Italia, Day 1: Milano - Roma

I am sitting now in Mlada Boleslav, where I taught two days a week from March-June, and where I have been teaching at a summer camp this week. I am in the same apartment I stayed in during the year, except now the other teacher is gone, so I have the whole apartment. It has been really nice to have a place to myself this week. Also, it's nice to be in a familiar place and to see some familiar faces (two of the students at the camp are kids I taught in my classes). This week has been the perfect transition back into working after my two weeks of travel in Italy. Travelling is fun, but it can also be rather exhausting. I always underestimate how tired I will be when I finally get back home after a trip.

Italy was amazing. It's hard to write about, because words can't really capture the things that were so meaningful and special to me. Impressions and feelings are sometimes hard to truly express in words. I planned this trip after travelling to Norway, Denmark and Paris two months ago (I will post pictures from that trip after I finish recording my Italian adventures). I enjoyed that trip very much. I was able to spend time with my parents and an old friend and see some beautiful things. It really made me realize why I came to Europe in the first place - to travel, and to see as much as I can of the world.  It made me want to go out there on my own and meet people, to really be present and experience the places I go. I realized that, while I like travelling with other people, it was time to go on a trip by myself.

I feel like when we travel with others, we are partially in our own separate world wherever we go. There is an element of the known beside us the entire way. When we go out on our own, it is a totally different experience. We have more freedom to explore, and less distraction. We can move at our own pace, and we are more open to spur-of-the-moment opportunities. There is more time to process the things that we've seen and done, and to let them sink in deeply. Although we lack a certain sense of security that comes with not being alone, we gain a lot when we can truly feel the wide-openness and possibility of being "on the road".

When I say that I planned to go on a trip by myself, it doesn't mean, of course, that I wanted to be by myself the entire time. That's why I decided to try couchsurfing on this trip, and I am so glad that I did. It made my experience in Italy so much richer and more memorable. It is a totally different way of meeting people while travelling. Always, while staying in hostels, there is the possibility of meeting other young, interesting people from all over the world. The people you meet in hostels, however, are other people travelling - they aren't locals. They are likely to be just as new to the place as you are, and just as lost. It's completely different to meet and stay with people from the area you are visiting. They can show you around, introduce you to their friends, and give you a taste for what life is actually like there. If you are lucky, you could make a new, lasting friendship - the best kind of souvenir! Of course, just as with anything else, not all experiences will be the same. Out of the three that I had on this trip, I would say that one was really great, one was just good, and one was everything you could hope for.

I left Prague very early in the morning on August 30th, and arrived in Milan at half-past eight. I hadn't really allowed for Milan in my itinerary - of all the places in Italy to see it is not one of the most interesting unless you're looking to spend a bunch of cash on designer clothes. I did have several hours to kill until my train to Rome, however, so I took the metro into the center to see the Duomo - every city in Italy seems to have a Duomo, which is simply the city's main cathedral. Duomo di Milano is definitely worth seeing. It is distinct from the other cathedrals I visited on my trip in its over-the-top High-Gothic style, and it is also the second-largest church in Italy next to St.Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Also, right next to the Duomo is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, which is claimed to be the world's oldest shopping mall.

Duomo di Milano

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele

My train from Milano Centrale to Roma Termini left at 3:00 PM, and was scheduled to arrive in Rome at 6:00 PM. I had booked a ticket on the Frecciarossa, one of the newer, fast trains in Italy that cut travel time by half (but are more expensive). Unfortunately, something happened (I'm still not sure what), and my train spent more time sitting than moving - the train, which was supposed to arrive in Rome at 6:00, didn't arrive until 8:30. At this point, I had already bought an Italian SIM card for my phone, and I was texting my couchsurfing host in Rome, Marcello, to inform him about my delay. His humorous reply was something like "Welcome to Italy, where the pasta is good and the trains are always late".  

Marcello was a great host. He met me at the bus stop near his apartment, and showed me the way. The apartment is very nice and comfortable. He has hosted over eighty couchsurfers over the past four years, and he has the perfect set-up for doing it. There are two floors to his apartment, each with a large balcony. The upper floor has two small bedrooms where he hosts people, and there is a bathroom for the guests to share. While I was staying with Marcello, there was also a French girl, Severina, couchsurfing there. I didn't meet her until the next day, though. It was already 10:30 PM by the time I arrived on the night of the 30th, and I was super exhausted from traveling all day. I also had an early morning planned, so after Marcello showed me the layout of the place and where I would sleep (he also helped me plan what I would see the next day), I hit the hay.