Finally!

Finally I’m here!

It’s been an absolute nightmare getting here, but when I was about 20 minutes away from roam and they announced that we were beginning our descent, it really hit me. I’m in Rome. I’m 20 hours of travel away from mom and dad and Tiger and Mohawk and Oliver and maple syrup and Candian Netlifx. But it also hit me, I’ve been doing dick all with my year. It started off really really crappy if I’m honest, getting sick at the school I’ve wanted to g to for 3 years and having to come home, doubting myself and my abilities, working jobs that would sometimes make me cry, other times leave me feeling like I would never amount to much. And that was over. 

No one knows who I am, what my past holds, what I wanted this year to be. No, all that people know me as here is the little Canadian girl who can’t speak a word of Italian and can’t do the cheek kissing thing (turns out you go to your right first then your left, who knew hey?). Just driving home from the airport made me forget about my lack of maple syrup. The buildings, even in the dark, had so much character. Winding iron balconies stood out from building made of gorgeous stones in different hues of creams and pinks and yellows. Ivy crawls up almost every building, and the trees look like the kind from the lion king, all skinny at the base and puffy on top (sort of like elongated broccoli).

I felt like Lizzy Mcguire when I got off the plane, the air smelled like vacation air, the night was warm and even though people were bundled up, I had to take off my jacket. The kids were asleep when I got in, but I was greeted with a big hug cheek kiss (which I messed up) from Beatrice who quickly hurried me into the dinning room for roast duck and potatoes. The apartment is beautiful, it’s on the 4th floor of a 5 story building with (of course) ivy climbing up it’s beige-grey stone walls. The floors are polished marble and the ceilings are vaulted nearly an extra story high. Everything is so luxurious, and when they told me about Ria and Aaron (the husband and wife couple that are live in housekeepers and cooks) my jaw nearly hit the floor. Yep, I could get used to fancy place setting and a 5 bedroom + 5 bathroom apartment. 

Tonight and tomorrow I will sleep in the baby (Elena)’s room because they wanted to have my future room painted so it was nicer for me (again, I could get used to this :) ) but Elena sleeps in the parent’s room anyways and theres a super comfy bed in here, so you don't hear any complaints from me. Lying in bed, I have to say I’m surprised. Surprised I’m not thinking ‘did I just seriously agree to being here for 3 months’ ‘what the hell am I doing’ and so on and so on. No, I’m sitting here grinning like an idiot who just won the lottery. No regrets so far.

I think this is where I need to be right now.