#20 - italy

(with Andrea in Florence wearing covers because we 

weren't dresses appropriately to enter a church.)

When I was 25, I traveled around Italy and Greece for a month on my own.  When I shared with people both here and on my travels that I traveled on my own, I usually got one of a few reactions:

1. thats awesome, good for you!

2. your crazy, why would you travel alone!

3. what the heck is wrong with you, I can't see anything wrong with you but there must be something wrong with you!

Some people would tell me that its something they never could do and others thought it was awesome....well here is my experience.  When you travel by yourself you will get to know yourself in a way you never ever thought possible.  I got to know who I was without my usually support system, friends, familiar customs or vices around. When you are in a country where you don't speak the language and have to find another way to communicate and be understand, you really see who you are and how you get through situations (or don't).  And you find a compassion for yourself and for other human beings you might not have known you had.  I honestly took of to Europe on my own because all of my friends and boyfriend at the time had already gone the summer prior and when I decided to go in August (the most expensive, touristy and hottest time of year), no one else was interested in going with me so I went anyways.  

(The Via Dell'Amore (walk of love) in Cinque Terre)

The ability to get myself around a country that was unfamiliar to me, on my own, showed me that I really could do anything.  Sometimes I'm so glad for my naiveness in my early 20's because if it wasn't there I might not have been open to or have done a lot of things I did do, like travel around europe for a month by myself and think it was a good idea.

I had never drank a full coffee to myself at the age of 25.  I had no interest in it whatsoever. I thought it tasted like burnt crap and I had no idea why everybody loved it so much.  And then I went to Italy....  I remember walking into a cafe, where people stand along the bar and you sort of have to fight your way in to order and people are speaking very expressively in Italian and throwing their arms around.  I walked right in, put my 1 euro down and ordered a cappuccino.  The man placed it in front of me and I took one sip and gulped back in disgust, but I slammed the whole thing down because I had committed to it and then walked out of the cafe thinking, "I'll never do that again."

5 years later, I have finally acquainted myself with the flavour of coffee and appreciate a beautifully made cappuccino about once a week.

(Florence)

Italy has a particular special place in my heart.  Maybe its the food, maybe its the wine, maybe its their expressive culture but something really connects me to it and I have no Italian lineage that I am aware of in my blood.  So perhaps its the passion that is so beautifully present in every aspect of their culture and daily life that I am so attracted to?!  This much I do know, I will live in Italy for at least a year of my life at some point.  I will live by a vineyard and sit out in the garden overlooking the beautiful rolling hills in the countryside with a fresh cappuccino in my hand, breathing in the sweet smell of olives from the olive trees nearby. 

(near Greve in Tuscany)