31 Days Challenge, Day 21 – Why Settle?

What do you do when your plans don’t go as you wish and you find yourself in a different situation? I’m gonna tell you, you just enjoy it.

This June I went to Brussels, through Couchsurfing. Already had more than a couple of experiences and I’ve always met nice and interesting people, with whom I still keep in touch. So now I accepted accommodation from a Romanian guy. At some point, I thought to myself that it would be funny that this is the only time I get into trouble, but I let all that go because I thought that he’s the same nationality as me and he wouldn’t do anything wrong.

So I arrive in Brussels and meet with him, we go groceries shopping and ice cream eating and then home. I start making dinner and I find myself being hugged from behind and kissed on the neck. ‘Okay now, wtf…’. I try to explain to the guy how things work and usually what Couchsurfing means, but he said he felt this strong connection between us. Bottom line, he got kinda upset.

The next morning, he went to work and I started wandering around the city and meeting some friends I had there. I checked-in on Facebook with them, had fun, added pics, etc.

 

anamariapopa.com blog post brussels belgium namur student alex dragoi funny pics memories

 

In the evening when I meet with my host, he was still upset and I tried understanding what was wrong. Apparently, it was disrespectful of me to check-in with other guys when I stayed at his place… And he started acting like a child.

I started packing my things and at 11PM I left his apartment to go to one of my friends who was a student in Namur, a small city at 1h30 ride by train from Brussels. Oh, and he lived in a dorm room. So, at 1AM we started cleaning one room so that I could sleep there. Even then, I remember laughing so hard on this situation and experience.

And for the next 4 days I spent my time in such lovely company with my friend and his colleagues, that I do not regret leaving that night with my bags and wandering in a city I had just arrived in.

I returned to Brussels the next day to meet a dear friend with whom I had no time to meet in Bucharest – one of those delightful coincidences.

So instead of just spending my time in Brussels, I had the time of my life in Namur and spent one wonderful day on a trip to Bruges with the people I had just met. I laughed, I ate icecream, I had fun, I took lots of pictures, I received a heart balloon that I took on a trip, I recorded videos of all, I loved it! And as a souvenir, I kept the keys from the dorm room, haha!

 

anamariapopa.com blog post brussels belgium namur student alex dragoi funny pics memories dormroom keys

 

Believe me when I say everything happens for a reason, even though we don’t know what that reason is. Now I would like you to think of a time when you were denied one thing or a moment when things didn’t go as planned and analyze if it wasn’t for the best, in the end.

 

In Bruges, I found this cute little Hello Kitty Bracelet on the pavement!

In Bruges, I found this cute little Hello Kitty Bracelet on the pavement!

 

31 Days Challenge, Day 20 – Hey, Bartender!

One night out with my friends, we encountered this really nice bartender at one lounge. He was so open and friendly, that we got along really well.

He made a special drink for me and he even offered us a cake ‘on the house’. So, the natural thing was to keep in touch with him. So this is what I discovered when we he brought us the check.

 

anamariapopa.com blog post napkin number telephone coffeehouse bartender

 

I met him several times, in other places too and he always made me special drinks that he said ‘are just like me’ – sweet and sour at the same time.

Now, years later after meeting him, I see him on my street and find out that he just moved across the street from me, haha!

31 Days Challenge, Day 19 – Second Beauty Queen

anamariapopa.com blog post prom miss

 

Yes, I was a ‘Miss’. I was the second ‘Miss’ in my highschool prom.

I cannot express what happened then… It was my first time when I ever had high heels on, I broke one toe while hitting a wall in the dark, at home, and I tripped and almost fell on the stage while doing black tie catwalk.

It still makes me laugh when I remember all of this.

 

31 Days Challenge, Day 17 – My Fortune Cookie

I spent my 18th birthday in Vienna and I had a great time. I even met there a friend with whom I usually didn’t have time to meet in Bucharest and then when he wished me HB we found out that we were both there.

For this birthday I was planning a big party with many friends, in order to celebrate the fact that I was all ‘grown-up’. Beside the fact that I was gonna receive presents from my guests, I also wanted to have something to give them back. Nothing much, just a symbol for them, as a reminder of taking part in my party.

So, in Vienna I found these cute chinese fortune cookies and I bought A LOT of them! And I mean that when I say it, because I remember giving them to people at my party, spreading them in my family, I had some too, and I still had many left! And I started to invite friends at my place and treat them with fortune cookies.

One day, after we ate and before having the fortune cookies, the important question was asked – ‘Who’s gonna wash the dishes?’. We opened the fortune cookies and I was saved! Here’s what my fortune said:

 

fortune cookie blog post anamariapopa.com ana maria popa chinese vienna austria souvenir hands that touch this slip of paper will never have to wash dishes featured image

 

 

Thank God! 🙂

31 Days Challenge, Day 13 – Happy as A Child

This is the only time I got pulled over by the police for alcohol testing. And that is my item from the memory box.

Last winter I had made a friend, a special friend if you want it. The type of unusual and exceptional person you meet once in a lifetime. We knew eachother for a few years already before we got closer and started spending time together. What brought us together was our passion for driving and cars.

He owned this convertible with the right-side wheel and since I’m really curious, I started asking questions. A lot of questions. Maybe that’s the reason he already gave me the keys and asked me if I want to go for a ride and try it out, from the first day. Maybe he just wanted to stop that avalanche of words.

So we started hanging out a lot more and often. That included having fun and driving.

One winter night, at 2 degrees Celsius, we went for a ride with no specific destination. We got the roof down and I entered my happy mood. It’s amazing how wonderful it was to ride a converted car in wintertime, when it was freezing cold outside but in the inside everything was so nice.

We got out of the town and after not long, the police pulled us over. I was driving. The policeman went on the left side, where the wheel would normally be, but he had a little surprise. He actually said – ‘Okay, I’m gonna talk on the other side then’. I was literally laughing out loud. The policeman started looking confused at me and asked if it wasn’t a little cold for riding with the rooftop down. I started laughing even louder and answered that it’s pure joy. The policeman handed me the alcohol test and asked for ID and registration. When he saw that I hadn’t drink anything, he asked subtle if I was on anything else…

 

 

anamariapopa.com blog post audi a4 convertible happiness romania seaside beach mamaia featured image alcohol testing

 

 

I laughed because he really couldn’t believe how happy a simple ride in the night with the rooftop down could make me.  I was like a child. But since everything was okay, he let me go.

My next car is going to be a convertible, there – I’ve said it. I look good in it, don’t I?

 

anamariapopa.com blog post audi a4 convertible happiness romania seaside beach mamaia featured image ipanema

31 Days Challenge, Day 8 – The Aww Factor

Know those ‘aww’-moments that you only see in the movies? Okay, well read this one.

It was 4 years ago that I started dating this guy obsessed with McD’s Happy Meal toys. He was a big baby and collected them. (Well, that didn’t ring a bell then.)

And that month, they were having the Star Wars collection. Unfortunately, McD’s doesn’t always have the same toys in every location every week. So, to please him, one evening we started visiting every McD’s location in Bucharest, in order for him to have every toy.

In one location, the last one we got to, I was waiting outside for him as he went to get a Happy Meal. He came back and told me that they didn’t have any Star Wars toys, but they did have another interesting toy. And he just smiled as he stared at me. I wasn’t getting the sign he was trying to send. And honestly, I’m not the type of person to beg someone for anything. So I just let him do his thing.

He pulled out of the pocket a toy from the Barbie collection they had at that McD’s restaurant. It was Barbie’s ring and he asked me if we can stop dating and just have a real relationship already. And then he put the ring on my finger. It was just the perfect moment and I melted.

 

anamariapopa.com blog post aww movies babrie ring funny image ana maria popa

 

And if this wasn’t enough, I’ll add in the story of how we met.

It was summer and I needed to go to the doctor, but mine was on holiday. So I asked around and got a recommendation that I immediately took. I was in a lot of pain that caused me not to sleep the last two nights before the ‘event’… You can imagine that I looked awful, not counting the tears running down my face and my red bloodshot eyes. So I step into the doctors’ office, a she-doctor, and she comes in. At some point, she calls her colleague to ask for an opinion… And then HE steps in. OMG, he was the most beautiful and perfect man I had ever seen. I was actually stunned, he was tall, athletic, dark brown eyes and dark hair. He was just amazing. And I looked like cr*p… Great!

The next day I asked my friend from whom I got the recommendation about this perfect man. I was supposed to go back in the doctors’ office for treatment and I needed to know how to act. And then, my funny friend picks up the phone and rings the doctor (with whom he was friends) and asks her about her colleague, telling her that I liked him. Ugh, I could just kill him right then and there, I was that mad at him! And the she-doctors’ reply was ‘Oh, that’s great, cause he likes her too’… I was just speechless. But I calmed down from being angry at my friend.

So, the next appointment that I had, I was all dolled-up. After finishing my appointment, I got out of the building and he comes running after me, to tell me he likes me and that he would like to take me out. He just lied to my doctor that he was going to get something to eat just for that, for me. Still, I had to play tough and asked him if his colleague (my doctor) knows that he does that to her patients. But honestly, I can’t remember a single thing after that, I was already under his spell. He had me head over heels.

 

anamariapopa.com blog post aww movies babrie ring funny

 

If this was a movie, we would be married with kids and be living happily ever after. But now it’s just a memory.

31 Days, Day 4 – Beyond Comprehension

Now, this is creepy. Lovely and funny, but creepy.

It was my 18th bday, the moment when I came of age. So I was having a small party at a club. A gays club but hey, that was the only one that I liked. Don’t worry, I had the entire location booked, so none of  my male friends were ‘harmed’ during this.

Okay, so we were supposed to leave the coats at the wardrobe, so we did, regardless the fact we were the ones throwing the party. So the guy there gave every one us a number so he would know which coat belongs to whom. But at the end of the party, in all the hurry and tiredness we forgot to give the numbers back.

My mum had received the number 7 and I the number 16. The funny thing is that my mum is born on 7th of December and I am on the 16th of December. So, I was telling to a friend of mine what happened and that is seemed very freaky, and she told me she had also forgot to give back the number from the wardrobe and when she found it, it said 23. She was born on the 23rd of December… Okay, that is just plain spooky.

We haven’t figured it out, I guess it’s one of those things you just take as they come. Still, one of my fav memories!

 

 

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