukas. The guys even invited her to go to dinner that night! Without giving it a second thought, she agreed to meet up with them that night, so she met the 4 strangers later in during the night in the Plaza del Sol, by the bear, (it wasn't till later that someone suggested that might have been a not so smart idea) and began a journey of friendship which took her on epic adventures to far off places.

More than 3 years later, we had a nice little reunion.

The past week started in England, which was great because my stash of English cookies was depleted. I was working there from Tuesday till Thursday on vendor selection. It was pretty interesting, and I just love working with the English. They are a lot more chatty than the Germans. lol. During the lunch break on Thursday, I stocked up on my English cookies and the firsts reaction after someone saw my big back of goodies..."Are you going on a diet?" haha. They're too funny.

Top of the Dom Tower

I flew back to Munich on Friday morning. I had no food in my fridge because I knew I was going to be in England this week and Frankfurt the next, so I didn't do any grocery shopping. That meant, I had to go find something. I went down the street for some bakery bread and a piece of fruit. Let's just say that Germans like to follow the rules a lot. But I'm a big rule-breaking American. So there was a group of us stopped at a corner and there were NO CARS, but everyone was stopped waiting for the walking man to turn green.  Now I'm not one to encourage rebel-rousing behavior, but I crossed the street. To be honest, I knew the Germans wouldn't like it, but I didn't realize how mad they would be. As I made it to the other side of the road, the light turned green, so I moved back so the bikers could cross, and this little old man gave me a mean glare and started yelling at me in German and he biked past me. I wasn't sure what he said, but everyone around me was staring at me, and the little boy across the street on a bike was looking at me and dying laughing. I went back home a little sad.

Kayaking in the canals of Utrecht

Anyways, I went back to the airport later Friday night to fly to Amersterdam where Jelmer and Marijn were waiting for me on the other side of the gate to take me to Utrecht. YAY! It was awesome cuz we went to get drinks as we waited for our train, and for our drinks, we got orange juice! because they know I don't drink :) Later, we were waiting at the Utrecht train station to change trains, and the Olympic Opening Ceremony was being broadcasted on a big screen for all to see. I was entranced. It was a little weird, and I didnt understand the dancing through the decades part that I saw...I was a little confused at what I was watching to be honest. When we got to the apartment, we turned the tv back on and the countries had just started to be introduced. Marijn was amused and my comments about Canada. As if it's even a country. (joke). I fell asleep around the M's. I remember being woken up for the USA, and saying "Go USA" but I dont remember seeing them or anything. Marijn said I said that and just passed out again. I was tired. lol.

It started raining while we were kayaking. I wish I could say
that I got wet from the rain, but I ended up splashing myself
with water as I a lot, and there was a moment where we
were splashing each other for a bit. 

I was able to steal Jarno's room for the weekend. When we got up, Marijn made us some breakfast. Lucky us. We chilled and waited for Lukas to show up...I was so excited that I was making myself all nervous. lol. Lukas arrived and we headed into Utrecht. We went to the Flower Market and got my mom some tulip bulbs for her garden (hopefully dad won't kill them with weed killer this time). There was an intense gothic festival by the Dom Tower, which was a little disturbing to be honest...but super funnny. We all couldn't help but stare. We went to the Dom Tower and walked up all those stairs. It was exhausting. But it was SOOOO FUN! Jarno lost his keys, as he was arriving from vacation from Italy, so Marijn had to go home to let him in. So we had to wait for him to get back befor KAYAKING! Can I just say, it's a little sad going kayaking with a bunch of guys when you have only a fraction of their upper body strength? It was funny. Lukas, Marijn, and I had our own Olympic race. I totally won. TEAM USA! It was epic. But it's only because they were disqualified for breaking the rules and pulling on each others kayaks. It was epic. It was a great night of fun. Jarno was able to join us for dinner (I think he should have gotten the waitress' number) and drinks after.

When we were back at the house, Marijn was calculating my chances of finding someone to marry and helping me understand how small my chances are :/ lol. Since I want to marry a Mormon, there are only about 14.5 million of us out of about 6 billion humans. Then you have to take a fraction of that to only get the single age-appropriate guys. Then you have to take and even smaller fraction of that for people i'll actually meet and interact with during my life. Good luck for me. "May the odds ever be in your favor", right?  Also, in Utrecht, it was pretty crazy with their terrace seating, you don't face each other, you face the plaza, which is great for people watching :)

Saturday started with a hearty breakfast after waiting for everyone to wake up. Supposedly Marijn was awake earlier but Lukas and I didn't see or hear him. I'm skeptical. lol. So we watched some more Olympics, which is always fun when there are 3 different nationalities. Jelmer left the night before because he had a football game to go to. Jarno stayed behind because he had work to do, so Marijn, Lukas, and I ventured into Amsterdam together. Now, I haven't been to Amesterdam since I was 16 and I was sick when we went, so I remember looking for a store with medicine, and that it was super touristy, crowded, and dirty. Lukily Marijn took us to the nicer parts of Amsterdam, like the parks and nice areas. He was kind enough to avoid the Red Light District for me too. lol. But we didn't go anywhere without first getting snacks! my love language =  food. :)

We saw awesome things. We ate yummy sweets. At one point, Lukas was saying, "I've never seen that part of the city." and "I really like that part of the city." I was looking around trying to figure out which part of the city he was talking about and then we figured out, he was mixing up the words "this" and "that". It was awesome, especially since Lukas' English is better than mine most of the time. When it was lunch time, we got some bagel sandwiches, and while we were waiting, Lukas and I were sharing a coloring book to color a bee. (just an example of how cool Lukas is) it was awesome. Also, I'm ashamed to admit it, but I forgot how Lukas likes to sing-along with the music in your head too! We used to burst out and sing songs all the time in Spain! Also, when we were walking around, Marijn remembers how much I hate PDA, so he would say "don't look" but of course, i would look so see what I wasn't supposed to look at. lol. it was kinda hysterical.  We sat in the park and ate and were so ridiculously silly. Plus, Lukas played our Spain song in the park! Shake It by Metro Station, which we would always listen to in Retiro and when we were travelling.  I can't even explain how much fun I had this weekend and how relaxing it was to see them.

I feel ridiculously lucky to have these friends in my life. We haven't seen each other for over 3 years, but being together was flawless and effortless. Seriously, I'm so grateful for them and their friendship. It doesn't matter how often we talk, but they're awesome and great friends. Plus, they help me live a little, like making me eat crazy Dutch food, aka french fries and mayo. I ate it, for realz. It was also relaxing to be around people who have known me longer than 2 months too. Because they already know my crazy habits. It was a little sad having to say goodbye, but we're already planning our next world adventure. I suggested Greece, because I super want to go.