The Echoes

[TheEcho]

Hey all!

Journal time... going to start with all the "bigger" contacts I had in Europe last summer. Nothing went through, but might as well recount for everyone's enjoyment lol. Could name this series: Hostels: Messy AF

Rome:
Chick #1: My first stop in a city outside the US, ride the bus to the main train station and walked 20 minutes to my hostel. Once in the room, I notice it feels kind of crap and I try messing with the AC... queue chick 1... this smoking hot IG Argentinian with fake and fit everything peaks over the third bunk and asks if I can fix the AC. I say it doesn't seem to work, I'll go ask a worker. Her English is bad, but she comes down the ladder/stairs presenting me a full frontal view of her in sexy lingerie... literally my first "sight" in Europe lol. Over the 4 days I was there, I was constantly pinging her whenever I found myself in the room, though I was pretty focused on seeing the sites and meeting as many people as possible.

On day 2, I come back to the room and she's in the bathroom with the door open, I chat her up and she's complaining about "not being fit enough". She walks out (in lingerie) and I touch her abs and laugh about it all. There was constant sexuality brewing under the surface, but being newly single, I wasn't clicking on how to engage it when she hardly spoke English. Hostel life also made it messy with people coming and going, and she'd be running her business remotely at night. On Day 3, I come back from spending the whole day at the Vatican and this Mexican dude (super chill, he was great) is talking with her about going out, the three of us. I'm like screw it, just walked 9 hours, might as well keep going lol.

I kept telling him he could be my guest with her, but he's a lawyer and couldn't stand her immaturity. We stopped at a place for drinks, chatted, he called her out for always being on her phone lol. Then we go to a full restaurant and she sits by me and he's across from me. Had a nice time and it ended with her getting up and noticing crumbs in her chair. "Oh no! Did it get on me?" and my response? "No, but..." *swats her butt*. The guy starts rolling at this. Now, unfortunately it's August...in Italy... felt like shit lol. As we're walking back in the dark, we go to a river market. As the guy is browsing some clothing, I'm somewhat secluded with the chick, standing close. I ask her what her favorite place to visit is and she says "I like Roma", why? "It feels passionate..." and I lean in, "like this?" go for the kiss and she dodges saying, "noooo it's too hot and sweaty" (it was... felt pretty gross). Back at the hostel, she was working the rest of the night.

That pretty much was a wrap for her, I got sick the next day from trying the Mexican dude's drink and stayed sick for TWO WEEKS(!!!!!).


Chick #2: Third night in Rome, I come back from my adventures above and go to the ground level courtyard at the hostel. A bunch of small groups were there, with people I knew spread throughout. I somehow got everyone (10-15) to circle up into a big circle and led the convo asking where everyone's from and then wandering from there. At some point, my Aussie (male) roommates show up (saw one of them butt naked the first night, hit me with the reality I'm not in the US anymore lol), some of the people take off, a new circle forms with them. They have an English buddy who comes in with... queue chick 2... this gorgeous Chinese girl. The guy works in my field, and said he'd try getting me a referral (which never happened lol) and just felt like standard bro code to not pursue her. I'm deep diving her mostly, and jumping to others occasionally (convos have fragmented at this point). The Brit and girl leave at some point (presumably to do it) and my roommates ask me to go club (Voodoo Bar) with them.

I initially turn down the offer, but they pushed and I decided why not. I end up walking to the club alone and no one is answering their phone, so I just adjust to being solo, until I run into the girl. Queue some crazy ass shit... At some point, I see the Chinese girl kissing one of my roommates lol. I also was getting rung into a hooker circle that tried to sell me a girl, which really annoyed me, because I enjoyed the convo originally, only for it all to be a sham. The Chinese girl was there at first with her roommate, who was the contact point between the circle and us and I had mentioned to one of the dudes I had just broken up, and the Chinese girl heard this. I go find my roommates, who are on the edge of black out drunkenness, the English dude is throwing up, and their trying to get me to drink more lol (good ol Aussies and Brits).

I drink some more, but it's very hard to get me to lose my grip and I hit the brakes before I lose it. I tend to be the caretaker of a group, even when drinking a lot. The guys leave and I just stick with the Chinese girl at this point as she dodges drunken attempts at her (and I'm still together and comfortable). The club starts to close and she and I walk out, not knowing what became of the others lol. Once in a quiet space, she asks me to put my arm out and starts leaning on it HEAVILY. Turns out, her ankle is broken......... I walk her back slowly, making sure she's okay, really pushing her to get a brace in the morning. Near the hostel entrance, she stops and starts talking with me about her other travel plans and why she wants to go to Florence (a poem she likes). Eventually we continue back.

It's like 1-2am and the downstairs is empty, and we just sit at a table and talk for 2-3 hours. I was wrangling with hookup vs not and she was arguing for it (lol damn, realizing now I'm a fucking idiot ), though she ended up tearing up about her ex. I tend to get to the heart of people, as much as I can, so was almost glad to get to that place with her. 4 am, we head up, she still needs a lot of help. In front of her door, I get her IG and left it at that. She pressed me a lot to not be mentioning I just had a breakup. She also mentioned not liking the Brit, he's too simple, etc. Rethinking the situation, she was screaming for me to do her, but didn't feel right with her being drunk, me not, her physically relying on me, having walked 10+ hours in Italian summer and hours of clubbing, etc.

In the morning, saw her before I headed off to the Vatican with a guy that I had become a great friends with. Was still kind of pushing her to get an ankle brace, but she seemed to have cooled off a lot, or maybe it's just her sober side lol. The British guy came in briefly, but she wasn't really clicking with him anymore. She left Rome, and that was that.

PS. One of my Aussie roommates called me a few days later and congratulated me for banging her lol. He said a couple Aussie girls told him that. Strangely, I didn't meet any Aussie girls in Rome and there was no one around at night. Only thing I can think of is she told them she slept with me.

Zurich:
Depressing, I'm sick af, hostel is a family hostel, like no available girls, and again, sick af. NEXT!

 

[TheEcho]

Munich:
Still sick but.... Girl #3. This girl made me reevaluate my expectations for a partner. At first, no real candidates, had a couple Dutch girl roommates my age that were great to hang out with (and they had me visit them 2 weeks later in the Netherlands), but I was still so sick, and breakups were a hot topic. Pretty sure one of them was pretty into me, but SICK (cough that got horrible at night, eyes were sometimes fucked up). 2 days in, they leave and are replaced by... queue chick 3... a Dutch girl and guy from the same town lol, but much younger. Had been getting into an extremely deep convo with a British kid when they came in at night. They were all hungry, so I took them to a biergarten I had gone to with a DIFFERENT Dutch guy 2 days before lol.

The Brit and Dutch guys paired up and talked, so I got to focus on the girl. She's like 20, but was really lively, into sports, philosophy (she was carrying a book on Euclid), and we got into what she's studying, and then she (and everyone) wanted to ask me about America (guess because I'm clearly not the stereotypical American lol, which is a painfully real thing...). At the biergarten, it's these ~20yo and 27yo me, so I naturally held the lead of things. We talked a lot and ended up going deep on meditating. Talk, talk, talk, LONG time. Walking there, there, walking back, at the hostel. Unfortunately, we're always around the other two guys, so I didn't want to do anything (hostel messiness is killer)

The next morning, the Netherlanders and I have a similar gameplan, so we go out together (The Residence and the English Garden). I had picked an ideal cafe in regards to our destination, but the guy was fixated on one particular one. After going WAY out of the way, we get there and it's a vegan cafe. Plot twist, she's vegan so I spit in her face and leave... Just kidding lol. The vegan pastries were AWESOME and the server was gay and clearly liked me so service was great lol. We talk a lot about gender roles and our takes on things looking at our parents and society. They leaned more toward neutral in the roles, and I stick to my guns on polarization being important. We finish and head off to The English Garden. There, the guy decides he doesn't care about the Garden and goes to the Residence. (!!!!)

Now the girl and I are alone walking through the beautiful Englishker Garten. We have a great time meandering through it and talking about all sorts of stuff. I take her over to a rather secluded little nature spot, but unfortunately didn't play it right to create a good moment to kiss. We sat there quietly for a few moments. Eventually we sat down on a bench overlooking a HUGE open lawn and talked for a very long time. I'd tease her and when she said she isn't on ticktock, I responded, " oh good, so I can like you now", she laughed a lot at that. At some point my horniness blew through the roof, but didn't go for it..... As things started to slow down, I finally went for a kiss, but she dodged hard and totally shut down. This is a first for me, couldn't recover her at all (makes me wonder if she's a virgin).

We leave the garden and meet up with the guy (who is just a buddy, strong virgin vibes on him). She's like totally checked out on me the rest of the time there, though she gave me her Instagram and has been getting pretty warm over that (too bad she's a continent away...). Meeting a cute girl that was really into art, philosophy, and athletics felt unreal coming from the US. Definitely want a girl that's in tune with those things (which I assumed only dudes were, because American chicks never seem to be)

Next! Kobenhavn...

 

[TheEcho]

Copenhagen:
Chick #4... Had a couple girl workers I tried picking up, but unfortunately I asked one out and she wasn't as interested, and the other girl was VERY interested, but got locked behind the bar with her manager looming... Lot's of hanging out with cool guys, and a situation where I was at the hostel rooftop bar with a roommate and as we were leaving, I signaled a girl over to take our spot. She grabbed me and asked if I wanted to stay and if I wanted a taste of her drink. I took a sip, continued on with my roommate who sent me back (we both had each other's back lol). That situation was messy, her brother was there (and gay) and I ended up talking to him more and she seemed stuck in the group. Later one guy offered me coke to pick me up to go clubbing, dipped at this point lol (didn't seem nefarious, but still).

Next evening, I go to a lounge in the hostel and start chatting with a Russian...err, Finnish guy (we had fun with that stereotype lol). Eventually some hot Latinas came by and I asked them to join us. The hottest one didn't seem to speak much English, so hard to make anything happen. But then... queue chick 4... started sticking to me a lot. Throughout the evening we talked a bunch and the Finnish guy and I moved everyone downstairs to the karaoke area. I went off with chick 4 to chat with the tattoo parlor in the hostel, and then she buys me a drink. Things seem to be going well, but once back with the others, there's drama and she goes off to deal with them and never returns. Had not contact for her.... RIP


Amsterdam:
Chick #5... this is the one where I had a bit of a breakdown (privately) by so many rejections/broken connections after my breakup 2 months before. First day in Amsterdam, wake up and go have breakfast at the hostel. Queue chick 5... Hot Kiwi overseeing the breakfast area that I flirt with a bit before finding out she's also in commercial real estate. Over the next hour, she keeps coming back to my table to talk and there was a really nice vibe going on. I ask her if she'd like to hang out later and her line is... "come find me"... well damn that's hot and all, but I'm here to enjoy the city, not sit around the hostel lol. Got her IG and number for whatever reason and she walked me out. I text her something flirty like "hope they don't work you too hard " "Let me know when you're off", and I proceed to feel great on my 3 hour bike tour of Amsterdam.

No responses come in and my mood starts sinking. I enjoy most of the day, but had to go do laundry at a laundromat in a bleh part of town. Felt pretty depressed while waiting for it to finish. Didn't see her again until the next evening at the bar where she played it all off. "I was so tired after work". I enjoyed talking to the dude at the bar and he suggested a Long Island Iced Tea haha. I took it out back to a patio overseeing a gorgeous park and sipped it during the sunset. My mood recovered considerably and I chatted with her here and there as she served others.

She avoided any meeting up, though. On closer analysis she's one of those fake hot girls where if you look for a couple seconds, it falls apart lol, but anyways, NEXT.


Chick #6... super interesting one... Whenever I find out a girl is quite religious, I just kill my sexual pursuits for whatever reason (need to stop that). day 3, I go visit the Dutch girls from Munich and their friend cooks us mussels and provides Dutch wine while eating by a 1000 year old canal, it was fantastic. I tried a little with the one girl I thought liked me before (no longer sick), but didn't angle things well enough beyond a bit of flirting and leg touches when the others went to grab stuff (she was sitting by me). Heading back that night, I go past the hostel bar and see this really cute girl, so I drop my stuff off in my room and come back down.

Queue girl 6... Tunisian cutie that I talked to for like 5-6 hours. Initially she had a couple friends there (fat girl, eh guy) but they didn't speak English well and left on their own. She was very big on Islam and finding a guy who also was Muslim (she's not wearing any of the garb) and we spent hours talking about religion and philosophy. Probably could have made something happen had I tried, but again, I lock up with religious girls. We go to bed and I wake up and need to check out. During my 20 second elevator ride, from floor 3 to floor 1, guess who gets on at floor 2? Fucking crazy odds that is. She's wearing a lot of her favorite purple and I say she looks cute and mention the color. Too bad I had to get onto Paris... Kept in decent contact with her but she seems a little much.


Onto Paris...

 

[TheEcho]

Personally... Hated Paris lol, my hostel was a modern building but an oven on the inside and everyone was constantly soaking in sweat...

Chick #7... Had no targets for a couple days. Did a walking tour to see most main sites and there was a chill American girl that I hung out with more, but friendzoned her lol, very not my type. There was one cute girl in the hostel that came back to my room to drink with me with very little prodding, but I had a fat, American girl roommate there the whole time... She eventually got up and stormed out. Both of us found it odd, but rip that one.

I kind of tried seducing the roommate girl, but she was in a relationship and not quite my type, so I just used her as a testing dummy for posing sexily and getting my voice down lol. Her nips got hard a few times during our talking (it was NOT cold lol). Thinking about it, probably missed an easy lay, but again, not a fan of her body. We talked about sex a bunch, though. Then one night there was a college hosting a party at the hostel restaurant, so I tried my best to get a pump on, get my voice down, and bring someone back. I walk in, feel smooth, 2 mins later SOAKED IN SWEAT. ABSOLUTELY DRENCHED and just chuckling at my sad fate lol.

Queue Chick #7... I go back to the room and there's been a swapping of roommates (as you get in hostels) and this one very petite girl from Eastern Europe. I loved her face and found her body super doable, but she was there with dudes who she "knew". Turns out there's a film festival for all these people from across Europe who are competing with each other. Most of them had never met, but interacted over Zoom and there for the same thing. In the morning, the guys are gone and she's there, so I manage to end up at breakfast with her and another girl there for the festival. It was amazing listening to two artsy girls discuss their art, and I bring in deep psychological ideas that clicked well for the girl I liked.

Sadly, the other one derailed my thought process, so didn't pull her back to the room. Honestly, the other girl was kind of a bitch to me the whole time, though had moments of niceness and I'd try to motion to her to cover up an exposed areola. She eventually said "it's on purpose" lol. On second thought, probably could've fucked her... Moving on, we start walking toward some spots the girls wanted to see (I've done my thing already) and they get sucked into a giant bookstore. I played it cool, but occasionally found obscene books and chatted with Chick #7 about them. Eventually she mentioned seeing sex as another way to get closer to someone, to learn more aspects about them. ANNNNND I flubbed it and did nothing lol.

They were in there FOREVER, and eventually chick #7 tells the other she's leaving and they split, I'm just chilling outside and go with her (bit too much like a lost dog...). Eventually she mentions wanting to go off solo to explore Paris, since she only had 1 day. Skip to the night, turns out most of the festival peeps talked till like 4 am and had to leave early. Rip that one...

Chick #8... I forget which night, but one night I was hanging out in the community room in the hostel because that was the only place with AC. Hit it off with some people there and eventually Girl #8 came in. Pretty cute Spaniard that didn't speak a ton of English. We were seated closer to each other, with a pillar between us that meant we leaned forward towards each other. Had a good amount of flirting, but was too far to touch and too rusty to inspire too much through words with a girl that isn't fluent. I eventually ask her to go back to my room to chat more "because it's getting noisy" but she turned it down. That was a wrap, not totally sure if she deserves a full # lol, still friends on IG, though. Also went to the airport with her to fly to Lisbon (her back to Spain). Think she grew some attraction during this, but had to split up.

Chick #9... almost same exact thing as #8, just she's German and I took her for innocent... silly me lol. I did also flirt with her a bit and try to get her back to my room with some reasoning, also denied.

Onto LISBONNNNNN...

 

[TheEcho]

LISBOAAAA

Loved this place, I literally cried at how much friendlier it was than Paris and how chill (and not disgustingly hot) the hostel was. Also keep in mind, I had 3 cups of sangria every night before any adventures lol. (Good Morning Solo Traveller Hostel, HIGHLY recommend)

Chick #10... Probably the one most likely for things to have happened with if it weren't for the insanity of hostels... Queue chick #10... I eat dinner at the hostel and go back to the room where there's most of the roommates chatting, including this feisty little Austrian salsa dance instructor. Don't put too much focus on her, just chatting with everyone and enjoying things. She complains about not liking to hang out with girls because the drama and I tease "maybe you're the problem". Got a little, sexy knowing glare for that. Skip ahead, everyone goes to sleep and in the morning, this British dude under her bunk is in the room while most the others are off. He says he thinks he heard her doing stuff last night (I heard nothing, but who knows)

Skip forward a day or two and there's another American in my room who is really chill. He ends up hanging out with her quite a bit and eventually tells me the Brit had climbed into her bed that second night and tried doing stuff, so she's now a bit scarred and avoiding the room/hostel..... So the American is around her as kind of protection (he was a bit interested, but not heavily). On the second night, a guy practicing to be a tour guide gets most of the people at the hostel together to go to karaoke. It was a nice time, though I had my signature water bottle with me, which felt lame af in a bar lol. After I sing, one of the girls wants to head back and I take her. On the way back to the hostel, we cross the American and Chick #10. I'm super touchy with her for whatever reason and she accepts all of it (literally started things by grabbing her other hip and pulling her to my side and she matched it).

The two others go further ahead and it's just her and me. She keeps bumping into me and there's a lot of good vibe going on. She stops by an insane piece of graffiti art and is struggling to move a scooter out of the way for a picture. I take my own picture while she does that and said I got a nice one. She comes near and says "of my butt"? And I get very close and say "not yet". Things keep going well, but we eventually match with the others again and the focus is on her acceptance into college. Sadly, by the time we're back, things have fizzled and people have shuffled (hostels are so fucking messy...). Skip forward to my final night (will 100% recount that later) and I'm 6 glasses of sangria and 2 shots of tequila down, but still going "strong". I am fully aware of my impairment (which annoys me and is why I rarely drink), and coming back from an insane evening, find her alone at the lunch table on her laptop. I end up sort of confessing I had a crush on her the whole time and she says, well you shouldn't have teased me the first night! About "saying I'm the problem". I knew it was a joke, and had I had my senses about me, probably could have gone somewhere with it, but I was too drunk... (and again, totally aware of it, it's really a sucky state)

Kept in contact with her through IG and had some rather spicy conversation, but being continents away and getting a better look at her, not exactly someone to go out of my way for. She was fun to be around, though.

Now for ALL the other chicks during those 4 days lol:

 

[TheEcho]

Chick #11, my first full day, I have a tour to Sintra and Cascais this is a long one.... Go to the starting spot and queue chick #11... Taller American basketball player whose playing in the UK on a scholarship. In the van, we end up in the front bench shoulder to shoulder, with me in the middle of her and the driver (honestly was chill, the guy was nice to talk to as well). Throughout the 7-9 hours we were together, got to know her, would tease occasionally, get some touch in. There was one point she started quietly snoring in the van and I held her knee, squeezed, and gave her a knowing look and she reciprocated the look. Didn't want to leave my hand there, given the tour guide was right there...

We'd take pictures of each other and there'd occasionally be a spark, but 7-9 hours is fucking brutal to be with a girl who you can't make a move on... At lunch, I finally threw in the towel and brought up my breakup and suddenly things got way warmer. I went to refill my plate (the guide took us to a great buffet at the base of Sintra), came back and that had blown away... (universal experience on this trip...). We hang out at the Cascais beach and get gelato and just sit by the beach. It was SUPER crowded. Eventually we get dropped back off and I ask her if she'd like to hang out later. She says "if I have energy, yeah, I need to take a nap, though", got her IG and that was a wrap...


Chick #12, also a roommate, very cute but much less happened with her BECAUSE she got sick on her second day... rip... American girl, honestly if my memory serves, she was the cutest of ALL the girls in this journal. Chatted with her at breakfast and wasn't making crazy headway until we got into her artsy side, then things started building fast and THEN this chick by me jumps in at the mention of Prague........ diversion about this chick, she was a bit bitchy early on and I now I think she was horny for me, she spent the next several days cockblocking me, but growing warmer towards at the same time. If I hadn't gotten jaded, probably could have done her. Back to #12... state was dead after the interruption, her mood was shot flatlined and the next time I saw her, she was sick. RIP.

Chick #13, American girl, flirty but kind of avoidant. Queue chick #13... at that breakfast above, started talking to her a bit, but focused on #12 and everyone but horny girl and 12 cleared out early. From breakfast, talked to a Dutch girl I got to know previously about her plans and she had a small group going to Belem. I asked to join and off we go with 2 Nederlanders and the #13. Had a nice time talking to all of them, but both Dutch girls were in relationships and ehhh lookswise, though nice to talk to. Flirted here and there with 13.

Belem was cool and all, though a bit lame after seeing Neuschwanstein (never learned it's history, maybe that's the main issue). After, we walked down the coast to the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (ty google). It's HUGE and there was a guy serving pina coladas inside pineapples, so us Americans each got one. They were quite strong (noticed that Europeans use less creams and fillers, more straight alcohol). Leaving the site, we see Santa Maria de Belem Church and head over. She starts joking about dick size and I play along in a cocky way that got some nice sexy looks back at me. Unfortunately... way out away from the hostel, with others, nothing came of it. The church was fucking amazing, it's up there with St. Peter's Basilica for me AND is centuries older.

Plenty more stuff throughout the day, but not much spark. We get near the hostel and are going to split, as I want to just sit by the seaboard as my trip comes to a close. I ask her if she'd like to hangout later and she waffles. Later, after my amazing last day adventures, the conscious-enough among us hang out in the hostel main room, she's there was some other guy and may or may not be involved, it was questionable, but w/e was kind of over her after the adventure.

 

[TheEcho]

Chick #14... shorter but holy shit... Mexican girl who has a lot of potential marred by acne. Super cutesy and demure. Queue chick #14... go down I think during the 2nd morning and she's there, but doesn't sit with everyone else. Turns out she's doing a work-stay thing with the hostel and is getting settled to start that. Later that night, I catch her in the kitchen area and chat a bit. We end up in a hallway, which unfortunately was in view of the worker space. We're each leaning against opposite walls and for the first time in my life... I felt a CRUSHING pull towards her across my entire torso. Felt like a black hole pulling me in. I tried asking to go back to her room to talk more, but she kept declining and seemed shy (probably why I felt the attraction in the first place...). She eventually leaves for the night and I go find my buddy I was going to hang out with and I feel SHOT. He's talking to some people on a staircase and I just sit on it and lean against a railing and feeling the aftershock of this sensation for several minutes.

I see her here and there, but the spark had gone away. I'm quite sure she wanted something to happen, but I went about making it happen poorly (should've walked with her toward her room and try to divert to mine, or just be by her door and try to proceed).

Chick #15 THE FINAL ONE (deserving her own number lol). Queue chick #15, she's one of the two talking with my friend as I'm sitting there in my PTSD. I chat a bit and think I came off pretty sexy from my primal senses having been in overdrive just prior. I go to fado with my friend, have a fucking amazing time (y'all need to go to Lisbon and go listen to fado! Tasca do Chico is where I went twice, *foreshadowing*). Coming back, I take a shower and am heading to bed and this chick (Israeli, darker skin, ample features) is in between going to the womens shower and the guy is also there. NOW I had no idea what their relationship was, which threw me off her. I'm near my door and out of earshot of the dude and we get in real close and somehow heavily allude to doing stuff, and she seems open, but I just don't pull the trigger. I should've banged her in the womens shower while the guy was doing his own thing lol. Rip...


There were a couple other decently prominent girls in Lisbon (I was there for 3 days lol, it's insanity, I can only imagine me at "full power"). One on another tour who bought a dog to match my family's dog due to my IG stories lol. Another was probably quite down for me, but I met her on my second night as I was leaving for fado and she was draped over this other guy and they were like joking about each other's parents not liking blah blah. Moving forward, thought they were actually together. I find out the morning I fly out that it was a joke lol and a 1 day thing.

Now for the crazy event to cap off that month......

 

[TheEcho]

Taking ~20 people to fado:

The second night, when I went to fado with my German roommate, he had asked everyone to come, but they all had said "not tonight". Unfortunately, it was his last day, and despite my crushing experience with #14 almost leading to me backing out, I went. He heard about Tasca do Chico and so we made the climb (up a steep, stairless path... in Lisbon.....[tile]). We settled in the back corner and didn't want to order anything until we experienced a round of fado (it operates in cycles of hanging out/singing/hanging out/singing). Having each had several sangrias at the hostel, we were somewhat buzzed already. When the lights went off and the guitars played and the girl started singing, my soul started to crack out of the darkness of the breakup. We stayed until close and ordered a pitcher of sangria.

The next night, after he had left, I go around asking others about fado "tonight". Suddenly, everyone is down. Queue a ton of time rounding up cats, and then I go downstairs... there's a MOB of people waiting for me! Including several cute girls I didn't even talk to before lol. I am freaking the fuck out because Tasca do Chico seemed quite small, but on we go! Earlier that day, I learned of a massive escalator to skip part of the hill, which also lead to steps, not steep slope. Everyone was super thrilled for me, my roommates joking I should charge as a tour guide lol.

Eventually we get to the spot and there's a huge line and hardly anyone leaving. I troubleshoot, tell people there's more places if they want to go off, sorry this one is packed, etc. Most stayed, though the buddies I hung out with that day left and I didn't know until the next morning lol. It took a long time, but eventually everyone got in and we took up the whole back section. I felt SO RELIEVED once inside, and when the girl from the previous night sung, I felt justified in dragging all these people out here. One girl asked me if I was having a good time "because you're so focused on everyone else" and I honestly was. I LOVED sharing this amazing thing with others. My one ask was everyone's IG lol.

One of my roommates had the idea to get me drunk to celebrate my final night lol. At that point I had had 6 glasses of sangria, so he and another roommate bought tequila shots, 1 for each of them, 2 for me. They do the salting and chase with the lemon, meanwhile I dunk both rapidly and sit back down lol. They were bewildered but loved it.

Something about this spot, the singers face the front, and the back is kind of shut off, so we'd migrate to the front when there was space. After about an hour, a lot had thanked me and left, then people I knew better stayed/came back and there was like 5 of us left. I'm feeling the alcohol strongly, but again, am totally conscious of the impairment, so I move slowly to better control my actions lol. Throughout the night, split pitchers of sangria and meat dishes with others. It was a wonderful experience.

There eventually was a black guy who was playing his own guitar and singing... holy shit... I felt my soul come alive from the alcohol, social connection, amazing, passionate music. He even walked over to his lady and played directly to her for a bit. I've never felt so emotionally alive than that.

Eventually they're closing and I round up everyone else and make sure everyone gets back safely. This is where I "confess" to chick #10 and ignore chick #15.

It was amazing and I hope to experience something at least close to that again.

Thanks all!