El Viaje

It has been too long since my last post and I have quite a bit to say.

I've been using my time more and more for exploring. There was a 10 day holiday, called Semana Santa, which I used to visit Italia. Italia is now probably one of my favorite countries in the world and I've only managed to see half of it! Milano, Venezia, Firenze and Roma, each city offered its own unique contribution to my love of Italia.

Milano is much smaller than I expected but I appreciated this. There were also many more bicycles in the city and a very hipster fashion scene that was also unexpected. I really loved the park in the city center, the castle and of course the Duomo. The city, undoubtedly an international fashion capital, has its share of glitz and high end glamour, but it was a nice starting point for this particular adventure.

Venezia offered something completely unique. Truly a world treasure, everyone should see it sometime in their life. Though the city is now overrun with tourists and all the things you would associate with them, you can still wander down random canals and small streets and find the heart of Venezia. While there I also visited Murano, famous for glass blowing, for a half day and really fell in love with the architecture of the island. All the boat rides though I could've done without as I got a bit dizzy after the second day. Nonetheless, I loved this magical series of islands.

I was happy to be back on solid land in Firenze. This city may have been my favorite of all. Blending the old country and the city, the landscape is amazing. I trekked to the top of Piazza Michelangelo, famous for its unparalleled view of Firenze and was astounded. There are many wonderful things about the city: the David, the Duomo (though not as impressive as the basilica San Miniato al Monte atop the hill near Piazza Michelangelo), many museums and interesting streets filled with amazing shops. My biggest purchase of the trip was a salami from a great little shop near the Duomo. Though I have to say the best part of my experience in Firenze was sitting and having a conversation with a complete stranger in front of David, the most immaculate artwork I've ever seen. An older Irish woman was seated next to me and she leaned over and said, "Amazing isn't it? You just see something new each time you look at it." I pondered a bit about what she said, perhaps too long, she paused to ask me if I spoke English. I chuckled and said yes. We had a 30 minute conversation about, well everything. David and Michelangelo, politics, the economic crisis, love, and 'the journey'. As she left to go to the countryside and have dinner with a friend, instead of begging her to take me with her, I just thanked her for the conversation. She wished me a happy journey, through Italia and through life.

Finally, my holiday ended in Roma. A beautiful city with many, many, many ancient sites. Aside from the sites I also had my two best Italian culinary experiences with gelato and carbonara here. Despite the city being quite filthy, it has a nice ambiance. It was full of people for the special Good Friday and Easter celebrations. The pope gave a special service at the Vaticano on Easter Sunday and the streets were filled with people enjoying the sunny day.

I was quite sad to end my Italian voyage and return to Spain. My colleagues at work asked me if I like Italia more than Spain but, in fairness, I haven't really seen much of Spain outside of Madrid. So I decided on the next holiday I should travel somewhere inside the country. I'm still debating where this could be but the beach sounds quite nice, even though Madrid is all too frigid for me, mid 40s - 50s in April!

Aside from this journey through Italia, I have been filling my time interviewing for summer camps, looking into aupair positions in France, Italia or the Netherlands, and opening myself to the idea of going to the United States in July and/or August to disconnect from this experience and recharge my batteries. I think I'm becoming a bit disenchanted with living in Spain, though I really appreciate the ability to be in Europe. Living here through this crisis has perhaps affected my point of view but I've found it a bit difficult to connect with Spanish people on an individual basis. Aside from my colleagues at school and a few others I haven't been able to make meaningful connections. Spain is a very familial and communal country, hard to dissect for an independent introvert like myself. I think in the United States it is much more socially acceptable to go to a bar, restaurant, or coffee shop alone. Here though people assume you have the plague if you aren't always surrounded by and talking to people. It's a bit refreshing in a way though, the teachers at my school in Aranjuez extend themselves and make an effort to include me and I've appreciated feeling a part of their circle.

Perhaps it's just the big city conundrum. I experienced this a bit in graduate school with New York City. How can a person feel integrated in a city with millions of people? Carving out and defining a space for oneself among millions is quite a daunting challenge. Though I suspect this is just a part of living somewhere new. Being away for 7 consecutive months now has really changed my perspective on living abroad and life in general. More and more I wonder where I will go and what I will do next. Back to the sunshine and comfort of California? Seems a bit too easy. I think what would make me happiest is to start working with my craft, whatever that may be.