If you're North American and appreciate a good pair of sweatpants, you will like this.

When buying new shoes, my mom used to say, "It's not about what they look like, it's about how comfortable they are." This brings me to a little story I'd like to share with you all.
Europeans know how to dress. I've heard that before but now I can say that it is definately true after being here for four months. This is a generalization of course, not everyone has the nicest clothes but at the same time, I have never seen anyone walking down the street in sweatpants. A common sound I hear every day is, "Clunk, clunk, clunk." This is the sound of high heels. If the ladies aren't wearing jeans, they're wearing dress pants and if they're not wearing dress pants, they're wearing a skirt or dress. And it is the season for wearing jackets so you got the leather jackets coming back in this year, some fur coats, peacoats, trench coats, not alot of sporty, outdoorsy jackets. They're out there but it's rare. Everyone just seems to look really nice. This doesn't bother me. I'm a backpacker, it's like the law to look gross but I just find differences between countries very intriguing and this is one of them. You would never give someone a second glance in Canada if they walked into the grocery store or Starbucks in their sweatpants. It's just normal, who cares? We like being comfortable, simple as that. I brought two pairs of pants with me on this trip. A pair of jeans and a pair of cords. I like them except they aren't very comfortable because they're too big around the waist so they fall down but it is very difficult to pull them up because my legs are too big and so they kind of get stuck. It's quite sad. Needless to say, there are some days I just crave to wear my sweatpants out because they are so unbelieveably comfy but I am sometimes hesitant because I feel like I would stand out but today was the day. Savannah and I are in Austria right now visiting our friend, Marlene from bible school. She was working this morning and we decided to get some groceries. It wasn't very far and we just woke up so I was like, 'I am totally wearing my sweatpants.' It is very cold as well so I wore my boots. I kind of felt like Aladdin or a russian or even a pirate. So attractive. Before we left the flat we said goodbye to Marlene's boyfriend, Michael who was leaving for the weekend and we went on our merry way having no idea what was going on in Michael's mind at the time. On the way to the grocery store I kept saying, "I feel so Canadian walking in public in my sweatpants!" And then we talked about European fashion and how they always look so put together and so on. A little while after we arrived back home so did Marlene. We decided to head into the city but I still wanted to wear my sweatpants. I debated back and forth on whether I was ready to present myself this way to the city of Graz and then I thought, 'What the heck?' And then Marlene starts telling us about how she used to tell Michael about how in North America people will wear sweatpants to go to the store or for a walk or even to school. She said he had a hard time believing this until they were talking on the phone this morning after Savannah and I went to the grocery store and he says, "It's true! Karin went out in her sweatpants!" I loved that he was so surprised like it was some huge rumour that couldn't possibly be true but infact it was. We had a really good laugh and then made our way into the city. Savannah and Marlene joked about not wanting to be seen with me but they ended up being pretty faithful to stay by my side. I got a couple glances but nothing to get too worked up about, not that was I going to anyway. I felt too good. Then after a couple hours and on our way home we passed a group of probably 16 year old girls. One of them glances down at my sweatpant and boot ensemble and then exclaims something in austrian. She turns to her friends and then I see her friends all glance over to me in shock. It brought joy to my heart to see such a reaction yet a bit of sadness at the same time for them knowing that they will never know what it is like to feel as good as I did today. To make this story even better, my sweatpants are also my pajama pants and I didn't change my shirt this morning either. So not only did I wear my sweatpants through a big city of Austria, I also wore my pajamas.
So friends, the moral of the story? It's not always about what you look like but it's about how comfortable you feel.