My Last Month in Italy… for now!
In July, I traveled for over a week and a half on a solo trip while taking a break from work. My sweet host family looked after Dot for me, and they were happy to have the bonding time with her. Naturally, she likes other people a lot more when they are feeding her! 😸 I took a few trains, jumped on a bus and spent a weekend on the Northeastern shore of Lake Garda. I stayed with a wonderful host, Francesca, who really inspired me. She ran a small bed and breakfast, and I could tell that she genuinely enjoyed her work. She arranged breakfast, cleaned the rooms, connected with her guests, offered suggestions, and extended lively encouragement to me as she heard about my solo pursuits. I spent my days on the beach, swimming, reading, eating pizza, and drinking prosecco.
I headed to Venice from Francesca’s via bus then train. In Venice, I ran around for a few hours in crippling heat and made it onto my evening ferry. The ferry took me to Pula, Croatia, where I took a taxi to Pješčana Uvala and met Slaven, my next host. He welcomed me with local wine, peanuts and cookies. We snacked, drank and discussed maps of the surrounding areas. He gave me ample suggestions for my next week! I spent my days at the crystal clear beaches, exploring on foot, renting a bike, and making sandwiches from my local grocery store and bakery hauls. I also tried a local dish, cevapi (pictured below)! It’s kind of like if sausages and a burger had a baby. The highlight was biking over 30 miles along the coast of Premantura, taking multiple dips into the Adriatic Sea along the way. I was also able to explore a Roman amphitheater. My trip concluded with a ferry back to Venice, exploring for a couple hours, then catching train home to Imperia with a quick dinner stop in Milan.
The worst part of coming home was definitely traveling with Dot, but that’s genuinely not Dot’s fault! Everything had gone so smoothly with her on the way to Italy, and I honestly had very little reservation about the process. She was very well behaved and ladylike for her international adventures. I’ve always been able to get a private screening room for Dot, so she can chill in a quieter, enclosed room while they run the carrier through the x-ray. Cleveland, Newark and DC security checks were seamless. Unfortunately, Nice does not have private rooms, so multiple staff members said to leave her in the carrier and they would run it through the metal detector. Naturally there was one staff member who disagreed, and he got his way by being the most insufferable and aggressive. He demanded that she be removed and made me carry her, then refused to let me set her down, even after the carrier was through the x-ray. She was visibly tweaking from the noise/chaos level around her, and I was holding her close with all of my mite. Mr Insufferable then shoved his hands in her face to “check her for explosives,” which is when Dot launched herself out of my arms and seriously bruised/scrapped me in the process (I’m talking multiple, permanent scars on my inner arm). She dashed away but was cornered by glass barriers that she couldn’t see near the metal detectors. I quite literally threw myself after her on all fours and was able to get her back into her carrier. Being an airport spectacle is quite humbling, but at least the airport staff learned a lesson about anxious cats and hopefully someone was entertained. Needless to say, I hope to never fly through Nice with a cat ever again.
July was bittersweet; it had the feeling of the end of a book that you never want to put down. I had two goodbye dinners with my host family, and I’m honored that they’ve invited me to return next summer! It’s always easier to say “see you later” than to say a proper goodbye, so I was very grateful to have a plan to see them again. It actually aligns really well with my next job, where I’m teaching english as a second language in Valencia, Spain! I’ll work during the school year (October 1st to June 1st), and then I can return to Imperia, Italy for June and July! I’m planning to swing by Ohio before my teaching job starts up again to stay connected to my roots.
A new annual routine is falling into place between my three “homes.” I’ve been in a cycle of uprooting myself every few years (Cleveland 2000-2009 → North Olmsted 2009-2018 → Athens 2018-2022 → Madison 2022-2025), and my feeling of home has constantly shifted around. As long as I have a safe bedroom and a sense of community around me (whether this community comes from a company, a school, a (host) family, or friends), then I can feel right at home!
Heading back to Ohio was obviously bittersweet, I stayed in the EU until my tourist visa had only 48 hours of validity left and wished it could have been longer. I was motivated to return to get my ducks in a row for my Spanish visa appointment, which will allow me to stay for a full year, so of course the trip back was worth it. Catching up with my old friends and family is also really important to me, I’ve always been big on roots and remembering where you come from. All of the growth in the world means nothing if you move the goalpost constantly without reflecting on how far you’ve come.
The downside to coming home is the immediate regression. I stop taking care of myself as much as I like to because I step into my childhood room and suddenly become 14 years old. I start picking up vices that I hadn’t craved at all while I was removed from them. My family dynamics have never been easy to navigate, and coming home after living on my own for three years is a bit odd. The upside is that my mom’s garden is a very beautiful, calming space for me to immerse in nature as privately as possible, and I’ve been walking 3-6 miles everyday either around my neighborhood or in the local parks. I’m also not mad about free food, no rent and being near Lake Eerie. The beach will always be a beacon for me, and I’m prioritizing plenty of lake days at the same beach that I frequented during my childhood. Also can’t complain about having such an amazing variety of restaurants and Mitchell’s ice cream in my proximity.
Thanks for reading! See you next time… I’ll fill you in on prepping for Spain, the visa process, and selling my van <3
