One of the most interesting people I know is a Finnish-Norwegian former track and field athlete who grew up in Sweden and the US. She owes this mix&match salad to her parents’ profession: they’re dignitaries.

“In my mind,” I once told her. “I have this idea that people who work at an embassy spend most of their time partying.”

“Pretty much,” she replied. “And four years later they move on to another country.”

If I could have any superpower I’d want the ability to speak every language in the world and if you told me I could either get three supercars or my name on three extra passports, I wouldn’t think twice.

“Gimme American, Brazilian and Monegasque.”

I apologize for the long preamble but the other night I was at a sangria-themed party, when a British person [I’d just met] who currently lives in Serbia told me and a friend, “hey, you wanna go to the Hilton hotel for a party with the US Embassy?”

“Yes,” I said.

I had a lot of interesting drinks - a Lavender Mule (like Moscow Mule but with lavender syrup) and my first ever (!) Espresso Martini

Great food, including an amazing chai tea-based chocolate cake

And met amazing people, including a Serb who speaks fluent Mandarin (!) a Nigerian who speaks fluent Serbian (!!) and an Italian born but German-raised half-Serb who spoke Italian with a weird accent, which made him sound like he’d learnt it abroad. But I like the pictured he painted for me. He said:

“We [people who work at embassies] are basically glorified post office workers but we get paid more and we have more fun.”