Today marks one-month since the day I started my journey. It is also one week from the day I came to Italy. It’s a special day, in a way. A day to look back, a day to look ahead.

In this one month I’ve met some pretty great people. People from Greece, Sweden, Germany, Italy. People that became part of my life, even for a day, and whom I hope to see again sometime in the future. I‘ve visited 4 boxes and trained at 3 of them with 6 different coaches. I took 10 days off and spent time with family. I participated in a competition in Greece and attended one in Italy. I’ve had some ‘me’ time and a lot of social time. I’ve broken some PR’s but also felt I’ve lost lots of my strength at some points. I’ve had my ups and my downs. It actually feels like I’ve been away for 6 months rather than 1 (maybe also has to do with how many times I’ve packed my backpack!). But I am still here, still moving forward.

This post it being written at Alessandro’s café, close to CrossFit Darsena in Milan, enjoying my cappucco (two, to be honest) and taking some ‘me’ time to write and think (and recover from this morning’s workout).

I feel quite relaxed in Italy. People seem to be smiling ‘by default’ and are open to chat. Things so far have worked out the way I had imagined them to. I was hosted by Sasha and Gianluca for 5 days and when I decided I would like to stay here a bit longer, all it took was one post on the CrossFit Darsena FB group on a Sunday and I found me a nice apartment in the outskirts of Milan on the same day. This is home for the next month. Gabrielle, the owner of my apartment, is also a CrossFitter and trainer and has been very helpful with everything I needed so far. Only thing he has to live up to, is his reputation as ‘the best cheesecake maker’ in town! He teased me with a pic, but I need to taste the real thing 😀

Monday and Tuesday were very quiet as it was a very long weekend for the Milanese, but I am starting to get in the spirit of the city. I love the diversity of the people at the box – students, police officers, taxi drivers, architects, designers, managers… you name it! Alessandro (another Alessandro) helped me get an Italian sim card, which means I will at last have unlimited internet (those small things in life we take for granted sometimes!).. I am also getting a monthly transportation card tonight and then I will be all set to roam around the city! Still need to find things to do outside of the box, and maybe arrange something for Christmas, but there is still time J I am not in a hurry. Piano-piano!

I was told a Christmas lunch is scheduled with the box members on the 19^th, which will be a lot of fun and I am sure that by that time something will come up! I am starting to have some belief in fate and leave things fall into place on their own, trying to live the day, without stressing too much for tomorrow or thinking too much about the past. It is what it is (Jackie, this always reminds me of you!).

It feels good to have my own apartment again, some privacy and my own kitchen – especially when there are so many delicious options to choose from when it comes to cooking in Italy! My trips to the supermarket are taking much longer than I thought as there is simply too many options for choosing the best parmegiano, the best pasta and bresaola… Heaven in my mouth!

I appreciate my skype time with my bestie again, kinda brings things back to ‘normal’, a sense of familiarity. Watching a movie (or two) before going to bed – I’ve missed movies. Thankfully a good friend of mine gave me a hard drive full of movies before I left NL, so I have more than 500 movies to choose from every night! Going to the movies in Italy is a no-go for someone that doesn’t speak Italian. Everything is dubbed. On TV and in the movies. I guess it’s a good way to learn the language too, but sometime you just need to sit back and relax 🙂

I like the feeling of being surrounded by people that expect nothing of you. Or could it be that I am not expecting anything of them? It is strangely different being in Italy than it was in Greece and in the Netherlands. I literally have no one here – no family or friends with whom I have any past, only new places to explore and new people to meet. Everything is brand new, which is exciting (with a touch of scary). All I focus on is to have work to do to keep going (financially) and to workout as much as I can to become the best and strongest me possible.

It helps to keep your goals clear when you have no distractions. Wake up, eat breakfast, work / workout, eat, sleep, repeat. I never imagined things could be simple as that. Well, sounds simpler than it actually is, but still. It is simple. Life should be simple as that.

Pick the things that you love doing and do them. Pick the people you want to keep close to you and love them. For me this is happiness. Still missing some parts of the puzzle, but I keep my faith.

I guess it’s time to go. It’s almost 6, time for another workout!

Allora, ciao a tutti!