friendship

The first thing you worry about when moving abroad is mostly how lonely you're going to be. With family a good distance away and certainly not within reaching-distance if something were to go wrong, you rely entirely upon the friends you make when you move away.

The very first true friend I made I am sure will stick with me for life. Meg and I were mostly joined at the hip from the moment we met in October until she left for Germany in March. She helped me get settled in and introduced me to a lot of the good friends I have now, and I in turn took great pleasure in cooking for her most evenings. We shared food, gossip, the same taste in alcohol and the same views on some people. Be they good or bad. Also the same address (more or less). We were never too far away and never too busy to find something to do together.

Coming just at a time when I really needed her, Ellie turned up, both of us ex-school-friends excited at the prospect of living so close to each other after almost three years living at opposite ends of the country. Her energy, excitement and enthusiasm seemingly never-ending, we'd often have intense conversations about our futures, our fears and our ultimate goals. And then, after the briefest of moments, she went. Her brave decision to leave Italy and head to Germany instead still inspires me and will remain something I think back on whenever I have an important choice to make.

Without these two important figures in my life here, each of us helping each other through the difficulties you encounter during a year abroad, I thought I'd find myself lost and lonely as I'd been convinced I would be at the beginning. 

But the truth is along the journey of this year I've picked up some truly inspiring friends. Each of them heading down a different path in life and each with their own outlook on the future/past/present. And we always have such a wonderful time together. 

Take yesterday for example. An example of the snowball effect. What went from meeting one friend, to inviting another and another resulted in the perfect Sunday afternoon with some great girls.

I know by the end of my time here, I'll be thanking these girls for everything they've given me (including tonnes of support) throughout the year.

the dangers of being spontaneous

So it basically all started when a friend told me he'd found cheap flights to Gothenburg for a weekend. When I asked him how cheap, he replied with a number I'd been dreading - only a quarter of what Hugo and I'd been paying every single other visit between us.

I had also just found out that as per the Italian way, nobody had told me of the upcoming week off lessons. 

I duly whinged to Hugo about these two facts and he planted that little tiny idea in my head that I could come out sooner than originally planned.

It was a Sunday night, and I'd booked to fly out the coming Friday. So we checked on the website and lo and behold there was a cheap flight available for the following afternoon. 

I clicked on 'book'. 

Nothing happened. 

I clicked again. 

Nothing. 

In my state of feeling very much like this was the first ever truly spontaneous thing I'd ever done in my life ever I agreed with Hugo that I'd get up at 5:30 the next morning, travel the 3 hours it takes to get to Milan airport and buy my flight there and then. 

Obviously my stomach was turning and churning so much I hardly got any sleep, but the next morning, before sunrise I headed for Milan.

I got to the ticket office. I bought the ticket. It couldn't have been simpler! And so I got on the flight.

Two hours, a hop, skip and a bus ride later Hugo met me at the station and we began to spend the eight beautiful days we now had, together.

We filled our days with concerts (Mahler, Britten, Sibelius, Mozart), zoos, shopping, vintage, cafés, bars, friends, sushi, burgers, sunshine, nature, lakes, picnics, parades, buses, trams and trains, scrabble, worms, connect 4, lazy afternoons, and tonnes of arguments about how to chop onions correctly.

And when it was time for me to get back on the plane to go home, I was heartbroken to have to leave it all and him behind, just as I felt we were both finally getting a chance to really get to enjoy Gothenburg in all its splendour. 

Hugo took me back to the airport, where I would check into my flight (hopefully without a problem as I'd been worrying all week about 'that ticket I booked that I didn't end up using...'). He went for a wander as I tried to tackle the self-service machines.

"No Booking Registered" it said to me.

No... booking... registered?? 

I started to panic. Scanned everything through again, including my passport which told the machine I'd be flying via Amsterdam that day but no more than that.

With no sign of Hugo anywhere, I scuttled nervously over to the ticket desk to sort things out. 

The kind Swedish woman behind the desk pleasantly informed me that I "would not be allowed to board the flight as your booking has been cancelled. If you'd like to fly today you need to buy a brand new ticket. That's what happens if you don't get your outbound flight."

In a teary-eyed mess, I tracked Hugo down, who gave me a hug and steered me towards the ticket offices. We asked for a ticket for the flight. They told me it'd be £500. I cried. Full on cried.

We were directed to the nearby ticket office for SAS airlines and then asked the same question. 

The woman smiled sympathetically, asked if I was under 25 so that I could qualify for "youth prices" then printed me out a ticket for an extremely reasonable price.

With a different flight booked and 3 more hours to spare, we hopped on the bus back into town, grabbed lunch and a coffee and said goodbye for the second time that day.

I was very ill when I returned home. I'm putting it down to stress.

As a bonus, my bike was stolen.

So here's the lesson:

BE SPONTANEOUS! 

It's fun! That week I spent with Hugo was the best week I've had all year.

But. Don't be too spontaneous...

liberation day

The twenty-fifth of April. In Italy an excuse for a jam-packed day of festivities, no work and no school. Also for the sunshine to bless us with blissfully warm weather.

Here's what I did:

//Ate gelato as we wandered through the side-streets of Parma, perusing the never-seen-open vintage shops

//Stumbled upon a piazza filled with falafel stalls and vintage stalls, joined by a live band and a drunk clown

//Sat on the steps of the Duomo, soaking up the sun

//Passed a puppet show on the way to buy our picnic

//Sat in the Pilotta with our mountainous picnic, Lithuanian Mead, good friends and a Ukulele

//Drank coffee and ate tonnes of sugary snacks at our friend's house

//Partied, danced and sang in Piazza Garibaldi to the various bands playing there as if it were a summer festival, all the while careful not to spill the Sangria

//Walked/danced all the way home and into bed at 2 am.

the arrival of summer

So as I write this, there are a few spots of rain appearing on the pavement outside - perhaps Summer is not quite ready to make an appearance, but for the past few days we've had some truly amazing weather here. Finally the kind of weather people are expecting me to have seeing as I live in Italy!

The arrival of Summer here brings plenty of opportunities to eat ice cream (every single day - it's a staple part of the diet), warm sunshine, lazing about in parks, strolls, salads, picnics and beautiful colours, not to mention the scathing looks from the locals as we leave our apartments in appropriate Summer dress whilst they are all still bundled up in coats, jeans and scarves.

This new change in temperature is having me bristling with excitement at the prospect of travelling to glorious sandy beaches and beautiful old towns on my days off, but also of outdoor concerts, practising in a warm room with the windows open and a breeze floating in and the ever-nearing Summer Holidays.

How are you planning on spending the Summer?

getting into the swing of things

Yesterday I was on a plane returning to Italy. Today was spent in lessons, followed by a rehearsal followed by a concert (and yes I really do have lessons on a Saturday).

Yesterday I was worried I wouldn't enjoy being back here. Today that is no longer a concern.

As soon as my bags were dropped off in my refreshingly cool apartment (it being a baffling 23 degrees yesterday afternoon), I was out the door and on my way to the park for a much needed catch-up. With the sun beating down on the warm pavement and shining through the finally verdant trees it really was easy to fall back in love with Parma. I forgot how beautiful this city could be.

The following were snapped in Parco Citadella and on the way to/along the riverside.

In the past 24 hours, I came across two things which made me love Parma more:

Being a student, I can absolutely never ever say no to such low prices for such good food.

On our stroll today, after the concert I sang in, Rosie and I took a short-cut we'd both of us never usually take, and stumbled across an old church with its doors wide open. Inside was this art gallery, exhibiting works from local artists. A real gem.

After three weeks away from this place, returning to such beautiful weather feels like I'm taking a summer holiday. With such a fresh perspective on life here, and a different atmosphere (not only the weather, but the people around me), I simply cannot wait to get stuck into this Summer term and really make these last few months here count.

saying goodbye again

Tomorrow sees me hopping on the fourth plane in as many weeks back to my Italian home for the year. This final downhill path will perhaps be the easiest to cope with. Only two more months and I will be free from the stress of taking an exam or a recital tutto in Italiano and can come home for good and begin to carefully connect the jigsaw-puzzle pieces of my life to form the next pathway towards my future.

Those people in England who I have had the great fortune and pleasure to catch up with during the year have done so much for me. I mean that for every single one of you. It can be so very difficult uprooting your life, changing your education, your friends, your language and even (on a completely materialistic note) your dress sense. Seeing the familiar faces I have been so lucky to encounter has always made me feel as if home is not reallly so far away. 

It is this which makes it so hard to leave, even though I have found some truly inspiring friends in my time in Parma. Some who I saw for months and months and some who were present in my life for the briefest whisper of time. Some who I now consider a part of my 'family'.

I feel like I'm trying to live two lives side by side. Every day in either place makes me feel like I'm missing a momentous occasion in the other. And neither place feels to me to be counter-productive. But all I can do is learn that I simply cannot be in two places at once.

When I get back to Parma tomorrow I need to remember what it is I love about the place, why I have chosen to be there, how lucky I am to have the education there that I do, and how many amazing friends I have there to share some truly special adventures with.

But for now I wish to reminisce. To soak myself in nostalgic English memories before I once more head towards the new and unfamiliar.

prague

There's nothing more excitingly terrifying than hopping on a plane on your own to a brand new country you've never been to before and hoping your boyfriend is waiting for you at the other end. Luckily he was. And the rest of our two year anniversary weekend sailed smoothly and beautifully by.

1/ On the St. Charles Bridge

2/ Twin guards at the  Castle

3/ Czech pride

4/ New Town

5/ A beautiful golden building covered in scaffolding

6 & 7/ A trip up Petřín Hill

8/ Memorial to the victims of communism

9 - 12/ Strange and bizarre musical instruments in the Instrument Museum plus a concert in the Smetana Concert Hall

13/ Coffee & cake in a Gingerbread shop - even the pictures on the walls were made out of gingerbread.

14/ Cocktails in a square

15/ Michelin star anniversary treat

16,17,18/ Views of Old Town and St Charles Bridge

19/ Canons in Golden Lane

20/ The Town Hall's Astronomical Clock

Hugo and I spent our days there together either gorging on the delicious Czech food we stumbled across during our long walks, giggling in a bubbly bath of beer, climbing up and down hills, drinking ridiculously cheap drinks, immersed in Music or feeling ridiculously under-dressed in our 5* Hotel.

The weekend was a perfect way to celebrate the past two years together - to remind us that the long distance bit is nearly over and that we still managed to have fun doing it.