roses, what a story! You're certainly not alone--many of my American friends have had similar experiences.

I think one of the things that makes many European men so attractive to us is that they show their interest in the "right" ways--they are courteous, solicitous, flattering, blah, blah...and it's hard for ANY woman to resist that and a pair of handsome dark eyes staring deeply into her own!

My own "love story" in Spain is similar, though it didn't go very far as the guy was just 20 and lived at home. But over the course of a summer he bought me drinks (NEVER let me pay), walked me home with his jacket around my shoulders, always held doors, carried my packages, called me sweet nicknames, told me he loved me, brought me little presents, picked me flowers, etc....all things that sweep a 20-year-old Americana off her feet after a college career full of keggers and guys who think that burping contests are charming.

If he had had a roach-infested apartment all his own, I would have been there with bells on, I promise, after a suave performance like that. As it was, I put up with his cigarette smoking (a DEAL BREAKER here in the US during my dating days) just because he was so darn sweet and flattering! And to show what an impression it made, I have saved several VERY gooey love letters in my Spain scrapbook...thank goodness my husband can't read Spanish!

I have a sneaking suspicion that American guys (yes, I am WAY over-generalizing!) don't usually sweep Spanish women off their feet like that (MadridMan excepted, of course).