Belmondo Chronicles

I never really understood what the big deal was with Cafe's. I had friends that would swear up and down that it was so legit and awesome to hangout at a Cafe. it was as though going to the cafe made you more worldly, more cultured, eclectic. To be honest I never really was the guy to go to a bookstore with a novel, or a park with a magazine. I certainly wasn't the guy that would go to the Cafe in order to study or pass the time but I guess "time" truly does change all. Lately I have been finding it very hard to study at the library due to the fact that the University library at Erasmus is worse; at best similar to some high school libraries that I have seen. It is not really an environment that promotes efficient accessibility to information. On the other hand, being the easily distracted person that I am,  it also makes it extremely difficult to study at home as I normally find myself either surfing the web, browsing through Facebook or watching How I Met Your Mother. Needless to say, I needed to get my ass out the house, away from the library and the next considerable option involved me submitting to the European, "cafe experience". I ventured off to a Cafe Belmondo, a nice sized cafe in Rotterdam located just minutes form Oostplein. Its a place where people of all shapes and sizes colors and creed come to enjoy the confines of a relaxing and comfortable watering hole. The staff is friendly, the girls are beautiful and the guys aren't all that "douchey". My first day here I met a girl form Thailand studying at the University, we shared a great conversation and realized that we had some mutual friends. As the day went by I spent  time going through my GMAT review books, enjoying delicious beverages, indulging in some eye candy and also sharing a great conversation with a new friend. It was the best of all worlds. So im back, its been two consecutive days and I wouldn't classify myself as a "Cafe-er" but I will say that I have realized that as humans we have an innate desire to be around others. We long to experience others whether it be in the most intimate of ways or in the most subtle and simplistic of ways. We long to sense the world around us, and sometimes that starts by opening up to the experiences we have always neglected. Life has a funny way teaching us that we never truly have anything figured out. In the end we are only what we allow ourselves to be. We are only as complex as our experiences.