Una Nuova Vita | A New Life
I'm fortunate enough to have been to Italy several times in my 30 years on this planet, but somehow, every time I go, there's always something that leaves me feeling more centred, more "me". Here's how it all started...
My life had taken several wrong turns in the lead up to my 29th birthday.
I was in a career that didn't fulfil me, a country that didn't feel like home and a marriage I didn't want to be in. I was stuck, I felt guilty for wanting to press the escape button and catapult myself directly out of my life in London and into something else. I didn't know what I wanted, I just knew I wanted somewhere sunnier. Somewhere foreign. I wasn't trying to re-live Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love" but I'll admit, my story was suspiciously similar.
I'd wanted to learn another language and so, after months of internal debate and emotional battles, I finally got the courage to speak my feelings, leave my marriage, quit my job and book a ticket. Without a solid plan, I moved to Milan in 2022. I enrolled in a language school, lived with an old couple in the middle of Milan who didn't speak a word of English.
Long story short, Italy brought me back to life.
I met someone new, I found my real passions and developed a grander plan for my life. And even though living there is vastly different to spending a week or two on holiday, there's still something incredible about it that never wore off.
When you take the time to learn the language, you start to understand and communicate with people around you, it all doesn't feel so foreign. When people ask me my favourite thing about Italy, I always come back to the people. The energy. Yes, there are frustrations with the bureaucracy and feeling like you've stepped back in time, but for someone like me who was over the rat race, that was just what I needed.
I met an Italian man from Milan at a dinner party one night and, to cut a long story short, we now live in Australia together and now happily married. We will continue to visit Italy as often as possible, but for now, this travel diary is a reminder of my time there. A reminder to slow down, be present and see the beauty in the everyday
