Starbucks
Coffee price: $1.85
There is something so universal about a black cup of coffee. I mean, coffee shops are all different. They offer a wide variety of selection based on the kind of shop it is. But when you order a black cup of coffee, you know what you’re going to get.
It can be the pick-me-up during a long car ride to get you through the last hour of driving. It can be the spark of energy to get through your hangover and look at the brunch menu. It can be a nice, warm good morning as you sip on homemade drip in a cat mug. Either way, it’s one of the most comforting things in the world to me.
I studied abroad in Italy in 2012 and coffee was one of the things I missed the most. I know you’re thinking that’s absurd. I mean Italy is supposed to be land of coffee. But it’s just not the same. You cannot get a plain drip coffee anywhere. And since Italy takes their coffee so seriously, the entire country was devoid of Starbucks.
A few months into my study abroad experience, I went to Barcelona with my friend Tori. Our very first stop, after getting off the plane, was Starbucks. I remember Tori asked for a cup of coffee “with room”. They had no idea what that meant.
So, we sat there in the Starbucks enjoying the taste of home.
We were supposed to meet up with our friends in Barcelona. We had no way of getting in touch with them. We just knew they lived somewhere in the vicinity of that Starbucks. After taking a few sips of coffee, we heard two men next to us talking in English. They had a cell phone!
Tori and I discussed and agreed to ask them if we could use their phone to call “our parents”. I don’t know why I felt the need to include that detail when we approached these men. I think I was worried of some kind of “Taken” situation. So I wanted to make sure they knew we had people who were waiting for us.
They agreed to let us use their phone. Honestly, that seems like the bigger risk. I don’t think I’ve ever let some stranger borrow my phone. Even if they were trying to call their so-called “parents”.
So we called our friends, who apparently had been worried that we were in fact “Taken”. No, we were just being a couple of Americans in a Starbucks.
We had a great weekend in Barcelona. It was the beginning of a series of life-changing events. Like my best friend telling me about this British dude she met in a bar (or was it a McDonald’s?). I played the over-protective friend and not so secretly judged the man with the hotmail account. Note to future suitors, I will only take you seriously with a gmail account.
She is now married to him and living happily in London.
I get to see this lady in less than a week and I couldn’t be happier. We will be drinking tiny cups of coffee as we travel through Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. I can’t promise that I won’t want to stop in Starbucks by the end of the trip. Do they have Starbucks in those cities?
