CHEERS! Single Night out in Lisbon

The clock strikes 9:30 PM. I take one last glance at my Grinch green slip dress that exposes my back. It’s the one I got with Bango a couple months back.

My lipstick is a dark purple. It makes me look mysterious, which is funny because that’s not the word I’d use to describe myself.

I begin to make my way to karaoke. I start to walk, 19 minutes away. Maybe if I take the bus, it’ll get me there faster. In the moment, the bus runs up. I hop on quickly as two other people in front of me flag it down.

I made it. I hand over the 2.3 euros. I miscounted; the bus man waves me over and hands me my change. He’s so polite.

“Here we go!” I say to myself in eagerness. The bus redirects me in a way I’m not prepared for. Wrong direction. Dang! That’s okay, I reassure myself that I’m still only a twenty-minute walk away.

After multiple zigzag hills (this ain’t like no San Francisco hills), I find myself finally arriving at Cheers, the Irish bar.

The karaoke side is completely empty, but I make my way over to the door to the left, where I hear a buzzing of live music.

There are about 15 people scattered around the bar, a few guys crowded in front of the band—one Australian and one I can’t put my finger on.

I hoist myself on top of the bar stool. Nice. A dimly lit pub with stickers plastered all over the wall.

The bartender is younger, sweet, bright brown eyes, wavy hair. She asks me what I’ll have. I point at the Guinness. I like to make it easy.

The drink sits in front of me. I take out my bucket list. “Learn how to cheer in Portuguese,” it reads in my shaky hands. Go in for a safe approach first. I lean forward to the adorable bartender. I hand her my list in hopes she’ll give me the answer I’m looking for.

“Ahhh,” she says, knowing that she can help. She asks for my pen and writes “Saúde” at the bottom of my bucket list page.

I pronounce it back to her four times. Before I can think, I turn to the three dumb, attractive Englishmen behind me. They look at me with confusion. Good thing about my unique looks—they probably think I’m familiar with a different language! Lol, joke’s on them. After pushing my beer toward their glasses, they get the idea I mean cheers, and we all tap glasses.

“I want to break free!” hums off the tip of my tongue in the pub. It’s muggy in here. My palms are sweaty. I take a swig of my Guinness. I’m unsuccessful at splitting the G.

It is refreshing to see a proper Guinness glass.

The room is full of chatter in different languages. The electric guitar leaves a shaky vibration. The glass on the right side of me glides back to the front of the bar. The glass sits empty.

It’s time to write! I see a receipt to the left of me. I grab it with an overreach from the guy next to me. I’ve got my pen. I start to scribble.

The second song about a dream comes on. “Everybody’s looking for something,” strums out. Random shouts and noises fill the room with an interesting tune.

The girl in the back right corner of the bar tells her group of friends a story. It’s probably about her most recent dating experience, judging by their body language. The couple across from them share a passionate conversation.

The two friends in the back dance recklessly directly behind me.

The couple to the left of me share a kiss.

The guys in front of the band are clearly making the “U up?” texts, as it’s nearly 11 p.m., and you can tell they’re drunk—invested in their phones, and we can all guess what they’re up to.

At the moment, I feel a light double tap on my left shoulder.

“Excuse me, I don’t want to interrupt, but what are you writing?”

A young, charming man with brown hair and a denim jacket transfers to the worn-out, faded velvet stool next to me. I hand him the receipts and tell him he can read it himself, and after looking very confused, I realize he can’t read my handwriting.

So I take the writing from his hands, lean in close, and read him the two pages I just wrote. He’s fascinated by the same things he also just witnessed.

The was ONLY BEGINNING. 5 lives on this post and I'll share PART 2!