Oh man, from where do I start writing here..
It's been 10 days since I moved to Milan, but have you ever had that feeling that so much has happened that it feels more like 10 years instead of only 10 days? Yes, exactly how I feel right now.
The day I first arrived, for example, was just historical. My friend from Italy (the one I had been talking to for a while, through Facebook) did go pick me up at the airport. Looking back at it, I wonder if I would ever be able to do everything we did by myself. We caught the train, left my 2-unimaginably-heavy suitcases and my huge - and also ridiculously heavy - backpack and left them all at his place. Then the task was to find the office where I was supposed to grab the keys of my apartment. Walk walk walk. We got there by 7pm, when the lady was literally leaving to go back home. Well, we made her wait. Keys in hand, back to his place to grab my stuff. Walk walk walk. Car ride to finally find my apartment. Walk walk walk, ride ride ride. Jesus, I was dying. I was starving. I was tired. I was amused at every random building, person, park, car, dog, etc, etc., that my eyes captured along the day. I was overwhelmed. Too much information at the same time. It is hard to describe days like that one in a short paragraph, though. Try adding to it a whole lot of minor events that did make the day look like it was never going to end. It was i-n-t-e-n-s-e.
It was a hell of a long day, but in a good sense. That feeling that you have so many new things to catch up on that you can barely wait for the next hour of the day to come, so you are able to know what the next discoveries are going to be. Well, I believe it is been like this every day. And I am sure it will be like this during the next week, month or even months, and I am glad for that. By day 1, your whole life summarizes into two suitcases and a backpack, and nothing beyond that. But day after day, one after the other, you can clearly notice that you start getting familiar with the area you are located, you find out what kinds of stores there are near your place, you find out that here, when you go to the supermarket, you better bring your own plastic bags, otherwise you will have to hang bottles of water, apples and yogurts around your arms and hands; you finally learn, after much effort, trial, and error, how to use public transportation to go downtown and so on. I also like the fact it gives you a better sense of what you are; what you are capable of. Confidence is a great example. I am confident. Did not use to be when I was younger, but life experiences and personal achievements have made me an overall very confident person. Well, perhaps now this is not the way I have been feeling anymore. The language limitations, the huge lack of direction and the simple fact that I am in an unknown land (How to properly behave? What I am suppose to answer when someone asks a question? What if I decide turning left, and not right.. Will I be able to get back? Where will the road lead me to?) ... certainly helps explain why.
It all gives me a feeling of fragility, but it also makes me cherish for every single achievement, regardless of its importance and relevance. Found my way back home after 2 and not 3 prior trials? Win. Bought 2 wines, a can of beer AND even made the guy from the store open it up for me? Win. Made myself dinner and did not set fire to the house and burned all the furniture with the roomies inside? Great victory. What about the life changing moment when you go to bed and you now have pillows and a blanket, comparing the first 6 days, without them? Again, every single thing, regardless of its importance and relevance. (I don't know why, but Maslow's so-famous Hierarchy of Needs pyramid makes so much sense and fits perfectly well to what I have been going through!).
I can also relate the experience to be similar as if I went back into childhood. You know nothing, you have tons of questions that most of the time you can't find an answer right away, you are curious, you value small improvements in life because, during childhood, even the most insignificant ones do sound like great accomplishments, etc.
I do want to be a kid forever. Now tell me, is there any other way not to feel the power of time weighting on your shoulder rather than truly feeling like you are a child again?!
Other than the cultural shock, or whatever they call it (I prefer calling it cultural gift :P), the two-day orientation event organized by my university just blew me away. I met a lot of people, either with the same or completely different backgrounds from me. They are from Albania, Romania, Germany, Macedonia, Kenya, Poland, United States, Bulgaria, Equator, UK, and the list goes on. They all have traveled around, they all have stories to tell, something that you can learn from, something you will never forget. Couldn't have never, ever, asked for more.
And before I finish writing this post, a brief summary (redundancy, okay) on my first impressions about Milan: Never seen so many beautiful, classy, stylish and rich men and women, in such a "no-like-other" city, throughout this little of a time I have spent here so far. I am speechless, still, on how much it has all being above my expectations. What another amazing opportunity.
It is bed time. Classes start tomorrow. Very excited. Back to school. Back to my playground.
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