Wanderlust

The little lakeside village of Trevignano. 21 days my friends!

The dates are set! I have found a wonderful family living about 20km outside of Rome in a place called Trevignano Romano which is situated on Lake Braccanio. It’s a picturesque Italian village with houses on the cliff side over looking the water. There are three children, two boys and a girl. I bought my one way ticket for June 10. I’m not really sure how long or what I’m doing after they return to school as visas expire after three months but I’m
Excited for what this summer has
In store for me. Just a little over three weeks and everything is going to change. It’s surreal. More later!

I have always hated to fly. It makes me nauseous, uncomfortable and scared shitless. In the summer of 2010, I boarded a plane for a 12 hour flight to Berlin with a pack of twizzlers, some Dramamine, and a copy of Eat, Pray, Love to ease me. 4 hours in, I’d read one page and was in a panic, downing the free in flight Rolling Rock and digging my nails into the chair in front of me every time the plane jolted or dropped. Luckily, I made it.

I spent five weeks in Berlin as part of a study abroad group, exploring German culture and traditions as best as I could as an obvious tourist. But I never felt truly immersed. I tried to take a jog (See: walk) through our area of the town one morning after being there for about 3 weeks and decided to throw caution to the wind and not bring 1. a phone, 2. a map, 3. anything that could possibly help me in a strange city. I ended up getting completely lost for around, oh 2 hours. It was then that I longed to know the city on a more intimate level. I wanted it to feel like home, like I belonged, and wasn’t just an awkward American girl who rode the subway for an hour because she couldn’t remember the name of the stop where the hostel was (which we passed a total of 3 times before I realized it.)

That day I sat outside on the hostel’s patio and started to read Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love (those of you that know me well, know that it’s kinda like my bible.) I took a pen and began circling quotes and writing notes in the margin (I think I saw this in a movie once and it made the character look very profound and insightful; kind of like that sarcastic, chain smoking, all-black-wearing, writer type that throws out philosophical quotes randomly in response to questions like “What are you doing today?”) But back to what I was saying; I came across the following quote and underlined it:

“Still, despite all this, traveling is the great true love of my life. I have always felt, ever since I was sixteen years old and first went to Russia with my saved-up babysitting money, that to travel is worth any cost or sacrifice. I am loyal and constant in my love for travel, as I have not always been loyal and constant in my other loves. I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless, newborn baby—I just don’t care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it’s mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to—I just don’t care.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

And wahla! It hit me. This was how I felt. I was exactly where I needed to be. I promised myself then and there that I would make an effort to live abroad before the age of 30 (at the ripe young age of 19, it seemed light years away, but as I’m turning 22 in a day it doesn’t seem so distant anymore.) Anyway, this goal became my number one on my bucket list.

So here I am, less than 100 days away from graduating. Not even 3 weeks ago, I was frantically sending out resumes to any company whose only job requirements stated “Must have a college degree” (I didn’t have high standards at this point in the search.) But instead of grovelling over emails to HR departments about what an asset I would be to their company, or lowering my criteria to “Must have a H.S. diploma”, I am scouring travel sites for deals on flights and tips for Americans living in Italy.

Yes, Italy.

Through a series of spontaneous decision making and just pure luck (and maybe even a little fate), I will (if everything goes according to plan) be leaving on a plane for Rome just one week after graduation, to live and work as an Au Pair for an incredible family (4 kids!) until further notice. Gone for 6 months? A year? Basically until I am content. Not to say that I could ever be, but that’s what I’m going with for now.

I think that’s all I’ll leave you with for the moment. Details are still being worked out, and there is still some more planning to do, but it’s coming along. Slowly but surely my number one on my bucket list will be crossed off by the end of 2013.

I’m planning on updating this blog more than Facebook so I don’t blow up people’s timelines, so look for another post in the next few weeks.

Ciao!

-Kenzie