Southern hospitality, cheap wine, bama football, and a really nice gay guy

Still haven't had acces to a computer that I can upload my pics onto yet so you'll have to read more ramblings for right now.

I was thinking last night about my trip and all the fun experiences along the way and about how its bittersweet that I'll be home soon... and I figured I'd share some of the smaller stories from my trip that didn't deserve a full blog entry but were still enjoyable/memorable... the ones that didn't make the cut.

----In Amsterdam I had this conversation with a lady on a crowded tram:

Me: (realizing there were no more seats) Oh , would you like to have my seat?
Lady: You're not from here are you?
Me: Umm, no.
Lady: Well no thanks I'm okay. Men in Amsterdam never ask women if they want their seat. Where are you from?
Me: I'm from the states... and a part of the states where men open doors and pull out seats for ladies and do it all with a smile... It's called southern hospitality.
Lady: *confused look*
Me: Florida. I'm from Florida.

**Note: I was actually refering to Alabama, but I don't consider myself from there, thus why I said Florida.

----I was in a park enjoying a nice sunny day in Amsterdam (these are rare) when a man who was extremely drunk/high started talking to me. He had a big bag of food and beer and wine but wanted me to give him money so he could buy more beer. Ha it was really entertaining. We talked for about 15 minutes.

He was perisitent too... I think mostly because he was so far gone that he would ask me the same questions not remembering that he'd just asked the same thing 2 minutes ago. Long story short, he offered to sell me a bottle of wine for 2 euros. The future math teacher side of me came out as I did some calculations in my head "Surely the amount of alcohol or whatever he can aquire for 2 euros is less than what is contained in a bottle of wine. So by making this purchase, I'm really doing him a favor," I thought.

I left the park 2 euros poorer and a bottle of wine richer.

----One of my favorite comedians, Brian Regan, has a bit about how he fantasizes about being one of the few men who have been on our moon so whenever some "me monster" starts yapping away about how awesome he is, he can automatically trump any story by saying "I walked on the moon..." It's funny I promise.

Anyway, I think I may have experienced that a couple times in a England and The Netherlands. Whenever I would get in a discussion about sports it would inevitably lead to a discussion about what we call football and what everyone else in the world calls football.

I would smile in my head when I heard stuff like "Yea the fans are insane, travelling from city to city just to go to the away games... And the stadiums, 50,000 screaming fans in one place..." I would just let them keep going "Oh man the atmosphere is intense!... We barely even sit down!" I'd smile because I knew I had the ultimate trump card: Bryant-Denny Stadium.

So when they'd finally slow down, I suppose expecting a "Wow thats incredible!" from me, I'd instead begin to tell them about how I went to a university in a city with a population of 90,000 but an on campus stadium that holds 100,000. I'd tell them how one time over 90,000 people showed up... to watch a practice. I'd tell them about the rivalries and how the color orange makes me do that thing where you throw up in your mouth just a little bit. I'd tell them about on multiple occasions riding long distances, one time 30 hours, with people I had met the day before just to get to a game. And then having to sneak in when I did get there. I'd tell them about "Roll tide" and how two words could mean, "thanks", or "hey man", or "amen", or "cheers" or "i don't really know you, but I see you're a bama fan" or a plethora of other things. I'd tell them about Alabama football. And then the conversation would be over.

----In London I'm pretty sure I got hit on by a gay guy.

I was staying at a hostel and there was a bar downstairs... a nice little place to hang out. I was there one night talking to the bartender who was also American and staying at the hostel so I knew her a little. Anyway, at one point she got busy and a guy comes and sits next to me...

Possibly gay guy: Hey man I saw you at the library today.
Me: Oh cool. Yea, I was there today.
Possibly gay guy: I'm Anthony (I dont remember his real name)
Me: I'm Austin (we shake hands)

Over the next 20 minutes or so we chat and he's very nice. Too nice maybe. He also is very touchy and expressive. I remember thinking, It's cool that you live alone and work in the fashion industry, but do you really need to lean over and put your hand on my back or shoulder while teling me this? And then it hit me. It all made sense.

Oooo, you're gay, I thought. And maybe think I'm cute? Ha, it all makes so much sense now.

He was a talker so I had time to plan my next move while he went on about what he was doing to the inside of his apartment and how it was going to look fa-bu-lous.

I decided to just say something like "Man I haven't had any luck with the ladies lately" at some point in the conversation just so he knew where my loyalties rested, and then just keep talking. I mean, he was nice, interesting, entertaining... I just prefer people who are more... female.