"Keeps things on your trip in perspective, and you'll be amazed at the perspective you gain on things back home while you're away…One's little world is put into perspective by the bigger world out there" ~Gail Rubin Bereny
Another month passed. Like the blink of an eye. Italy has become real in every sense. Time does have a weird way of becoming distorted in a place where time is not of the essence to the culture. When time is slowed, and thus the body is slowed, we tend to notice the previously insignificant, and these moments become woven into memories, days, thoughts, wanderings, months. Days are long, weeks sometimes too, but the months go fast. Too fast. The time continues to tick by, closer and closer to the end of this experience and the start of the next. There is still so much that I would like to learn about this culture, the language, not to mention I still have a lot of pizza, pasta, and gelato to eat!
"We are all visitors to this time, this place- We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, learn, grow and love. And then, we return home"
I am almost at the half way mark, in fact I only have 5 full months left for me at this point. When I reflect on my time here, it does seem like a long time, though in the perspective of my life, it is just one small piece to the it all. It's hard to even remember boarding that plane and setting off on this journey. What a long trip it's been. It still does amaze me how easily one can transverse the globe with a bit of imagination (and finances to consider) and wake up in any city on the planet and set out on an adventure. For me, the road with all of it's splendor, possibilities, exoticness, and diversity continues to call me, and I must answer to see what's out there, what experience awaits me…
"The world belongs to anyone who stops for a moment, gazes, and goes on his way" ~Colette
I wish I had more to report from here in Firenze, but I have been lazy with writing, recording, remembering details. The romance and newness of living in Italy has long worn off, and life here is much more regular, routine, and normal, waking up like everyone else, going to class, coming home to take an afternoon nap while the shops are all closed (I'm assuming they aren't doing this back in the states yet). Typically I stop by my favorite gelato shop or by the market to get some goods. I also have a favorite wine place that sells vino sfuso. I just bring in my bottles to be refilled and the little old couple chats away as they fill them from the tap and attach the little hand-made label. That is one of my favorite things about living in this city, going to the same little shops for my specific items (like wine and gelato). I have certainly been relaxing quite a bit here as well. There is no schedule, no deadlines, no places to be. I rarely look at a clock and even less at a calendar. There is no rush to anything, which is great when I'm enjoying a cup of coffee, not so great when I'm squeezing past people on the narrow little streets to get out of the cold. Life here seems to me so relaxed in that no one is thinking about anything except for the present moment. Italians are passionate. They are passionate towards each other, towards their beliefs, towards life. They do what makes them happy, they are sincere and honest. Quality is of the highest importance, quality of the food, wine, of relationships, of life. It is the substance of genuinely caring about how time is spent and appreciating every moment. In my opinion, they really have their priorities right.
These months have given me a new appreciation for the life that I have, the life that I have experienced, and also for my future. I'm also more aware of my appreciation for California's coast and the sun! I am not here to change my life or to find the "wisdom" that most travelers think will come from a change of scenery from the comfortable to the unseen. I am only here to learn about another culture and to get a taste for the surrounding ones. In being here, though, for such an extended time, it is difficult to not experience some changes in myself and my perspective of life. Without anticipating it, I have learned more than just the world around me, but also about myself. I'm not quite sure if I am a changed person in just a short while, but I do feel like I am beginning to understand myself better within these opportunities I have had.
"The only constant in life is change.....lets all keep that in mind. Sometimes, we all just need to allow it to happen. So, lets see what does…."
Some things are easy to write about. Others remain more elusive, sensory items that look simple when you sit and take the time, but when asked to give a concrete description, become a blur of sensations. These things, woven together, create the delicate patchwork that is life. Life, as such, is not easy to recount, and I will not attempt to sum up the last few months of my own here in Italy as days, people I meet, and the growing familiarity with the city all blend into one magical adventure. Each time I step out my front door, then dodge the vespas zipping through the streets sprinkled with pedestrians or hop to the sidewalk as cyclists ring their bells, I feel the energy of the city as I make the trek to school. When it's my morning class, I usually just put my headphones in and B-line it to school as fast as I can to get back inside since it's just a bit chilly. But if the weather is nice or it's the afternoon, it's one of my favorite times of the day to take the time to just stroll to class and listen to everyone around me and take it all in. One of the things I will definitely miss is hearing Italian everyday. My favorite is when someone is on the phone and they throw in all the hand motions in there too.
In a couple of days a few friends and I are flying over to Poland where we hope we won't loose any limbs to the cold. Next we're heading to Hungary to peek behind the iron curtain, then to Ljubljana, Slovenia and Zagreb, Croatia to see a bit of the less traversed cities in Europe. We'll see what adventures the new year brings in...
"A traveller. I love his title. A traveller is to be reverenced as such. His profession is the best symbol of our life. Going from- toward; it is the history of every one of us" ~Henry David Thoreau
