Therese Marie

Ah, The City of The Past

In a whirlwind of desire to travel and opportunity to do so, I “grabbed life by the horns” and flew to Firenze (that’s Florence, Italy folks!), a burnt orange city that dates back further than I can comprehend. Here, you find a rich plethora of historical stuff, like THE DAVID (a famous naked man) and EL DUOMO (a big ass cathedral) and LA PIAZZA DEI MICHELANGELO (a cool square platform with a copy of the famous naked man that overlooks the whole city, so you can see the big ass cathedral in all its terra-cotta glory) and wow, so much more.

But if you haven’t figured this out already, this blog isn’t about telling you how to travel. Actually, on that note:

I am seriously bothered by blogs that tell you how to travel.

I dunno, I’m not going to tell anyone how to run their blog. You do you. I read this article about how people write about/geotag “really cool shit that EVERYONE SHOULD SEE” and how to get to it, which then overpopulates the cool area AND robs the person of the joy of figuring it out on their own, of bumbling through a new experience, of truly exploring. That makes me feel a little sad.

But…I also like doing cool shit, and then talking about it, and hopefully inspiring others to do cool shit. It’s a conundrum.

I guess, what I’m saying is I’m worried about ruining nature or your day. But I’m tired of feeling like a “stupid millennial” just for living and sharing. And, well, if I ruined your day, I’m sorry. It sounds like it was going to be ruined anyway, which I’m not going to take personally. I do hope things get better for you.

And so, dear reader, I hope this reminds you to do cool shit, too.

That’s all it took for me was a simple reminder from a friend. He said, “hey I’m gonna send it and go to Thailand for a month.” And I was all, “WOW that sounds so cool! You live such a cool life! Why can’t I – wait.” I didn’t have an answer for why I couldn’t do it beyond needing to plan it and hating myself. I decided that

• planning wasn’t that hard if you planned very far ahead and also
• I didn’t actually hate myself, I just sometimes act like I do because I believe false truths about myself.

Anyway, I digress. Allora, FLORENCE!

It felt like home, immediately. I mean, it even SMELLED like home. I’m not kidding – almost every street (except for the ones that smelled like pee) had the aroma of my grandparents house. For growing up in America, I’ve sure felt like a true Italian these past 2 weeks (except that I can’t speak the language…).

The thing is? I can’t see myself living in this city. And that has brought a strange sentiment to the forefront: never have I felt so at home in a city I could never imagine myself living in.

Has that ever happened to you? Maybe it comes with age, with having traveled a whole bunch, with starting to form opinions about where is “good” and where is “less good or gross.” Or maybe it’s because I’ve actually built a home where I’ve been living in North Carolina. How funny, I traveled a thousand miles to understand my true home is the place I’d left. The knowledge that I will return warms my heart and keeps me going. I love home, I am so happy for home, and I am equally happy about where I am right now.

That’s balance, bro.

Traveling with a home feels so different than leaving and not giving a shit where you end up.

Oh I forgot to mention the main reason I came here:

This signorina right here, Ms Elena, the champion who decided to study abroad. In one semester she singlehandedly got 8 of our family members to come visit (really we just wanted an excuse to come to Italy, but don’t tell her that).

She, my dad and I were talking the other night on the way home from a restaurant (we ate pasta). She’s taken to talking in a funny accent that’s almost Italian but strays into some incorrect smudge of sound. But anyway, we were laughing, she said, “No, no! When I come back to America you no have seeester. No, you say you have a sorella! Sono Italiana!”

It’s these moments we forget to hang onto.

So! I’ve got 2 more weeks of adventuring ahead!

And lots of little stories to fill you in on. More to come, mi amici.

Ciao! Fly on!

xoTM