We have officially reached the halfway point of our semester in Arezzo and I am not even processing it. I continue to live in the present at the Accademia, give my all to my classes, give my love to my friends, and give my attention to Italy. 

It’s hard to believe that there will come a time when I have to go back to Boston. I’ve invested so much in my education here that it is difficult to picture that one day, very soon, I’ll be packing all of my stuff back up. Super weird. I prefer not to think about it.

To say I’ve learned a lot here is a huge understatement. I cannot even put into words how much I have learned and how grateful I am to be here. The Accademia is truly a wonderful place, full of wonderful teachers and wonderful peers, and I am lucky to have met everyone that I have met. I have this incredible feeling that I will be back. So soon. 

But! I have one small dissatisfaction, and it is an expectation and dissatisfaction that I have with myself. I want to make more Italian friends! And from my time in Arezzo I have realized that this is a very difficult thing to do! Not because the people of Italy are not friendly, but because going up to people in town randomly is generally a difficult thing to do. I’m also not very available as a friend to Italians in Italy —  because I am pushing myself as a student and artist at the Accademia most of my time, I do not have much spare time to go into town and linger around, attempting to speak to young people in Italian. When I have free time, I’m working, creating, or connecting with my peers. Which is the best thing ever! But it does mean I am not making Italian friends.

Every time I go into Arezzo, somewhere in the back of my mind I shrink away from the idea of trying to speak to others to try and become their friends. Maybe this is simply the New Yorker in me — I was born and raised in Brooklyn (NYC), so I have been programmed from a very young age to never speak to strangers. 

However, now that I’ve really gotten my thoughts out about this here, I think maybe now I’ll really challenge myself to try to make more Italian friends. I have one Italian friend currently. The goal is to make a second before I leave.

Buona fortuna! In bocca al lupo!

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