By frenezeder
Greetings to all 4 of my readers! While this post may be a bit delayed, it is only because I have been traveling throughout Italy for the past 2 weeks and have been so immersed in the moment that I simply have had neither the time nor the Wifi to dedicate time to this. The Tuesday prior to the last I departed for my Eat Pray Love trip to Venice, Florence, and Rome and just now returned today - Sunday - to Freiburg. While I would love to give you all a detailed summary of my trip, my itinerary was simply too packed to relay all of my adventures. So - rather than suggesting cafes and activities I am going to address a common revelation that happens when you go abroad - becoming your own best friend.
It may be clear by now that I am a huge fan of blanket statements, so I apologize in advance if this does not apply to you, but I truly believe that when people go abroad they learn how to spend time by themselves and actually learn how to enjoy being alone. While I have always been more of an introvert, I often struggle with being alone and entertaining myself, which I believe is a common struggle amongst college students. Most college students are surrounded by their peers at almost every hour of the day, so spending time by yourself and becoming comfortable with being alone for more than 3 hours with nothing to do is daunting. Italy was the perfect place to just become my own best friend and truly relish the opportunity to get to know myself a bit more. Most of the time I just walked around the streets and window shopped, but others I went to museums alone and I must say that my experience was vastly different than if I had gone with friends. Normally when I go to a museum with other people, I practice common courtesy by trying to give the group enough time but not too much in front of each work of art. I mean going to museums with friends is fun and provides for some interesting conversation, but I went to the Uffizi, Sistine Chapel, Colosseum, Roman Forum, and the Duomo by myself and was able to spend my time as I wanted without a single concern for others. It really makes the world your oyster and is very liberating. My time in Italy has shown me that my favorite person to hang out with is actually myself as we like to do all the same activities! I even dined alone several times throughout my trip and discovered that it may very well be my favorite thing to do in the world.
I think I should clarify that I did travel with other people in my program - 6 others to be exact. While I did enjoy my time with them, I wanted to try to travel on own as I have only ever traveled with friends or family and I am completely content with my decision. I would recommend everyone to try to travel on their own or even dine alone just to see how you feel and think about. I will be writing another post on recommendations for Italy soon, so until then!