Especially, with a raised brow

"...So there I was, swimming after the run away canoe that he tipped over in the freezing May lake, while he's standing there, waist deep in the water holding one paddle, just watching me," she shared in disbelief while recounting an old tell-tale story in which the warning signs were all apparent during week one. "Later, he says to me in all seriousness: "You know, as you swam after that canoe I realized that I was with someone special.'" She laughed. "And I just thought: 'Yeah, and as you just stood there doing nothing after tipping us over, I realized that I was with someone special.'" Rolling her eyes, she added, "All the red flags were there in just the first week."

Once upon a time

As they walked along the grounds of the fairy tale castle, one of them wistfully wondered: "Can you imagine being a princess and walking around this place?"

The other one, busy keeping an eye on her child, offered this question: "But do you think they liked their life? Were they happy? All the marriages were arranged. Can you imagine? There was no love."

The question of the hour

She was telling her friends husband about the latest little dramas of relationship with the on-and-off-and-now-on man in her life. How she was debating moving across the globe for him. But the little red flag issues crept into the discussion. As she considered her notes of their relationship history and tried to convince herself and him what she wanted, her friend's husband turned to her and asked blankly: "But don't you want love?"

Young, smart & sexy

While they were waiting for the train, they were talking about how they were late bloomers in the sexually active arena, the hush surrounding those important talks when they were younger and the downside of that for their future generations.

"I want my children to have these experiences -- kissing, dating,etc. -- before they are 20," she said, and continued expressing frustrations: "Otherwise, they are at a disadvantage. They need to know what to expect, how to reclaim their rights so that they are not taken advantage of. It bothers me that the Church and sex-ed programs don't do that. These kids need to be smart and empowered about their choices, not live in fear while being all caught up in the hormonal rush."

Spritzer

"I went on a date with this older guy once," she began. "Before we went out, he went in the back room, brought out some perfume and sprayed me with it. It's like he was marking his territory! 'I like sweet smells,' he said." She laughed, "That was our last date."

On a mission

"I'm so tired of their shit," she said. "I'm not going to let them get away with that. I need to train these boys. Honestly, I feel like it's my duty to teach these boys one at a time..."

Red light

"Last night I dreampt I was a prostitute. It was my first night on the job. I didn't know what to expect," she said.

Discourse

The four of them sat at the small dining room table adorned with a perfect bowl of fake fruit, fresh walnuts still in their hulls, a bottle of Port and green wine. Conversations among them had taken many turns at this point and eventually ventured down two different paths.

The Italian looked up from his conversation with her over at the other side of the table where the astute Colombian and the little American were looking at an open and connected laptop.

He looked at his multi-lingual conversation partner and said to the table: "I can't believe we're talking about Italian history, and they're looking at Facebook!"

The Colombian looked up from the screen and replied dryly: "I can't talk about Mussolini with someone who's blog is called The Kissing Lessons."

Cheers

"Oh, and when we toast," the italian noted, "not only do we look into the eyes of whom we are toasting, but we clink the bottom of our glass on the table so that we are not cursed with years of bad sex."

That worm

"Is he paying rent?" her friend asked her point blank.

"No." she responded.

"And, you drive him around all the time?" her friend prodded some more.

She nodded.

"He's a PARASITE!" her friend exclaimed. "You've got to get rid of him."

No pecking

"He was a terrible kisser. I was like: what are you doing to my face?!"

The eye of the flower-holder

"Oh, these roses are so beautiful," she said to the little one as she pushed her face into the large bouquet of fresh roses at the market.

"We should get one and carry it around with us. I'll take a picture of you with it, and we can post it on facebook and create some more fodder for gossip back on the other side of the pond. Keep those boys guessing," her friend winked.

"I like the way you think," she laughed.

She carried her rose around as they toured the city, and past the Darwin exhibition. They quickly learned that a woman with a rose drew much attention -- more attention than being with a blonde in this country.

"You know, a woman is percieved as being more attractive to men if many men think so. So if one girl turns some heads, other guys will notice other guys looking. It stems from the great sperm competition. And, I like to call this the Bachelorette Effect."

A new series

The Portugirls: conquering Portugal one police officer at a time.

Famous for pleasure?

Together they sat on the old city tour tram of the mesmerizing portuguese city - the pair of portugirls and the italian girl from Dublin in town for some winter sun.

Upon learning of their bus companion's Italian-ness, the little portugirl turned and asked her: "So, tell me the truth: Are Italian men really the best lovers?"

The italian girl scrunched up her face, and shook her head with a laugh. "No. ... But they would like you to think that."

Famous for pleasure

"Of all the countries in Europe, which ones have the best lovers?" the little american sipping her portuguese wine asked the Italian ex-pat.

"Italians are great lovers, of course," he said as he looked up from the saucepan that the oil and the tomato sauce was marrying in. "And, the Spanish, too."

Game time

"I think a girl has to be willing to play the games. We need to be unavailable. We need to be OK to say 'No, I'm busy.' We can't be waiting around for them. I'm ready to play the game and have fun with it for now. But, I hope when the right one comes along, none of that will be necessary." she said as they wandered around the narrow maze of the city.

The proverbial putz

"We used to have so much fun together in undergrad, as roomates and classmates. We laughed so hard, and were always thinking and talking about the subject matters of class and life, etc. we had the best inside jokes. It was hard to lose her to distance and her new life... and whatever," she confessed to her travel cohort while waiting for the train.

"Oh, she must have married a putz. All of the friends I've had that changed like that were with guys we warped their worldview so much that they changed and our relationship was not the same. It's amazing how one person -- even an undeserving guy -- can change a girl's outlook with his insecurities, and because of her insecurities in dealing with him."

Implications & insinerations

"Oh, yea," she said to her friend as they waited for the metro. "You were in the friend zone. Snuggling with no kissing? yeah, that's friends. With friends, there's touching comfortably, but nothing intimate. When you like someone, and it's mutual, there's no touching. There's tension."

"That took me a while to figure out," the little one said. "The other signs seemed so convoluted."

"Absolutely!" she replied. "He should have been more upfront with you, especially after you were so upfront with him with your feelings. I'm more mad at him right now at this point of the story for not being clear with his intentions. That's just selfish."

Hot apple pie

"We have to talk about how we're going to go about this pie," she said to her visiting friend. "Are we going to preserve the pie in pristine condition for the boys like we would our virginity? Or are we going to dive into it and take care of our ourselves?"

Non-acting

She looked at him, the thespian who hadn't maintained much contact at all through the various channels of communication in the technological age, from across the bar. He met her gaze. "You are unavailable with a capital U!" she said to him.