03 Jun This place I will never leave!
As my journey comes so close to the end I sit back and think of all that we have done. I have been told by friends and family who have traveled that studying and traveling abroad changes you and they are completely correct in every way. I look back at the person I was before this trip and the person I have now become. Everyday we are constantly changing and modifying who we are by the experiences we have. This experience in Italy has definitely changed the way I see myself.
When I boarded the plane to Italy I had no idea that it would change me as much as it has. I realized how small I am compared to others as I climbed the stairs of the Duomo. I realized how much people who have never met can create a family in a matter of days. I realized how to accept myself for who I am and not let people change me.
For years I have been told that I needed to change who I was because me being too polite comes off as not having confidence, or that I need to change the way that I carry myself because it seems like I don’t care. And what’s worse is for years I have let them convince me I do need to change. Through this experience I know now that I can’t listen to them. I am who I am. I am confident in who I am. Like Brunelleschi who told the world that he can be a great artist and created the Duomo I will too create something great from myself. He took the people who doubted him and told them they will never let them tell him he cannot build something great.
Throughout this experience I have learned about art, culture, language, food, and Dante but the one thing I will take home from this, besides the leather, that I am the person to create my destiny. Everyone else who has an opinion does not matter. I am who I am and I have friends and an Italy “family” to support me no matter what happens or where life takes us. Like Brunelleschi I will tell everyone else to sit back and watch what I create.
This place will never leave me and I will never leave this place. As we take off from the ground I will know it is not the last time I will step foot on this soil. I will always have Italy.
