Overseas briefing

I left home for the first time, to go study abroad, when I was 16. Since then I have been moving from place to place, meeting new people, living new experiences, becoming part of new things. Every place is a new adventure, a new challenge, a new culture to understand and become a part of. I keep on being amazed by the human capacity to adapt, no matter how alien the new environment is. I came to study abroad in Rome, Italy, in fall 2009. Two hours after landing, I was left breathless with the view of a huge city that unfolded right in front of my eyes. The sights, the piazzas, everything was breathtaking. I wondered, could I ever blend in, become a part of it?

I started looking for a place to live, got lost countless times, could not understand the local romanesco, felt all in all frustrated. As the days went by, I settled into my new house, started classes, figured out the bus system, but there was still something missing. Rome represents the first time I have paid my own bills, thought about rent money, wondered what to cook for dinner, and realized that if you go to the supermarket to get one thing you really need, that is the one thing you will forget to buy once you are there. After a while, I was happy, but could still not call Rome my city.

I had heard people talk about their “corner bar,” which is not necessarily in a corner, and it is the place where you would get your morning cappuccino and croissant, your midday espresso, or the aperitivo before dinner. I could not understand the importance of this one bar in the Italian reality. I just wandered around to different bars. One day though, I walked into a bar, three blocks from my house. Something felt different about this place. I kept on coming every morning, until I could recognize the faces of the people that came in at the same time I did. They were all so friendly. The day came when I did not have to order anymore. Gigi (the intimidating-looking bartender) knew exactly how I liked my coffee, and what I liked for breakfast. As time went by, the use of formal Italian stopped, it was so nice to walk into a place and be addressed as one of the locals. During my exam period of the first semester, Gigi figured out the days I had exams (since I would be stressed out and would have a bunch of papers in my hands) and saluted me with a cheerful in bocca al lupo — the equivalent for “break a leg.” One day, Gigi decided to greet me with a coffee macchiato instead of my usual morning cappuccino. Surprised, I looked up to him as if to say, “did you forgot what I drink in the morning?” As a response he simply pointed at the clock and said “Today you are late; a macchiato goes down faster.” I could not believe it! He had even figured out my schedule! It was at that point when I really felt I belonged.

I believe it takes time to make a place your own. Sometimes we cannot; sometimes we do not realize we have, and we need a seemingly insignificant event to make us see it. In my case, it took a coffee macchiato. Every time I go someplace new I feel like I learn and evolve. Every place gives us something, but also takes a piece of us. I can honestly say, even before having to leave Rome, that this has been the place that has taught me the most, the place I fear to leave, the place I will look back at in the future and say I did it, and is the place I will dream to come back to.