Right now I am sitting in a small cafe a few blocks away from my flat, currently typing this entry into a TextEdit document to be posted later because there is no Wi-Fi here. One thing I definitely miss about America.

I just enjoyed a pastry and spectacular hot chocolate while I try to bang out an essay due this Wednesday. I can’t help but get distracted every now and then to people watch (and write haphazard tumblr posts) and take notice of the interesting characters that frequent this place. I know I’ve talked about this innumerable times before but I love cafe culture and experiencing it here in a foreign place has been an adventure on it’s own. So far what I’ve gathered is here it is much more the norm to pop in a cafe for an afternoon pastry or to sip tea with the morning paper, no matter who you are. Back home in the states I feel like that behavior is only evident in a certain type of person, for students and travelers and the kind of person that has managed to find a career in some kind of progressive job that doesn’t demand a 9-5 workday. Here I see students, families with children, elderly couples, businessmen, and teenagers. How do they do it? How have these people managed to construct a lifestyle in which one can earn a living while also enjoying such leisurely activities, and while I’m at it, stay so damn fit while consistently ingesting large quantities of pastries and coffee as thick as tar? It’s amazing. And certainly a lifestyle that I could get used to quickly.