20Something

So, I haven't written in this blog for the past couple of days because nothing exciting has really happened other than the fact that I've had classes going on. I made cheesecake on Monday in my first class and that was incredible!! We made one that was cooked and not cooked; I prefered the not cooked one.....it tasted like vanilla ice cream on top. Yum! :) My Italian class is going well. I'm learnign a lot but I'm still not able to really carry a conversation with any locals. However, we found this winebar (in a location to be un-named), and the owners knew students from our college that came a year ago and they treat us so well, giving us free glasses of wine and talk to us, help us with our Italian and make amazing food!! We went yesteray and ate Bufalo Mozzerella (the best mozerella you can find here) wrapped in proscuitto and baked and was like heaven in your mouth. Other than that, nothing really has happened other than just my classes. However, today in my Cultural class, we got these pamphlets with articles and stories that students write in and I read one that was incredible and just made me think of my life here and it was summed up perfectly and made me realize that Florence is an experience and things will be different. This is a looong article but I'm going to type it here so that everyone can read it and see what I mean by it changes your thoughts and makes you feel like this person is talking about you:

The Reflections of a 20Something Year-Old, Abroad, With Many ???, and Many More Ideas Floating in his Head.

When you're in your twenties...An idea tthat becomes really stressful when it's the only one that you have...It's called "The quarter life crisis" - you find yourself trying to get away from the crowd more than ever, you get this weird feeling of insecurity, and you start questioning yourself about where you'll be a year from now, but then you realize with panic that you hardly know where you are right now. You realize that there are a lot of things about yourself that you were not aware of and you may not like. You realize that your circle of friends is smaller than what it was a couple years ago. You realize that it gets more difficult to see your f riends and to coordinate your schedules for different reason be it work, school, partner [girlfriend/boyfriend], etc...And you start enjoying more and more the occasional evening beer because it's a great excuse to talk a little longer with your buddy that you don't see often. The crowded nightspots are not "fun" anymore, they even make you uncomfortable sometimes. You even miss school and its commodity, the groups, how you socialize with the same people in a certain and constant way. But then you start to realize that while some were real friends the others were not that special after all. You realize that some people were selfish and that maybe those friends that you considered closest were not exactly the best people thta you'd ever met, and the ones that you've lost contact with were the most important ones. You laugh more, but you cry less tears with more pain. Someone breaks your heart, and you ask yourself how that someone that you loved so much could've done such a thing to you. Or maybe you go to bed at night and question yourself why you can't seem to meet something interesting enough, someone that makes you fall in love with him/her. It looks like everyone you know has a boyfriend or girlfriend forever, and some of them are even getting married. Maybe you also love someone but you aren't sure if you are prepared for a long-term commitment. You feel the same emotions and ask the same questions over and over again, you even talk to your friends about these issues because you can't make up your mind. The one night stands are not interesting anymore, even getting drunk and acting like an idiot seem really stupid. Going out 3 times a week has become exhausting. You take a better look at your job and maybe you are not even close to doing what you dreamed of doing. Or maybe you are looking for a job and the thought of having to start from the bottom scares you even more. You try day after day to understand yourself, what you want and what you don't want. Your opinions become stronger. You take a look at what everyone else is doing and then you find yourself becoming more judgemental, your list of stereotypes keeps getting longer. In the end you worry too much about 'who' decides what's right and wrong. sometimes you feel great and invicible and other times - just lonely and afraid and confused. Sometimes you try to hold on to the past, but then you realize that the past is moving farther and farther away from you and that there's no choice but to keep going forward. You worry about the future, loans, money...and constructing your own individual life. While winning the race would be great right now you're only conforming ot the rules of the competition. What you may not realize is that all of us who are reading this right now identify with all this, with being '20Something.' All of us are in our twenties and we would all like to be a teenager again. Back to that age where we didn't have responsibilities. All this looks like an unstable place, a moving vehicle, a mess in your head. But EVERYONE says it's the best time of our lives and we shouldn't waste it because of our silly fears. Then they say that these years are the foundation of our future. Only yesterday it seemed as if we were 18 years old. Then tomorrow we'll turn 30!!! Just like that, as quick as the snap of a finger!

LIFE IS NOT MEASURE BY THE TIMES THAT YOU BREATHE, BUT BY THE TIMES THAT TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY!

By: Edgardo Nieto-A Student from Mexico.

This made me really think about what i'm doing with life and that this moment, right now, should be my main focus and to make sure that I'm fulfilling the dreams that I've always wanted and not wasting my time away. Nothing left to blog from here, but going to Rome today, and will be back Sunday. Let the moment i'm living now take my breath away.