Lone wanderer

I think it’s in my nature to be ok with doing things on my own - I’m quite introverted and can happily be in my own company for days.

This has its upsides and downsides, one of the upsides being I was happy to sort everything out myself when preparing for my year abroad.

My parents stayed pretty much out of the scene, apart from my dad’s kindness to drive me about 250 miles down to Stansted through the dead of night, and my mum’s help when weighing my case. She didn’t even nag to check if I had everything! (I know! Barely even a proper mother anymore.)

Even my sister, who had done a year abroad in Italy herself, did not bombard me with advice and information and just let me figure things out for myself which I am grateful for. (However she did only come back from the other side of the world a week before I left so I guess she was kind of busy anyway…)

It’s different being solitary in a foreign country though. You have to be confident enough to ask things in a language you barely know, and it will be embarrassing at times. Maybe more times than you would like.

It is also frustrating, especially with a certain group of receptionists at a certain Conservatorio… but there is only one person I know there that speaks English so I have no choice but to (attempt to) communicate with them if I want to speak to that person.

Having said this, I think there is really no other way to learn in life than by doing something yourself. You can only learn so much through observation.

Yes, I could watch my sister go and do her year abroad in Italy, I went to visit and experienced tiny bits of it, she can try to teach me Italian through Whatsapp, other people can give me endless bits of advice, but really, the only way for me to properly learn is by being here and doing it myself.

It does come with the risk of loneliness, or embarrassment when you get something wrong, or being shouted at by the receptionist (ooops) but it’s sometimes the only way to find things out. And however scary things may seem, it is always pretty satisfying when you do get it right.