1000 Words, 5 DAYS: DAY 3

This is a photo I captured within the first week I arrived in Italy. I was exploring around the countryside with my cousin, her current boyfriend, and their friend. This photo is significant for many reasons. This was the first time I was truly away from home. I wasn’t planning to return to the U.S. for another year or maybe even longer. In fact, during this period I had considered spending a year in Spain followed by China after my Au Pair experience in Italy. I initially had these plans because I was at a point in my education and my life where I felt like I wasn’t contributing very much to society. What kind of person do I want to be? What do I want to do with my life? How am I going to get there?

These questions ignited the fire of motivation I needed to get what I wanted and research how get there.

I think what kick started it all was the night I stood outside the post office with my cousin. We were out there hours before they opened because apparently the system of obtaining a passport is more troublesome than one would think. We were first in line and I think we were out there for over an hour before the next person followed. He was an older man who was young at heart. The combination of his words of persuasion and my cousin’s invitation to join her on her Italian trip, is what sparked the idea of furthering my travel. I did not hesitate to answer yes when my cousin asked me to take part in their trip. However, I knew that spending the miniscule amount of about fourteen days was not sufficient. If I was going to save up for a plane ticket to Italy, I was going to stay longer than the average person would normally do so. So, I did my research and came to the final decision of taking part of an au pair experience for the family I am currently living with. If it wasn’t for that night I spent with my cousin, standing outside the post office for hours, waiting for us to be let in, I would not be where I am today. Literally! So when I look at this photo, I look back at my life before embarking on the journey. I recall why I even came to Italy in the first place.

Saying yes to a trip to Italy was by far, the best decision I have ever made and will never regret it for even a moment.

There is more to this photo than a hand in the distance with a focus on a bundle of white flowers. I look at this photo and I remember the many hours we spent in the car. One person to drive most of the time. My cousin and I in the back seats taking selfies while we sit in traffic. I remember the confusing navigation system that was provided with the car. On one occasion, I remember we tried to reroute the car towards a different path in order to avoid the traffic, only to be led to a dead end road. I remember us stopping somewhere in the hills and we came across a playground that seemed as though it was built in the middle of nowhere.

I remember the tremendous amount of rain. It was no wonder why the hills were so green.

For this particular photograph, we had stopped on our way to Pisa and we were driving through Tuscany. There was a surprising amount of diverse insects that were found on various plants and flowers. I remember we had stopped for a moment. I step out of the car and feel something burning around my ankles. I look down and discovered the culprit: ants. This situation was funny, but made me very paranoid for any strange sensation on my skin. In fact, my first week in Italy was full of surprises when it came to the “creepy crawlies.” On our third day of exploring, we had returned back home. I am in the shower and look down at my chest. There was, what looked like a small orange and black striped spider, crawling inside my skin. It was quite the situation. I had no idea what to do. I was butt-naked in the shower and my tweezers weren’t in the bathroom. I step out of the shower, soaking up the floor, and run to my room to obtain my tweezers. I run back to the bathroom and close the door behind me. I try to pull the unknown specimen out of my skin. The legs were moving. It was probably the most freaked out I have ever been when it came to an insect touching me. I usually have no problem with small living things, in fact I think they are interesting. However, the fact that this one was trying to use me as its host freaked me out a bit. I tried to pull the little guy out of my skin but he felt like he was stuck. The two guys heard the strange sounds coming from the bathroom and came up to investigate. I explain to them what happened and they immediately begin to laugh. Yes, it was funny, but in the moment it was very disgusting. Once I covered myself and let them in, they identified the insect as a tick and made it very clear that I handled the situation poorly. Needless to say, I now know what a tick looks like and how to remove it. For those of you who don’t know, you are supposed to light a fire under its butt so it can crawl out on its own.
I hope this made you laugh and think. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Check my Instagram for regular updates of things that get posted to my site!