Rome & Venice, Italy
OKAY HI!
I am revisiting this trip to document in a way that reflects it’s BEAUTY a bit more. It deserves a lil blog post. It deserves to know how much I love it. SO, the italics are excerpts right out of my journal. Unfiltered, that’s right. UNFILTERED FRIDA THOUGHTS. JUICY. And then I added some after thoughts and photos for viewing pleasure.
July 1st 2018
Journal Entry.
LA-DUB
Leaving LA with a gracious and happy heart. Reminding myself that I am encouraged to live with open hands for what I have is not mine anyways. To give what I have as quickly as I receive it, and watch it return in ten-fold.
How can I live a life expecting great things?
Lol… I don’t necessarily have a way of transport from the airport in Rome to the hostile I will be staying at. But I’m not too worried. I just ate gluten for the first time in 4 months. All poor decisions on my part.
DUB-ROM
Might die of Jet Lag but who knows honestly why is my pen more smudged now than it was earlier. I wonder what sights I will see tomorrow.
ROME:
This is my first trip abroad, and traveling alone is equally as liberating as it is terrifying. There is this feeling, difficult to explain but let me try! These survival instincts that kick in and they are layered with extreme curiosity and gratitude. This feeling probably releases equal amounts of serotonin to my brain as some sketchy festival drugs would— I definitely prefer this kind.
I’m in love with Rome.
I made some friends.
My favorite being Gabriel. He is a young boy from Brussels, who knows absolutely no English and we communicate through non-verbals and occasionally google translate. We are the only two at the hostel awake at 5am everyday and we spend our mornings together, usually in silence.
yes, he drew this.
One day he brought me a note from his mother, who up to this point I wasn’t sure existed. She was, generously, inviting me and my friend over for dinner. Gabriels mother prepared us a lovely meal of pasta with cantaloupe and some wine. After dinner we celebrated 4th of July with a few other american travelers staying in the hostel and I prepared for my trek down the coast by train for the dance event I was in Italy for. This first week of my trip was full and beautiful and I was able to explore all of Rome and even spend a day in Venice (14 hours by bus that my friend gave me tickets for, that’s another story.) My mornings were spent strategically hiding 3 to 4 servings of every dish at the breakfast buffet in my bag. Traveling on a budget, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Plus, the worst that happens is they yell at me in a language I don’t understand, and I respond by begging ‘me despiache.’ ‘me despiache.’ ‘me despiache.’ (I’m sorry, in Italian)
Journal Entry
I was essentially convinced by my austrailian friend to bus to Venice for the night. The past 24 hours were wild. I met up with a friend that I went to middle school with in Roma. My dear friend Zackary. What a lovely fella. We walked a lot and got on too many wrong busses + missed train stops. But together the stress is eliminated and we can just enjoy life and laugh about the problems. We made it back to eat dinner with our Belgium friends Patricia and her son Gabriel whom unfortunately I will probably never see again.
After pasta and cantaloupe and wine we went to the bar (I am legal here) and played ping pong and met some fellow americans (ohio) and celebrated the 4th together. Their names were brandon and reed. The rest of the hostile 100% thought we were the worst, but… I guess we kind of are #america?
It’s crazy to me how much of an impact people have when you are just rolling with the punches. I had just the best time with Zach. He is a kind one.
Now.
I will be in Venice, Italy in 45 minutes. I met two beautiful italian boys alessandro and matteo on this bus. I’ve never been so impressed by someone showing me their true personalities and character so quickly. Allesandro, my heart will go on.
Lol upon arriving in Venice my hostel didn’t have any more rooms available. Remember what I said about rolling with the punches.
In the middle of the night I was restless with extreme anxiety and I found myself sitting on the windowsill overlooking Venice in a thunderstorm and stumbling into some extreme peace. Incredible.
That last memory is something I will truly never forget. It was at the beginning of a long battle with anxiety and I always remembered the relief in that peace that I found, and reminded myself that the world is filled with that, not just Venice, Italy.
