I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday. He was about to visit Rome for a few days. “What a life! I’m not excited to go to Rome!” he told me.
Maybe it’s a fact that when things come too easy, it makes us less excited. Perhaps if I was not living in Italy, visiting here would have been a dream. But I felt the same as my friend when I was on my way to Rome a few days ago.
Last year, I visited Rome for five days. So this time, I didn’t care much about seeing sights or going places many people wanted. I was simply keener on spending time with an old friend of mine and experience being in places where he recommends as a local in Rome and around. We spent a day in Sabaudia, an hour away from Rome. It was my first time going to the sea in Italy.
I met him in Iran for the first time more than six years ago, and here we were walking in a forest in Sabaudia. We had amazing Italian food, went to the beach, lay down under the night sky, watched the stars, and talked deeply for hours and hours. I read him my blog, and he read me a part of Comedy of Dante.
On my way back to Padova, everything that used to bother me in life was still there, but I was feeling way more relaxed and recharged, ready for a fresh start. And just like that, sometimes all you need is to go somewhere with a friend who makes you feel like home.
A slice of me 