Two years ago I flew to another country all on my own. I did not know the language, I did not know a single person, and I was 16 years old. Why my mother sent me on my way, I will never know but it was the best thing that ever happened to me.
Let’s start off this tale with my junior year of high school. Coming back from Covid, I not only felt like a stranger to everyone but everyone felt like a stranger to me. I treated everyone as if I hadn’t known them before and this made it possibly the worst year of my life. My sentiment however was not shared with anyone. I quickly started to feel isolated from my friends, was reeled into a toxic “situationship” and could not place two feet on the ground. Everything was off balance—I was off balance. I knew I wanted an out and fell back into a deep depression.
One day my mother came up to me and asked me what my dream was, although mostly this was to humor me I still answered “to travel the world”. She looked me in the eyes and said “I bought you tickets to go visit Italy, I already arranged a homestay, and a language learning program with a school.” That was the best day of my life. I don’t even recall what I wore to school or what I ate in the morning, only that it was the greatest wish I could ask for.
Fast forward to June of 2022, I’m on a plane alone for the first time. Trust me when I tell you I was getting yelled at everywhere I went for being too slow. Once the plane lands I realize I don’t know anyone. I am alone. I immediately called my mom for reassurance and it helped while I was on my way to my homestay.
My homestay mom presented herself to me and offered dinner. She spoke English which was nice and gave me a little run down of the city’s bus and metro system. That’s the most we spoke but I figured a quiet home is better than anything else.
The next morning I woke up pretty late and had trouble with the metro as prophesied by everyone around me, however, I managed to make it exactly on time. During class, I met these two girls who we can call Milly and Ali. They not only lit up the room when they spoke but included everyone in their jokes and side comments. I wished at that moment for them to ask me what my name was, and just as I finished I was tapped on the shoulder and asked “¿que es tu nombre?”—“what’s your name?” I told her my name and made a funny joke about the heat. Next thing I know I am being taken on a tour of Rome. I think I saw more than half the monuments in one day and walked 20 miles.
The following weeks were spent visiting cool restaurants, bars, monuments, streets, and meeting new people. I never thought I would be doing this, especially not with these people. My perspective was changing right in front of me and I hadn’t even noticed.
This one specific night I noticed a lot of people standing around and waiting for something, I pointed it out to my friends and we thought well let’s wait and see. The next hour was filled with dancing, talking, and taking in the bright full moon of the night. I can vividly remember the glow of the river and the patterns of people jumping carefree and unafraid. It to this day is the best night of my life.